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"Healing Autism: No Finer a
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July 28, 2001
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Experts: Redefine Autism as Systemic Illness
Condition thought to be triggered by assault to immature immune system
[By Susannah Benady. Thanks to autismnet.]
http://www.medicalpost.com/mdlink/english/members/medpost/data/3718/21B.HTM
Quebec City - Researchers are calling for a radical new
definition of
autism in the wake of evidence presented here that autism is in fact an
autoimmune disease, rather than a mental handicap.
This was the consensus among doctors at the forefront of
research into
the physiological complications that affect many children with autism and
autism spectrum problems. They presented their findings at the second
International Medical Conference on Autism held here in April.
No longer can the condition just be considered a
psychiatric or
neurological disorder, they argued. Autism had to be seen as a systemic
illness that has gastrointestinal, immunological, endocrinological,
psychological and neurological complications.
Dr. Jeff Bradstreet, a pediatrician and medical director of
the
International Autism Research Centre in Palm Bay, Fla., said virtually all
children diagnosed with autism also have some other significant abnormal
function.
He said that is why the term "autism" is
misleading and should be
replaced with a phrase that better describes the child's physical condition.
"Autism is a psychiatric term," he said. "I
consider 'toxic
encephalopathy' a better description because it implies that there is
something we can do if we detoxify the individuals."
Dr. Bradstreet's research centre specializes in treating
children with
autism spectrum disorders by investigating their underlying or coexisting
physiological condition and treating that with a combination of conventional
drug therapy and nutritional supplementation.
The aim is to treat the underlying condition, and also to
detoxify and
strengthen the immune system.
In cases where the immunological vulnerability or toxicity
can be
identified, and then responds to treatment, children show a marked
improvement in their ability to relate to others, as well as in their
academic performance, he said.
Evidence presented at the conference by physicians
researching the
physical symptoms of autism should change the way doctors understand and
treat children suffering from the disorder.
They now believe that autism is triggered by an
environmental insult
or toxicity that damages the immature and fragile immune system of a fetus,
infant or very young child. This causes the immune system to react against
body organs.
The result is a condition that has a multisystem effect,
not just on a
patient's neurological system. Most frequently, it is the gastrointestinal
system or "second brain" that shows symptoms.
Many of the children also have a long history of
susceptibility to
infections and experience hormonal imbalance, such as hyperthyroidism and
early puberty. Some children even display coagulation and circulatory
disorders.
Research presented at the conference showed that tests on
blood and
tissue samples from autistic children have detected autoantibodies to
proteins in the brain, gastrointestinal system and other organs.
As Dr. Bradstreet puts it: "The child becomes the
victim of his immune
system."
Dr. Andrew Wakefield of London's Royal Free and University
College
medical school, who has investigated the gastrointestinal symptoms of more
than 150 autistic children, said these children "show an aberration of the
immune system in some ways similar to people with AIDS."
The speakers also agreed that autism happens more often in
families
suffering diseases of the immune system such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus,
inflammatory bowel disease and even asthma and eczema. The incidence of all
such diseases has markedly increased in recent decades, they note.
According to research by Dr. Anne Comi and colleagues at
Johns Hopkins
Hospital division of pediatric neurology in Baltimore that was cited at the
conference, there is a nine-fold increase in the incidence of autism in
children born to mothers with immune illnesses.
Dr. Ed Yazbak, a pediatric infectious disease specialist
from Boston,
said research will not find a chromosome responsible for autism. He is a
former professor at Brown University now studying the medical histories of
children with autism in an effort to determine what triggered their
condition.
"Research will show there is a genetic predisposition
to autism. What
we have to find is the environmental insult," he said.
Physicians treating children diagnosed with autism must
recognize the
children are suffering a medical illness.
This is particularly noticeable in the more recently
identified
"regressive autism" that many parents have linked to their children's
immunization with the mumps-measles-rubella vaccine, Dr. Yazbak said.
He called on pediatricians to reclaim care of the child
with autism.
"It is a pediatric illness that affects the whole
child and it needs a
pediatrician to take care of the whole child," he said.
"The pediatrician needs to co-ordinate consultations
with the
psychiatrist, gastroenterologist and occupational therapists.
"If pediatricians do not adopt the new thinking on
autism, it will be
left to crooks and charlatans to exploit desperate parents," Dr. Yazbak
warned.