Title |
Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infection (PANDAS): a Controversial Diagnosis
|
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Published in |
Current Infectious Disease Reports, February 2010
|
DOI | 10.1007/s11908-010-0082-7 |
Pubmed ID | |
Authors |
Sheila Knupp Feitosa de Oliveira, Christina Feitosa Pelajo |
Abstract |
Despite more than a decade of studying pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders associated with streptococcal infection (PANDAS), it is still not possible to confirm its existence and whether it is a poststreptococcal autoimmune disorder. Many controversies remain: the diagnostic criteria have not been validated, evidence of autoimmunity remains inconclusive, evidence of a genetic predisposition is weak, and streptococcal infections are common in childhood and could represent only a trigger of exacerbations of tics and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Patients who fit the PANDAS criteria appear to represent a subgroup of children with chronic tic disorder and/or obsessive-compulsive disorder who may experience symptom exacerbations after group A β-hemolytic streptococci infections; however, those infections are not the sole or even the most common antecedent of exacerbations. There is not enough evidence to support PANDAS as a unique clinical entity. |
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