Reply #44: Is autism AUTOIMMUNE?

[Dear Maggie]

It would most probably be so ... if my theory is right. 2-butoxyethanol causes many autoimmune disorders starting with autoimmune hemolytic anemia (that hides out for many, many years) for those who are chemically poisoned ... then the children of these could come down with singlular autoimmune disorders.

See if parent(s) has Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or CFIDS
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Found on internet: 6 of 72 ...

The Autism Autoimmunity Project
A non-profit charity dedicated to obtaining funding for independent research addressing immunological and immunogenetic abnormalities in autism. http://www.taap.info/research.asp

Bowel Finding Suggests Autism Is Autoimmune Disorder
UniSci is a newsletter of science stories from the major research labs. Headlines link to in-depth articles and editorials. UniSci keeps scientists and others up-to-date on current research... http://unisci.com/stories/20022/0430023.htm

Autism an Autoimmune Illness? http://autism.about.com/library/weekly/aa092602a.htm

Recently there has been a great deal of speculation and research into the possibility of autism being an autoimmune illness. Always viewed as a mental condition or a condition that affects the brain, viewing autism as an actual illness puts an entire new face on how Autism Spectrum Disorders are handled and treated. It would be a major shift in the thinking of the medical and educational systems worldwide.

What is an autoimmune illness? The immune system is one of the most vital systems in the human body. It serves to protect us from illness by sending out white blood cells to find and destroy viruses and bacteria that can harm the body by causing illness. It is even possible for these cells to command a lymphocyte to destroy a cell that has turned cancerous. Normally this system works efficiently and without our knowledge. It is like soldiers being on patrol; working constantly and quietly to be sure the job is being done.
However, sometimes the system can go awry and the very cells that are there to protect us turn on us and begin to attack the body's own cells, tissues and organs. The result? Autoimmune illness. Common autoimmune diseases are rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and thyroid disease along with many less common diseases such as Addison's, Mixed Connective Tissue Disease and many others. The cause is unknown. Why the body would turn on itself is a mystery that researchers are continually trying to solve.

The possibility that autism could be an autoimmune illness is a theory that is being researched by several centers. Recent research by Aristo Vojdani, assistant research professor in neurobiology at UCLA and director of Immunosciences Lab Inc. in Beverly Hills, California, has produced a study that brings together a theory on why it is possible that infection produces the symptoms that are seen in ASD children.

Professor Vojdani studied the blood of children, both with and without autism, and discovered that the autistic children had an antibody that reacted to milk proteins and streptococcus and Chlamydia pneumoniae, two common infections. The problem is that the antibodies that are reacting to these proteins and infections are possibly damaging the blood brain barrier. Combine this with the fact that toxins, such as mercury or thimerosal, can then cross into the brain through the damaged blood brain barrier, causing damage to the brain tissue.

The Autism Research Institute at Yale is taking a more conservative approach and is recommending parents not change diets of their children until the research can be replicated. However, Bradley Pearce, MD, assistant professor of psychiatry at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta comments, ""I think there is substantial validity to the idea that autoimmunity is linked to autism."

The jury is out on the research. It will, as all research, take time to find out what role autoimmunity plays in the ASD puzzle but it appears that this is an area that will be delved into deeply.

Autism and Autoimmune Disorders On the Rise
http://autism.about.com/library/weekly/aa011501a.htm
Could Autism be a form of an autoimmune disorder? Researchers have found some results which may shed a new light on this question.

Classic infantile onset autism is an autoimmune disease
Transfer factor treatment for autism and neuroimmuno diseases ... inflicted optic injury). Twenty-two were cases of classic infantile autism with onset at 12-18 months, http://www.nitrf.org/inftautism.html

VKJIOM
This is also the case with autism, which means that several autoimmune factors have also been ... Some of the important autoimmune factors in autism are: ...
www.sarnet.org/lib/VKJIOM.htm

So, maybe it is an autoimmune reaction to the shots ...
Or maybe it is a birth defect from parents who have been poisoned by a chemical which causes autoimmune dysfunction. (This possibility should not be overlooked)