Autism - Much Heat But Little Light

Just a mention of the word Autism to an expectant mom is enough to cause terror. In today's parlance, autism is not one disorder but a spectrum of disease - ranging from the savant of Rain Man to those afflicted with Asperberger's Syndrome. Merriam Webster  defines autism thusly:

 a developmental disorder that appears by age three and that is variable in expression but is recognized and diagnosed by impairment of the ability to form normal social relationships, by impairment of the ability to communicate with others, and by stereotyped behavior patterns especially as exhibited by a preoccupation with repetitive activities of restricted focus rather than with flexible and imaginative ones.

The recently developed DSM V criteria for outlining the diagnosis of autism may be found here.

But what causes autism? The truth is that by and large, the cause is unknown. This is not for lack of theorizing, however, as there is quite a laundry list of usual suspects and some unusual, including:

vaccines
prenatal ultrasound
rainy climate
valproic acid during pregnancy
cosmetics
nail polish
shampoos
air pollution
household chemicals
labor induction
birth spacing
antibody proteins
television
low levels of glutathione
diet
intestinal flora
genetics

All of these putative causes have their proponents, some with great celebrity, but as of yet, the cause remains elusive. That's the real sticky part. Humans can obviously handle good news. Humans can also handle bad news if given time to fully digest. The one thing we handle poorly is the unknown. And that is truly what makes autism so frightening. A good deal learned recently from the human genome project suggests that there are genetic variations which may either directly cause or predispose to much of the autism spectrum. But this is not the whole story, There are undoubtedly sporadic cases which arise out of the blue, without any warning from family historical data. Many groups of investigators are working to piece together the puzzle that is autism. One such group (in which I have no part) has begun the Earli Study.

EARLI is a network of research sites that will enroll and follow a large group of mothers of children with autism at the start of another pregnancy and document the newborn child’s development through three years of age. The EARLI Study will examine possible environmental risk factors for autism and study whether there is any interplay between environmental factors and genetic susceptibility.

I wish all groups godspeed and good luck in their hunt to unmask the culprits underlying these disorders.

Faster please.