---
title: "Psych News Alert: A Parasite Is Linked With Suicide Risk"
description: In a large prospective study of some 46,000 women in which levels of antibodies to the parasite Toxoplasma gondii were measured at childbirt...
image: https://alert.psychnews.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/parasitic%20worm_70097845-Jun-24-2025-05-21-01-8848-PM.jpg
---

 7/23/12 12:00 AM

# A Parasite Is Linked With Suicide Risk

![Picture of Psychiatric News Alert](https://alert.psychnews.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Psych%20News%20Email%20Banners/PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png?width=50&name=PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png) [ Psychiatric News Alert ](https://alert.psychnews.org/author/psychiatric-news-alert)

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In a large prospective study of some 46,000 women in which levels of antibodies to the parasite *Toxoplasma gondii *were measured at childbirth,  researchers linked infection with the parasite to suicide during the subsequent decade or so after they gave birth. The lead scientist was Marianne Pedersen, M.Sc., of Aarhus University in Denmark. The results were reported online this month in the* Archives of General Psychiatry.*

In a previous prospective study conducted with the same large cohort of women, and in which levels of antibodies to *T. gondii *were also measured at childbirth, Pedersen and her team linked infection with *T. gondii *to the subsequent development of schizophrenia. For more information about this study, see *[Psychiatric News](http://psychnews.psychiatryonline.org/newsarticle.aspx?articleid=116656).*

(Image: Jubal Harshaw/Shutterstock.com)

[schizophrenia](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/schizophrenia), [suicide](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/suicide), [toxoplasma gondii](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/toxoplasma-gondii)

## Related posts

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[suicide](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/suicide), [Toxoplasmosis gondii](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/toxoplasmosis-gondii)

## [Parasite Linked to Increased Risk for Suicide](https://alert.psychnews.org/2012/08/parasite-linked-to-increased-risk-for.html)

![Picture of Psychiatric News Alert](https://alert.psychnews.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Psych%20News%20Email%20Banners/PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png?width=50&name=PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png) [Psychiatric News Alert](https://alert.psychnews.org/author/psychiatric-news-alert) 

 8/24/12 12:00 AM

Individuals infected with Toxoplasmosis gondii (T. gondii), a parasite that normally thrives in...

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[![](https://alert.psychnews.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/colorful%20brain%20regions_10708540-Jun-24-2025-04-26-15-0688-PM.jpg?height=200&name=colorful%20brain%20regions_10708540-Jun-24-2025-04-26-15-0688-PM.jpg) ](https://alert.psychnews.org/2013/03/hippocampus-changes-may-be-factor-in.html)

[schizophrenia](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/schizophrenia), [hallucinations](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/hallucinations), [positive symptoms](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/positive-symptoms), [delusions](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/delusions), [hippocampus](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/hippocampus)

## [Hippocampus Changes May Be Factor in Positive Symptoms of Schizophrenia](https://alert.psychnews.org/2013/03/hippocampus-changes-may-be-factor-in.html)

![Picture of Psychiatric News Alert](https://alert.psychnews.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Psych%20News%20Email%20Banners/PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png?width=50&name=PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png) [Psychiatric News Alert](https://alert.psychnews.org/author/psychiatric-news-alert) 

 3/25/13 12:00 AM

New research reported in the March Brain suggests the possibility that a deformed hippocampus...

[ Read more ](https://alert.psychnews.org/2013/03/hippocampus-changes-may-be-factor-in.html)

[![](https://alert.psychnews.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/parasites_30195169-Jun-24-2025-09-22-16-6673-PM.jpg?height=200&name=parasites_30195169-Jun-24-2025-09-22-16-6673-PM.jpg) ](https://alert.psychnews.org/2011/08/toxoplasma-infection-linked-to.html)

[schizophrenia](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/schizophrenia), [toxoplasma gondii](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/toxoplasma-gondii), [toxoplasmosis](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/toxoplasmosis)

## [Toxoplasma Infection Linked to Development of Schizophrenia](https://alert.psychnews.org/2011/08/toxoplasma-infection-linked-to.html)

![Picture of Psychiatric News Alert](https://alert.psychnews.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Psych%20News%20Email%20Banners/PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png?width=50&name=PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png) [Psychiatric News Alert](https://alert.psychnews.org/author/psychiatric-news-alert) 

 8/23/11 12:00 AM

[ Read more ](https://alert.psychnews.org/2011/08/toxoplasma-infection-linked-to.html)

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