compulsive sore throat?
It’s not always infectious agents themselves that do the damage. More than a century ago doctors made the link between “strep throat” – a sore throat caused by the common bacterium Streptococcus – and the development of the heart condition rheumatic fever a few weeks later. The immune system gets confused, mistakes heart cells for bacteria, and attacks. A similar autoimmune response seems to be causing behavioural problems ranging from Tourette-like tics and obsessive-compulsive disorder to attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and anorexia. The syndrome, called PANDAS (Paediatric Autoimmune Neuropyschiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcus), strikes about once in 1000 cases of strep infection. PANDAS is a strep-induced autoimmune attack on an area of the brain called the basal ganglia, which helps control numerous behaviours. High levels of anti-strep antibodies have been linked to enlargement of the basal ganglia in PANDAS patients. As the levels go down, the brain recovers
