Hi there.
From what I know, the researchers have tended to study children rather than adults. PANDAS means Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections.
I'll post you what I have saved about this issue in adults. I think most are about actual adult
onset though, rather than exacerbation. I'm sure there are probably more. I'm a little disheartened by the lack of results coming from the researchers in more recent years about PANDAS. It all seems to have come to a dead end with everything up in the air.
A lot of people will describe as you did an exacerbation of symptoms of tics and/or OCD after or during an illness (GABHS or otherwise). Some people find that while they're really ill with it at first, their symptoms actually decrease, esp. if fever is involved, but then as they begin to recover, the symptoms come out more but then level out again.
The most important thing is that you were treated correctly for the actual Strep. infection at the time. Hopefully your symptoms settled down now after you've recovered from the Strep.??
http://intramural.nimh.nih.gov/pdn/web.htm
NIH - PANDAS
Quote:
Q. Could an adult have PANDAS?
A. No. By definition, PANDAS is a pediatric disorder. It is possible that adolescents and adults may have immune mediated OCD, but this is not known. The research studies at the NIMH are restricted to children
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http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/...full/159/2/320
Letter to the Editor
Antistreptolysin-O Titers: Implications for Adult PANDAS
ANDREW J. CHURCH, B.SC. and RUSSELL C. DALE, M.B.CH.B., M.R.C.P.
London, U.K.
Quote:
TO THE EDITOR: A diagnosis of pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders associated with streptococcal infections (PANDAS) is made when neuropsychiatric disease is precipitated
by streptococcal infection (1). Antistreptolysin-O titers are an important tool for diagnosing recent streptococcal infection in patients with Sydenham’s chorea and PANDAS, since throat cultures are usually negative because of the latent onset of the neuropsychiatric disease. The upper limit for normal antistreptolysin-O titers is 200 IU/ml in children, but no normal upper limit exists for healthy adults. We propose that an antistreptolysin-O titer of 270 IU/ml is the significant upper limit for healthy adults. This finding will aid in the investigation and diagnosis of new cases of adult PANDAS.
<snipped article>
We conclude that streptococcal serology is a useful diagnostic tool for assessing the etiology of new cases of neuropsychiatric disease in adults and propose an antistreptolysin-O titer of 270 IU/ml as the upper limit of normal for adults.
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Link to PubMed Abstract
Bodner SM, Morshed SA, Peterson BS.
The question of PANDAS in adults.
Biol Psychiatry. 2001 May 1;49(9):807-10
Quote:
"BACKGROUND: Pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders associated with streptococcal infections (PANDAS) are a well-defined cause of obsessive-compulsive disorder in children. However, they have not been described or fully investigated in adults newly diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder.
METHODS: We describe an adult with onset of obsessive-compulsive disorder at 25 years of age after a severe antibiotic-responsive pharyngitis. He was evaluated with multiple psychiatric rating scales for obsessive-compulsive disorder and Tourette's syndrome, as well as with serologic assays and radiologic studies.
RESULTS: In all respects except age our patient fulfilled established criteria for PANDAS. Assays for antibodies to group A beta-hematolytic streptococci, serum D8,17 lymphocytes, antistriatal (neuronal) antibodies, and anticytoskeletal antibodies all supported the hypothesis that a poststreptococcal process was active. Magnetic resonance imaging was abnormal and is described.
CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that this patient's illness is similar to PANDAS in presentation and that poststreptococcal disease may result in adult-onset obsessive-compulsive disorder."
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http://www.indianjpsychiatry.org/art...aulast=Andrade
Andrade C, Pfizer N.
Sore throat and obsessions: A causal link?.
Indian J Psychiatry 2006;48:130-131