Autism: A Potential Model for Causality and Therapy

reply to post by marg6043


Every single study conducted to analyse the link between vaccines and autism (and there have been any) has shown this link to not exist. There has even been a study of every single child in Denmark investigating a causal link between vaccines and autism. Absolutely no causal relationship existed:

Of the 537,303 children in the cohort (representing 2,129,864 person-years), 440,655 (82.0 percent) had received the MMR vaccine. We identified 316 children with a diagnosis of autistic disorder and 422 with a diagnosis of other autistic-spectrum disorders. After adjustment for potential confounders, the relative risk of autistic disorder in the group of vaccinated children, as compared with the unvaccinated group, was 0.92 (95 percent confidence interval, 0.68 to 1.24), and the relative risk of another autistic-spectrum disorder was 0.83 (95 percent confidence interval, 0.65 to 1.07). There was no association between the age at the time of vaccination, the time since vaccination, or the date of vaccination and the development of autistic disorder.

www.nejm.org...

This myth needs to die before we see the recurrence of tragic vaccine-preventable diseases make a comeback in significant numbers. It would seem that no amount of evidence will ever anti-vaxers. Sadly, it would appear that it may just take a significant outbreak that kills or permanently injures many children before the message hits home.

GetHyped
reply to post by marg6043

 

Every single study conducted to analyse the link between vaccines and autism (and there have been any) has shown this link to not exist. There has even been a study of every single child in Denmark investigating a causal link between vaccines and autism. Absolutely no causal relationship existed:

Of the 537,303 children in the cohort (representing 2,129,864 person-years), 440,655 (82.0 percent) had received the MMR vaccine. We identified 316 children with a diagnosis of autistic disorder and 422 with a diagnosis of other autistic-spectrum disorders. After adjustment for potential confounders, the relative risk of autistic disorder in the group of vaccinated children, as compared with the unvaccinated group, was 0.92 (95 percent confidence interval, 0.68 to 1.24), and the relative risk of another autistic-spectrum disorder was 0.83 (95 percent confidence interval, 0.65 to 1.07). There was no association between the age at the time of vaccination, the time since vaccination, or the date of vaccination and the development of autistic disorder.

www.nejm.org...

This myth needs to die before we see the recurrence of tragic vaccine-preventable diseases make a comeback in significant numbers. It would seem that no amount of evidence will ever anti-vaxers. Sadly, it would appear that it may just take a significant outbreak that kills or permanently injures many children before the message hits home.

edit on 5-4-2014 by GetHyped because: (no reason given)

Oh please……..I don't know who comes off more ignorant sometimes the "pro vaxers" or the google educated "anti-vaxers". Both sides spout ignorance while having done very little medical and scientific reading on the issue. MOST of these so called horrid childhood diseases are anything but. Save maybe for Polio most of these childhood diseases like measles, whooping cough, mumps, etc. are benign mild diseases that 99% of children fully recover from. EVERYONE used to get measles back in the day. Yes a few babies died. A few people will always die. But you know what? Our grandmothers who got the wild natural form of measles passed that NATURALLY ACQUIRED IMMUNITY on to their offspring. THAT is EXACTLY what herd immunity is. It's based on naturally acquired immunity not vaccine induced immunity. And you know what? As a population we are LOSING our naturally acquired herd immunity not because of parents that choose not to vaccinate but because of vaccinations. Herd immunity theories and concepts were espoused way before vaccines were even invented. It's a very old theory or concept that has been around for ages. Thank god there are some strong parents out there that are refusing to have their daughters vaccinated and maybe we won't completely lose our ability to pass on to our progeny REAL immunity against real disease.

