Brief Reports BRIEF REPORTS Identification of Children With Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated With Streptococcal Infections by a Marker Associated With Rheumatic Fever

Objective: The authors ’ goal was to determine whether a trait marker of rheumatic fever susceptibility (labeled D8/17) could identify children with pediatric autoimmune neuropsychi-atric disorders (obsessive-compulsive disorder and tic disorders) associated with strepto-coccal infections (PANDAS). Method: Blood samples obtained from 27 children with PAN-DAS, nine children with Sydenham’s chorea, and 24 healthy children were evaluated for D8/17 reactivity. Individuals were defined as D8/17 positive if they had 12 % or more D8/17+ cells. Results: The frequency of D8/17-positive individuals was significantly higher in both patient groups than it was among the healthy volunteers: 85 % of the children with PANDAS and 89 % of the children with Sydenham’s chorea, compared with 17 % of the healthy children, were D8/17 positive. Further, the mean number of D8/17+ cells was similar in the two patient groups and was significantly higher in these groups than in the group of healthy children. Conclusions: These results suggest that there may be a subgroup of D8/17-positive children who present with clinical symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder and Tourette’s syn-drome, rather than Sydenham’s chorea, but who have similar poststreptococcal autoimmunity. (Am J Psychiatry 1997; 154:110–112