Silent epidemic spreading across the US may trigger suicidal urges… now families of young Americans who killed themselves find hidden infection lurking | Daily Mail Online

Asher was energetic, often outspoken and intensely curious. He loved school, signed up for a host of extracurricular activities and was always eager to learn something new.. Silent epidemic spreading across the US may trigger suicidal urges… now families of young Americans who killed themselves find hidden infection lurking | Daily Mail Online UK Home US EditionSelect EditionUKUSAUIEYou're viewing the US editionYou can switch to the UK, AU or IE homepage at any time using this menu.OkayLoginHome US Showbiz TV Sports US Politics Royals News Crime Desk Lifestyle Money U.K. Buyline Games Home US Showbiz TV Sports US Politics Royals News Crime Desk Lifestyle Money U.K.

Asher means happy,' he'd say with a grin. And, according to his mother, Jill, the name couldn't have been more fitting. But in summer 2024, when Asher was 13, that began to change – with alarming speed. It happened shortly after he'd been sick with a sore throat.

His personality, Jill said, 'just kind of flipped'. Asher suddenly

His personality, Jill said, 'just kind of flipped'. Asher suddenly developed severe symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and vocal tics so intense that he struggled to finish a sentence. Asher Graham, now 15, was the pinnacle of health before the illness took its toll in 2024 Asher's mother, Jill, described him as outgoing and independent, but said once he became ill he developed severe OCD tendencies including dependence on her His anxiety became overwhelming. Before, he'd begged his mother to let him ride his bike to school alone.

Now he couldn't leave his room without clinging to her side. Then came intense outbursts in which he would scream and kick the wall – behavior Jill said was completely alien to the son she knew. 'He would scream for hours, and then suddenly stop,' she said. 'Afterwards, he could talk about what had happened and apologize.' Desperate for answers, Jill began researching his symptoms and came across two little-known conditions – pediatric acute-onset neuropsychiatric syndrome (PANS) and pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders associated with streptococcal infections (PANDAS).

PANS describes the sudden onset of severe neuropsychiatric symptoms in children, including OCD, anxiety, tics and dramatic changes in mood and behavior. PANDAS is a form associated specifically with Group A strep infections, such as strep throat or scarlet fever. In some cases, experts believe an infection may trigger an abnormal immune response that affects the brain, although exactly what causes PANS – and the role infections play – remains the subject of scientific debate. Jill says she was passed from doctor to doctor before eventually raising PANS and PANDAS with Asher's pediatrician, who referred him to a specialist.

Key details

According to Jill, the specialist told the family there was no doubt Asher had PANDAS – and described his as one of the most severe cases they had encountered. The doctor also believed Asher's initial sore throat was linked to the sudden onset of his symptoms, she says. Asher developed severe symptoms of PANDAS shortly after he was sick with a sore throat. He is pictured with his mom getting an infusion treatment in February 2026.

Source: Jill Berglin/Instagram WHAT IS PANDAS? PANDAS – Pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders associated with streptococcal infections – is believed to be an autoimmune disorder and neuropsychiatric condition caused by an abnormal immune response to infection. Parents of children with PANS and PANDAS, speaking to the Daily Mail, say they spent months or even years searching for an explanation for dramatic changes in their children's behavior – often while they were treated primarily for psychiatric symptoms. And now, emerging research is raising a troubling possibility: that difficult-to-detect infections could be the cause, at least in some cases.

Among those under scrutiny are bartonella and babesia – pathogens spread primarily by fleas and ticks – after researchers found evidence of the infections in a small group of chronically ill young people who had experienced severe suicidal thoughts or died by suicide. Babesia is a parasite that infects red blood cells, while bartonella is a group of bacteria that can infect red blood cells and the cells lining blood vessels. Babesia, in particular, is spreading rapidly across parts of the US. The number of reported cases of babesiosis more than doubled from 1,742 in 2014 to a record 3,586 in 2023, according to the latest CDC figures.

Source: Jill Berglin/Instagram WHAT IS PANDAS? PANDAS – Pediatric autoimmune

Once concentrated largely in a handful of states in the Northeast and Midwest, the infection has also been spreading into new areas. Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, for example, were not previously considered states where babesiosis was endemic but have since seen significant increases in cases. The true scale of bartonella infection is harder to establish because, unlike babesiosis, it is not nationally reportable. An earlier CDC study estimated that around 12,000 Americans a year are diagnosed with cat-scratch disease – the most common form of bartonella infection in the US – with around 500 hospitalized.

But experts say some bartonella infections can be difficult to detect, meaning the number of diagnosed cases may not reflect the true prevalence. Both infections have been linked in research to neurological and psychiatric symptoms, although there is currently insufficient evidence to establish that either directly causes severe psychiatric illness. So how could a bug bite trigger symptoms that appear psychiatric – and why might doctors miss it? One theory is that the immune response to an infection can go haywire and attack healthy tissue, potentially affecting the brain and triggering severe OCD, intrusive thoughts, rage, mood swings, tics and even suicidal thoughts.

Crucially, these symptoms may emerge after the initial infection has passed – meaning routine tests may no longer reveal an obvious cause. Dr Shannon Delaney, a New York neuropsychiatrist who has studied the possible role of infections in psychiatric illness and treats patients with complex symptoms linked to PANS and tick-borne disease, says these infections can be particularly difficult to spot. 'When people think about an infection, they often think about an acute illness – fever, flu-like symptoms or other obvious signs that someone is sick,' she said. 'But most patients I see with chronic neuropsychiatric symptoms related to these infections never experienced an obvious acute phase.

Instead, they developed neuropsychiatric symptoms later, presumably after an initial infection that went unnoticed.' Delaney is also the lead author of a 2024 study that found evidence of bartonella in 43 percent of patients with psychosis, compared with 14 percent of healthy controls.

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