I will give you an example and then I will not post on this issue again. Whooping cough vaccine is an utter failure. You can do the research yourself. Whooping cough is making a resurgence because the vaccine is failing not because people are refusing to vaccinate their kids. You should familiarize yourself with the term original antigenic sin. It's a must for understanding how vaccines work in the body and how they affect the immune response. There are 3 strains of whooping cough that can cause disease in humans. Pertussis, Parapertussis, and Bronchiectasis. When a child is injected with the modern whooping cough vaccine they are injected with alum, filamentous agglutinin, and pertussis toxin to name a few. These are called epitopes or antigenic determinants. These are parts of the bacteria that cause disease in humans. However, there a probably hundreds of toxins and other compounds in the bordatella bacteria that cause disease. These are not found in the vaccine. An example. ACT! Adenlyate cyclase toxin. ACT is what attaches to the cilia in the lungs and causes whooping cough. It's probably the single most important toxin in the disease process. They haven't figured out how to put this in a vaccine yet. Children are not immune to it. SO it's causing disease. And all these kids that supposedly are "vaccine" immune aren't and they become carriers. They are spreading the disease because now they are carriers due to the vaccine and the fact that they have no natural anti-bodies against ACT. SO not only is the vaccine not effective i.e. lacking ACT it's causing outbreaks. That is just ONE childhood disease and ONE vaccine.

Why people think vaccines are some holy grail of medicine is utter ignorance. They aren't. What they are is a billion dollar shot in the dark for the pharma companies. And the vaccine industry is growing by billions every year while the government is mandating more and more vaccines and big medicine is encouraging more and more people to get them. In 2012 the vaccine industry was 20+ billion dollar industry.

Sanitation and better childhood nutrition are the two biggest factors that have made most childhood diseases utterly nonexistent. Not vaccines.

I don't buy this crap about crappy food or environmental factors being the sole cause of autism either. Pesticides have been around forever. Kids in the 50s used to play in the smoke of the DDT trucks when they came through neighborhoods etc. Maybe the increase use of plastic etc. might have some bearing. I think the anti-depressant link is a very alarming possibility too. But our food supply? No that's a huge leap. Now the hygiene hypothesis makes a lot of sense and there is A LOT of research being done in this area. This is where the immune system comes into play and can affect epigenetics to a large degree. For example……..Rockefeller went into Sardinia and started spraying for malaria eradication. And guess what they found? Malaria which stimulates the immune system in a very specific way was keeping the Sardinian population from getting MS. And now guess where the world sees one of the highest rates of MS? Yep the tiny little island of Sardinia.

My point is our immune system is like the ocean…..we really only understand or have figured out maybe 2-3% of it in all our glorious medical arrogance. We still know really nothing about how it works or how important it is besides fighting off infection. There is WAY more to it…..especially when it comes to autoimmune disease. Maybe that is what autism is……an autoimmune disease.

Say what you want about vaccines………but we in the US are among the most vaccinated population on earth and we have some of the most unhealthiest kids i.e. allergies, obesity, autism, asthma, etc. If you don't think vaccines are causing major harm to our children and the future of the human progeny as far as the immune system goes you're clueless and ignorant!

GetHyped
reply to post by marg6043

 

Every single study conducted to analyse the link between vaccines and autism (and there have been any) has shown this link to not exist. There has even been a study of every single child in Denmark investigating a causal link between vaccines and autism. Absolutely no causal relationship existed:

Of the 537,303 children in the cohort (representing 2,129,864 person-years), 440,655 (82.0 percent) had received the MMR vaccine. We identified 316 children with a diagnosis of autistic disorder and 422 with a diagnosis of other autistic-spectrum disorders. After adjustment for potential confounders, the relative risk of autistic disorder in the group of vaccinated children, as compared with the unvaccinated group, was 0.92 (95 percent confidence interval, 0.68 to 1.24), and the relative risk of another autistic-spectrum disorder was 0.83 (95 percent confidence interval, 0.65 to 1.07). There was no association between the age at the time of vaccination, the time since vaccination, or the date of vaccination and the development of autistic disorder.

www.nejm.org...

This myth needs to die before we see the recurrence of tragic vaccine-preventable diseases make a comeback in significant numbers. It would seem that no amount of evidence will ever anti-vaxers. Sadly, it would appear that it may just take a significant outbreak that kills or permanently injures many children before the message hits home.

edit on 5-4-2014 by GetHyped because: (no reason given)

Vaccine Court Awards Millions to Two Children With Autism

www.huffingtonpost.com...
not so fast bub

And I get REALLY tired of pro vaccinators hiding behind "the children". Gimme a break! Our children would be better off if they didn't receive so many vaccines. Take peanut allergies for example. The entire point of anaphylactic shock is so that organism will die and not pass on the effect or allergy to future offspring. It is a cold natural genetic protector. Now I'm not saying we should let kids die because they have peanut allergy. But we can't discount why nature does what it does and the more we pollute and dilute our gene pool as humans we need to understand how it will effect all of us and what it will cost.

