ABSTRACT
<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>To investigate whether Borna disease virus (BDV) infection is related to the schizophrenic patients from China.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A reliable Western-blot method for detection of BDV-p24 antibody was established by adjusting the reaction conditions of BDV-p24 recombinant protein and specific antibodies. The sera of schizophrenic patients and normal controls from Heilongjiang Province were screened for specific BDV-p24 antibody by this method, and the BDV-p24 antibody positive sera were confirmed by the Western-blot method with sera-GST protein absorption.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Ten of 116 (8.6%) schizophrenic patients were found to be positive for BDV-p24 specific antibody, while no BDV-p24 specific antibody was found in sera of normal controls.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The results demonstrate that the Borna disease virus infection also exists in China, and the infection is possibly associated with schizophrenia in some way.</p>