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Autism was first recognized in the 1930s and considered to be a rare disorder. Today the US Dept Of
Health and Human Services reports that autism occurs in 1 in every 150 children. 1 in 94 male children meet
criteria on the autism spectrum. Autism is defined as a developmental disorder involving language
and communication difficulties, sociability problems with a particular deficit of empathy, and differences in perceptions
from others.
Autism is a complex neurological disorder with many etiologies. Viral infections in pregnant women
increase the risk for schizophrenia and autism in their offspring (Shi, Fatemi, Sidwell, and Patterson 2003). HLA Type
DR4 and DRb1 are strongly associated with autism (Warren, Reed P). See link for article: http://www.enabling.org/ia/celiac/aut/hla-war2.html )
The artificial hormone Pitocin, which is given to pregnant women to induce labor has been associated with
autism. Pitocin is a synthetic counterpart of the natural hormone oxytocin which stimulates the uterus to contract thus
inducing labor.
Heavy metal toxicities have been implicated, particularly mercury toxicity from childhood vaccinations and
lead poisoning from paint. Vaccine antigen overload is another avenue that has been investigated.
The following article reviews various treatments that have been tried:
Chronic disseminated Lyme Disease or neuroborreliosis as it is called when the nervous system is infected,
is another proposed cause of autism. The following abstract briefly describes and implicates Lyme and other infections
as a cause for some cases of autism.
The association between tick-borne infections, Lyme borreliosis and autism spectrum disorders .
Medical Hypotheses , Volume 70 , Issue 5 , Pages 967 - 974
R . Bransfield , J . Wulfman , W . Harvey , A . Usman
Chronic infectious diseases, including tick-borne infections such as Borrelia burgdorferi may have direct
effects, promote other infections and create a weakened, sensitized and immunologically vulnerable state during fetal development
and infancy leading to increased vulnerability for developing autism spectrum disorders.
A dysfunctional synergism with other predisposing and contributing factors may contribute to autism spectrum
disorders by provoking innate and adaptive immune reactions to cause and perpetuate effects in susceptible individuals that
result in inflammation, molecular mimicry, kynurenine pathway changes, increased quinolinic acid and decreased serotonin,
oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction and excitotoxicity that impair the development of the amygdala and other neural
structures and neural networks resulting in a partial Klüver–Bucy Syndrome and other deficits resulting in autism spectrum
disorders and/or exacerbating autism spectrum disorders from other causes throughout life.
John Martin on Autism
Folate Metabolism and Autism
Amy Yasko and Genomic Testing
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