Children and adults will die. Unfortunately that's the cold hard reality of LIFE on planet earth. Of course we don't want kids to die unnecessarily. And no one wants their kid to die. But we have to take emotion out of this equation and let science and nature be our guide. Should millions of kids suffer the potential consequences of vaccines because a few kids are immunocompromised and might die if they contract measles or chickenpox? Why should I get a flu vaccine that could affect my health and insult my immune system to protect some 65+ year old codger who is at risk?

reply to post by Danbones


The vaccine court is set up solely to insulate the pharmaceutical companies from adverse reactions (and subsequent lawsuits) so they will continue making vaccines. Vaccines make up less than 2% of their profits, if people started suing them for every possible adverse reaction they would quickly turn around and say "Nope, not worth it. Let's stick to painkillers and vitamin pills instead". The vaccine courts will award money based on just the possibility that a vaccine might have caused harm. Absolutely no causal link needs to be established. It is NOT a scientific statement and does NOT hold the same rigorous standards as a proper scientific evaluation.

reply to post by GetHyped


I do not want the thread to turn into yet another vaccine debate, but I also want to acknowledge fully that, while many studies have concluded MMR vaccines (and the mercury based themerizol) are not directly responsible for causing autism, that vaccines in general (especially the schedule followed in the US) may be a contributing factor. The 2002 study you cite is extensive, for sure, and deserves to be read. This study from 2011 says:

Abstract
The reason for the rapid rise of autism in the United States that began in the 1990s is a mystery. Although individuals probably have a genetic predisposition to develop autism, researchers suspect that one or more environmental triggers are also needed. One of those triggers might be the battery of vaccinations that young children receive. Using regression analysis and controlling for family income and ethnicity, the relationship between the proportion of children who received the recommended vaccines by age 2 years and the prevalence of autism (AUT) or speech or language impairment (SLI) in each U.S. state from 2001 and 2007 was determined. A positive and statistically significant relationship was found: The higher the proportion of children receiving recommended vaccinations, the higher was the prevalence of AUT or SLI. A 1% increase in vaccination was associated with an additional 680 children having AUT or SLI. Neither parental behavior nor access to care affected the results, since vaccination proportions were not significantly related (statistically) to any other disability or to the number of pediatricians in a U.S. state. The results suggest that although mercury has been removed from many vaccines, other culprits may link vaccines to autism. Further study into the relationship between vaccines and autism is warranted.

From Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, 2011

And from the Journal of Child Neurology: Fever Plus Mitochondrial Disease Could Be Risk Factors for Autistic Regression

Abstract

Autistic spectrum disorders encompass etiologically heterogeneous persons, with many genetic causes. A subgroup of these individuals has mitochondrial disease. Because a variety of metabolic disorders, including mitochondrial disease show regression with fever, a retrospective chart review was performed and identified 28 patients who met diagnostic criteria for autistic spectrum disorders and mitochondrial disease. Autistic regression occurred in 60.7% (17 of 28), a statistically significant increase over the general autistic spectrum disorder population (P < .0001). Of the 17 individuals with autistic regression, 70.6% (12 of 17) regressed with fever and 29.4% (5 of 17) regressed without identifiable linkage to fever or vaccinations. None showed regression with vaccination unless a febrile response was present. Although the study is small, a subgroup of patients with mitochondrial disease may be at risk of autistic regression with fever. Although recommended vaccinations schedules are appropriate in mitochondrial disease, fever management appears important for decreasing regression risk.

I am not anti-vaccine, to be clear. They do save lives. And the above quoted Abstract does not suggest I should be - however, it does indicate that certain children may be more vulnerable to negative impacts from vaccines, and may need to be treated differently than typical, healthy children.

However, I do still consider them as possible triggers for epigenetic change along with heavy metals, other pharmaceuticals, chemicals, pesticides, etc. etc. etc. It is still possible that a sub-set of the 1 in 68 children (CDC) who are diagnosed with ASD have reacted adversely to vaccines, which would certainly bear out the actual real-life experience of families in that sub-set. It may not be a single vaccine either, but the greater number of vaccines on the schedule combined with the child's vulnerability, as mentioned in the above Abstract.

