PANDAS (Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections) occurs when strep triggers a misdirected immune response which results in inflammation on a child’s brain. In turn, the child quickly begins to exhibit life-changing symptoms such as OCD, anxiety, tics, personality changes, decline in math and handwriting abilities, sensory sensitivities, restrictive eating, and more.
In some instances, the onset of these symptoms will be 4-6 months after an infection.
When strep cannot be linked to the onset of these symptoms, the child may be dealing with PANS (Pediatric Acute-onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome).
These two disorders are very similar in presentation; simply put strep is the cause for PANDAS and when one or more of a litany of other culprits is the trigger, it is referred to as PANS.
It is estimated that PANDAS/PANS affects as many as 1 in 200 children.
A layman explanation for friends and family:
When a person gets sick, his/her immune system creates antibodies to attack the illness. In a child with PANDAS or PANS, the created antibodies instead mistakenly attack their brain. Because of this attack and the resulting neurological symptoms, it can very easily appear to be mental in nature, but this is NOT mental illness — to oversimplify it: an infection (that you may or may not even realize the child is fighting as many PANDAS kids do not show typical symptoms) needs to be eradicated and then the immune system’s haywire response calmed down. If all is done timely and properly, the child can return to their previous healthy self.