Doctors Recommend New Ways To Treat Autism

Doctors Recommend New Ways To Treat Autism.
Adults with autism who were intentionally infected with a parasitic intestinal worm qualified an change for the better in their behavior, researchers say. After swallowing whipworm eggs for 12 weeks, forebears with autism became more adaptable and less indubitably to engage in repetitive actions, said study lead author Dr Eric Hollander, number one of the Autism and Obsessive Compulsive Spectrum Program at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City. "We found these individuals had less worry associated with a deviation in their expectations.

And "They were less credible to have a temper tantrum or act out". The whipworm study is one of two novel projects Hollander is scheduled to tip Thursday at the annual meeting of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology in Hollywood, Fla. The other cure - hot baths for children with autism - also was found to promote symptoms. Inflammation caused by a hyperactive immune system, which is suspected to contribute to autism, is the identify with between the two unusual but potentially effective treatments.

Researchers believe the presence of the worms can prompt the body to better balance its immune response, which reduces the person's inflammation levels. Meanwhile, hot baths can c chouse the body into thinking it's running a fever, prompting the release of protective anti-inflammatory signals, he believes. Autism is estimated to agitate one in 50 school-aged children in the United States, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

People with the developmental tangle have impaired social and communication skills. Rob Ring, chieftain science officer of Autism Speaks, said such outside-the-box treatments may seem different but can provide important lessons. "My own general mantra is to be agnostic about where new ideas come from, but pious about data. It's important for the field of autism to develop new approaches".

The whipworm analyse involved 10 high-functioning adults with autism who ate whipworm eggs for 12 weeks, ingesting about 2500 eggs every two weeks. They also drained another 12 weeks on an passive placebo medication. Unlike deadly whipworms in dogs, these whipworms don't wrong humans. "The whipworm doesn't reproduce in the gut, and it doesn't penetrate the intestines, so it doesn't cause disease in humans. The gut clears itself of the worms every two weeks, which is why patients had to be retreated.

Use of the worms relates to the "hygiene hypothesis," which holds that some autoimmune disorders might be caused by a fall short of of microbes or parasites bestow in the body during earlier, less hygienic times. These bugs might help superintend the immune response in the human body. In this case, it was found that the adults receiving the worm curing became less compulsive and better able to deal with change.

Hollander reported that the main side effect of whipworm therapy, diarrhea, occurred about as often in those taking a placebo, or reprint medication. The bath study involved 15 children with autism who alternated days saturating in a 102-degree hot tub versus a 98-degree hot tub. Researchers found that the kids had improved venereal behaviors on days when they soaked in the 102-degree tub.

The findings clinch earlier reports that about one-third of people with autism show an improvement in symptoms when they suffer a fever, the researchers said in horizon information. "Parents have said when their child got fevers, they see a prominent improvement in autism symptoms. This has been reported for years. This study is just one angle you can transport experimentally to get at whether this is a true response".

Hollander said he plans to follow up the whipworm study with a larger sample that when all is said and done will contain young patients and lower-functioning adults with autism. Larger follow-ups are necessary before such treatments can gather acceptance. There is some doubt surrounding the usefulness of the whipworm, which has been investigated as a way of treating other diseases correlated to the immune system.

A major trial testing a whipworm treatment for Crohn's disease, an fervent bowel disease, recently failed, casting a shadow over the worm's effectiveness as an exempt system modulator. The company that co-funded Hollander's research, Coronado Biosciences, also was behind the Crohn's study. "I believe it's still a ways away before we know whether these treatments are going to be effective. But these findings are portion put us on a road to better understand these effects" helpedalt com. Data and conclusions presented at meetings are typically considered prelude until published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.