So an issue in this is mitochondrial disease.

In researching for my OP, I found that mitochondrial dysfunction (secondary - not just mitochondrial disease) is far more widespread in the ASD population as a whole. This leads me to think that, while by no means the only factor, vaccines may, through causing fever/immune response, play a role in ASD. Viruses or other fever-producing illnesses may have a similar action. We need to find an easy way to screen for mitochondrial dysfunction as a starting point, perhaps.

Thank you for your post!

peace,
AB

AboveBoard

The reason for the rapid rise of autism in the United States that began in the 1990s is a mystery. Although individuals probably have a genetic predisposition to develop autism, researchers suspect that one or more environmental triggers are also needed. One of those triggers might be the battery of vaccinations that young children receive. Using regression analysis and controlling for family income and ethnicity, the relationship between the proportion of children who received the recommended vaccines by age 2 years and the prevalence of autism (AUT) or speech or language impairment (SLI) in each U.S. state from 2001 and 2007 was determined. A positive and statistically significant relationship was found: The higher the proportion of children receiving recommended vaccinations, the higher was the prevalence of AUT or SLI. A 1% increase in vaccination was associated with an additional 680 children having AUT or SLI. Neither parental behavior nor access to care affected the results, since vaccination proportions were not significantly related (statistically) to any other disability or to the number of pediatricians in a U.S. state. The results suggest that although mercury has been removed from many vaccines, other culprits may link vaccines to autism. Further study into the relationship between vaccines and autism is warranted.

Debunked here (among other places): scienceblogs.com...

Peer review is not the final word, it is only the starting point for academic discussion. Bad studies get published all the time. This is one of them.

Autistic spectrum disorders encompass etiologically heterogeneous persons, with many genetic causes. A subgroup of these individuals has mitochondrial disease. Because a variety of metabolic disorders, including mitochondrial disease show regression with fever, a retrospective chart review was performed and identified 28 patients who met diagnostic criteria for autistic spectrum disorders and mitochondrial disease. Autistic regression occurred in 60.7% (17 of 28), a statistically significant increase over the general autistic spectrum disorder population (P < .0001). Of the 17 individuals with autistic regression, 70.6% (12 of 17) regressed with fever and 29.4% (5 of 17) regressed without identifiable linkage to fever or vaccinations. None showed regression with vaccination unless a febrile response was present. Although the study is small, a subgroup of patients with mitochondrial disease may be at risk of autistic regression with fever. Although recommended vaccinations schedules are appropriate in mitochondrial disease, fever management appears important for decreasing regression risk.

This study does NOT suggest there is a causal link between vaccines and autism. It suggests that children with fever + mitochondrial disorders can be at risk of autistic regression. It even states that "although recommended vaccinations schedules are appropriate in mitochondrial disease, fever management appears important for decreasing regression risk".

scientific testing
yeah right
there has been no such thing

Studies comparing vaccinated to unvaccinated populations
Tetyana Obukhanych, Ph.D. (Immunology) explains:

To date, no studies comparing total health outcomes of vaccinated versus unvaccinated children have been done by the medical establishment. In fact, to carry out a study that would give the most definitive answer (i.e., long-term total health outcome in the prospective randomized placebo-controlled trial of the whole vaccination schedule) is considered unethical by the establishment’s code of research bioethics.

Whereas association-type studies of health outcomes in groups who have already made the choice to vaccinate (or not) are ethical to perform, the interpretation of data from such studies might be prone (or construed to be prone) to reporting bias or other confounders, thus further fueling rather than resolving the vaccine debate. (FAQ)

The following is taken in part from Public Testimony of Dr. Heather Rice at the Vermont Department of Health hearing on Act 157, 10/19/2012:

No study of health outcomes of vaccinated people versus unvaccinated has ever been conducted in the U.S. by CDC or any other agency in the 50 years or more of an accelerating schedule of vaccinations.

