ABSTRACT
Until recently, the possibility of viruses or other infectious agents being involved in the etiology of bipolar disorder had not been seriously considered. For example, in their 782 page Manic-Depressive Illness, published in 1990, Goodwin and Jamison (1) covered viral factors in two pages, almost all of which was devoted to viral factors in unipolar depression, not bipolar disorder. A major reason for the neglect of a possible viral etiology of bipolar disorder has been the widespread assumption that it is predominantly or exclusively genetic in origin.
