2024-04-30
14 分钟The Economist Hello, it's Alok Jha here.
I host Babbage, our weekly podcast on science and technology.
Welcome to Editors' Picks.
You're about to hear an article from the latest edition of The Economist.
Enjoy.
The tick started when Jessica Hudson was only 12 years old.
Over time,
her condition worsened until she was having whole body fits and being rushed to hospital.
But her local hospital in Durham, England was dismissive, suggesting she had anxiety,
a mental health condition,
and that she was probably spending too much time watching videos on TikTok.
Her mother describes the experience as belittling.
In fact,
Jessica had an autoimmune condition brought on by a bacterial infection with streptococcus.
The condition is known as pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders associated with streptococcus or pandas.
When the infection was identified and treated, her symptoms finally began to improve.
Ms Whitson is not alone in having a dysfunction in the brain mistaken for one of the mind.
Evidence is accumulating that an array of infections can in some cases trigger conditions such as obsessive-compulsive disorder,
tics, anxiety, depression and even psychosis.
And infections are one small piece of the puzzle.