However, a German study published in 2011 compared the health outcomes of 94 unvaccinated children versus 13,359 vaccinated children (Dtsch Arztebl Int. 2011 February; 108(7): 99–104.”Vaccination Status and Health in Children and Adolescents; Findings of the German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Children and Adolescents (KiGGS).” (pdf of article – pdf of replies). Because the number of unvaccinated children included in the analysis is so small, statistical evaluation is nearly impossible. However, the study did show that unvaccinated human children in two of the three age groups under investigation showed fewer infections and atopic disorders than those who were vaccinated, and none of the unvaccinated children younger than 10 had developed asthma.

www.vaxchoicevt.com...

i have the effin problem and i know what happened after my last tetanus vac
so its going to take a lot more then a brow beating poster to tell me when i know a little about it first hand

if they wanted to prove to everyone there would be a proper comparison study done
and there hasn't been
because they know what they will find

as far as therapy goes
it took me three weeks to figure cayenne works
when all those bozos are prescribing multiple SSRIs for therapy?

its all about money money money
not children children children

reply to post by Danbones


The very first line:

To date, no studies comparing total health outcomes of vaccinated versus unvaccinated children have been done by the medical establishment.

Is complete BS. I even linked to a paper that did this exact thing for every child in Denmark.

GetHyped
reply to post by Danbones

 

The very first line:

To date, no studies comparing total health outcomes of vaccinated versus unvaccinated children have been done by the medical establishment.

Is complete BS. I even linked to a paper that did this exact thing for every child in Denmark.

where is the comparison to an unvaccinated population?
not having mmr doesn't mean they were unvaccinated it just means they hadn't had mmr
i know from personal experience there are triggers involved and there is no mention of that at all in your scientific study
so as far as your bs comment:
right back atcha


also what was there criteria for identification?
and did they take asperger's into account
NO
did they include similar and often mistakenly diagnosed personality disorders into account
NO
thats bs science ment to be touted as definitive when it is anything but

reply to post by GetHyped


Oh really? And do you have any facts saying vaccines only represent 2% of profits? That's the biggest line of BS I think I've EVER heard in the whole vaccine debate. In 2012 Vaccines were expected to bring in 35 billion in revenue!!!!!!!!!!!! Look it up!

www.beyondconformity.org.nz...

Yeah I'm sure all these people involved only care about beating back childhood diseases and keeping us healthy? LOL

Four years after the publication of the paper, other researchers' results had still failed to reproduce Wakefield's findings or confirm his hypothesis of an association between the MMR vaccine and autism[5] or autism and gastrointestinal disease.

en.wikipedia.org...
now why does cayenne stop the symptoms of personality disorder associated with aspergers and triggered by pharmadrugs that irritate the gastrointestinal tract???

This is the story of the MMR vaccine and two Merck scientists who filed a lawsuit in 2010 over Merck’s efforts to allegedly “defraud the United States through Merck’s ongoing scheme to sell the government a mumps vaccine that is mislabeled, misbranded, adulterated and falsely certified as having an efficacy rate that is significantly higher than it actually is.” Merck allegedly did this from 2000 onwards in order to maintain its exclusive license to sell the MMR vaccine and keep its monopoly of the US market.

In the complaint, the scientists outline in great detail exactly how Merck manipulated the efficacy results in order to be able to say they had a 95% effective vaccine so that they could meet the fairytale goal of vaccine-induced “herd immunity by 2010.” Well, it turns out that the vaccine could not meet the goal that CDC projected to eradicate mumps by 2010, BECAUSE the vaccine, in its current state cannot reliably confer immunity,

- See more at: www.vaccinationcouncil.org... #sthash.RwDUKHeu.dpuf

reply to post by GetHyped


Again. I do not want the thread to derail into a "vaccine vs. anti-vaccine" debate.

Did I say anywhere that I thought vaccines were directly CAUSAL? No. I said they may be one of many environmental triggers and that I am not anti-vaccine; I do not think we should stop vaccinations, though we might reevaluate the vaccination schedule and screen children for mitochondrial dysfunction before giving vaccinations. Mitochondrial dysfunction is far more common in ASD than the general population, and especially within a sub-set of children with ASD (5% as opposed to less than 1% of the general population), and, if the data is correct that fever combined with mitochondrial dysfunction can trigger autistic regression, then, logically, vaccines cannot be entirely eliminated from the discussion.

This is all I am saying:

Here is what US CDC Director Julie Gerberding said on national US broadcast TV back in 2008:
Now, we all know that vaccines can occasionally cause fevers in kids. So if a child was immunized, got a fever, had other complications from the vaccines. And if you’re predisposed with the mitochondrial disorder, it can certainly set off some damage. Some of the symptoms can be symptoms that have characteristics of autism.“
HOUSE CALL WITH DR. SANJAY GUPTA – Unraveling the Mystery of Autism; Talking With the CDC Director; Stories of Children with Autism; Aging with Autism – Aired March 29, 2008 – 08:30 ET

That was from the CDC Director, so I don't think I'm barking up some kind of crazy-tree here.

As to the primary point of my OP, I would like your input if you have any - do you have any thoughts on epigenetics in regards to autism, and future therapies? Thank you again for your posts.

- AB

reply to post by GetHyped


I have lived thru 5 decades already, I can tell you that what children are hit this days when it comes to vaccines is nothing compare to what we were hit by back then, it is a correlation between the two, but as long as big pharma keeps paying for silencing and buying out independent studies and keep the fear mongering of what can happen if you don't get your newborn to become a pin cushion for profits, people are going to find the hard way what is going on with their children and autism.

You don't have to be a math genius to add two and two and what has been going on with vaccinations and the increase of autism in the last 40 years

I will never become an apologist of what big corporate profits are doing to us this days, specially our children.

If any mother have to worry about which of their children will become autistic this days when my generation never had to worry about that, is definitely something wrong going on today that our babies are exposed to that they were not 40 years ago.

reply to post by AboveBoard


Because epigenetic effects can be inherited, we need to look further back than an autistic child's vaccines, womb-environment and parents' exposures. Autism seems to occur 3 to 4 generations after a major exposure - before the (still inadequate) safety measures we now have were in place. ....4 generations back, the dads' WWI vaccinations were probably very contaminated. 3 generations back, moms and dads were both exposed to a lot of radioactive fallout from nuclear testing. Then there's the coc aine that used to be in coke, lead paint and much more. Never mind current exposures that will add even more epigenetic effects.

It's a cumulative epigenetic burden - the effects occur after several generations of different exposures and epigenetic responses that are inherited, one after the other, on top of one another.

Some meta-studies already are trying to tackle this one but it's a monumental task.

reply to post by soficrow


Ah. Wow. I get it. Yes - that is pulling together another piece I read that had slipped away. Multi-generational factors.

Sounds like the natural desire to "assign blame" has to be thrown out the window, considering. I agree that trying to find any "one thing" even currently is next to impossible for the population of ASD - there really isn't just "one" thing to blame, and that doesn't even count previous generations. When one does that, it becomes next to impossible and perhaps will be spoken of more in terms of "general toxic load" than specifics. This makes a great deal of sense.

Anyway, "blame" isn't really the point, at least for me. It is more about moving forward into the possibility that, even with all that burden from 3-4+ generations ago, we might still be able to affect positive change now - which is the potential epigenetic therapy has, isn't it? (The Native American wisdom of preserving the land for 7 generations to come is starting to look like the way to go...)

I keep coming back to the feeling that we have so much work to do to clean up our damaged environment and the longer we wait the more generations we negatively affect (I know "environment" is a much broader term in this discussion than ecology.). When this science is more firmly mainstream and established, it might fuel the political will to actually insist on a clean and healthy world (again, I'm an idealist here, but seriously...). *sigh*

Thank you so much yet again for your revelations. They are much appreciated. I also appreciate you bringing it back to the topic of epigenetics! (On a side note...Hmmm. I wonder if the phenomenon of "spontaneous remission" has something to do with epigenetics? It makes sense, no?)

peace,
AB

reply to post by AboveBoard

...I wonder if the phenomenon of "spontaneous remission" has something to do with epigenetics? It makes sense, no?

Yes, it does make sense. The key to epigenetics is that removing the environmental factor(s) causing the epigenetic response(s) will stop the response(s), and reverse the effect(s). That's why I get so impatient (well, downright PO'd) when people keep focusing on "fighting" cancer and autism and other epigenetic diseases and finding magic pills or herbs or treatments - 'cuz the answer is really simple - just remove the exposures and voila!, fixed. No need to add even more epigenetic factors to the mix and create even more epigenetic responses, many of which are bound to be negative.

[Inherited epigenetic mutations tend to "disappear" when the triggering factor is removed, although it sometimes can take a couple of generations.]

reply to post by AboveBoard


According to someone who has worked in the field of sensory and communication problems for decades, the latest research is indicating that ASD is caused by genetics and triggered by an immune response.

To me, that makes perfect sense, especially given the studies that are indicating there may be a link with paracetamol/calpol and or a high temperature experienced by the mother during pregnancy. This also fits with the idea that vaccines could be a problem in those with a genetic tendency.

Autism rates soar, now affects 1 in 68 children
Autism rates climbed nearly 30% between 2008 and 2010 and have more than doubled since the turn of the century, according to a new study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The condition is now believed to affect one of every 68 8-year-olds – up from one in 88 just two years earlier.
www.usatoday.com...

“Polio-like” Cluster in California Has Eerie Echoes

Polio vaxBy Dan Olmsted

Here’s something worth knowing about the cluster of “polio-like illnesses” identified by doctors in the San Francisco area: Some of the first outbreaks of actual poliomyletis in the United States more than a century ago happened in the same area.

Is history repeating itself? Are more cases on the way, and not just in California? It’s a question worth asking, and far more important to public health than headline-grabbing measles and whooping cough outbreaks. But don’t hold your breath, because the real answer may say more about the nature of modern illness than most mainstream medical “experts” would care to consider.

As news outlets reported on the cases on Monday – “five patients who developed paralysis in one or more of their limbs between August 2012 and July 2013” in a 100-mile radius in California, CNN said – I was drawn back to the series Mark Baxill and I wrote in 2011, called The Age of Polio: How an Old Virus and New Toxins Triggered a Man-Made Epidemic.

In that 12,000-word series, we argued that a fresh look at the evidence suggested that for millennia, polio was almost always a harmless enterovirus – a stomach bug – until late in the 19th century. That's when a new pesticide called lead arsenate allowed the virus access to the nervous system, where it reached the spinal cord; this combination was the trigger for the first outbreaks of the paralytic disease called poliomyelitis.

“The reality, we believe, is that the virus itself was just half the epidemic equation -- necessary but not sufficient to create The Age of Polio," we wrote. "Outbreaks were not caused solely by poliovirus – the microbe was an ancient and heretofore harmless intestinal bug -- but by its interaction with a new toxin, most often innovative pesticides used to treat fruits and vegetables.” When children who were infected with the virus ate lead arsenate-laden produce, they were exquisitely vulnerable.

www.ageofautism.com...

did they take the timerisol out of vaccines like they said they did?

FDA admits on its website that thimerosal is still in vaccines...

...Don't believe the lie: Thimerosal is eventually converted by the body into highly-toxic inorganic mercury...

...Another myth often spread by thimerosal advocates claims that the ethylmercury compounds that compose roughly 50 percent of the preservative are not actually harmful because they are different from the type found in a can of tuna. But a comprehensive review conducted by Dr. Paul G. King has proven otherwise, showing that ethylmercury is first metabolized by the body into toxic methylmercury, which is then metabolized into inorganic mercury (www.infowars.com...)....

...Both methylmercury and inorganic mercury are listed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as toxic substances responsible for causing neurological problems, brain disorders, nervous system illnesses, gastrointestinal problems, kidney failure, respiratory illness, and death (www.epa.gov...).

www.naturalnews.com...

several days before i catch a cold or the flue, or when i take and meds that effect my digestive system / immune system, my symptoms of aspergers go way over the top...

reply to post by eccentriclady

...the latest research is indicating that ASD is caused by genetics

Erm. No. A huge number of genes are involved in autism, but it's the epigenetic mechanisms that cause disease by turning these genes off and on, and modifying the gene products post-translation. Genetic mutations are rare, but epigenetic and protein mutations abound. Also, many diseases like cancer and Alzheimer's caused by epigenetic processes also involve the immune system (as well as mitochondria for that matter) - it seems to be an essential part of the disease process.