bacteria and autism

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i just started reading stuff about how bacteria may cause / affect / symptom of autism, what do you guys think about it.

I haven't seen anything to support it. Autism starts very, very early--probably in the first few months of pregnancy--and infants later diagnosed with autism have had home videos taken in infancy analyzed, and shown to be unusual even during their first days of life.

We know autism is genetic in origin; but there is the possibility of epigenetic effects--that is, environmental things that change gene expression. While the presence of autism itself tends to be controlled nearly or completely by genes, the type of autism and the exact cognitive traits can be affected by the environment. We know that because of twin studies that show that identical twins of autistics are almost always autistic (~95% or so), but only have the same general traits about half the time--so you might get twins who are autistic, with one speech delayed and the other not, that kind of thing. Environment is probably things like prenatal environment, early education, and general health...

The only pathogenic cause of autism I've ever known of is congenital rubella syndrome, which is what happens when a pregnant woman gets rubella and it harms her fetus. CRS children are more likely to be autistic. However, in Western nations with widespread vaccination, congenital rubella syndrome is quite rare.

linky link??

here is a article for it http://topnews.us/content/221833-gut-ba ... tish-study

A recent British study has suggested some links between gut bacteria and the occurrence of autism.

Earlier also, autism had been associated with some metabolic abnormalities and gastrointestinal problems, including gut pain and diarrhea.

In the study, urine of the children was examined by the help of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy.

As many as 39 children with autism, 28 non-autistic siblings and 34 unrelated children were observed by Jeremy Nicholson and the team at Imperial College London.

They wanted to know if the metabolic changes were detectable in children's urine. It was then found that each of the groups had a distinct chemical fingerprint and those having autism had distinct differences as compared to the children not suffering from the disease.

Nicholson stated that the signature was found to be related to gut bacteria. However, it is not known whether or not the metabolic products of gut bacteria cause any advancement in autism. But this, he said, gives a base for new investigations.

Earlier as well, it was found that autistic children have exceptionally higher levels of clostridium bacteria. It was identified by Glenn Gibson of the University of Reading, UK. Commenting on the recent study, Gibson said that with this study the relationship between gut bacteria and the disorder becomes more evident.

here is a nother http://blogs.dnalc.org/g2conline/2010/0 ... -bacteria/

Here at the DNALC, we work with a lot of bacteria. One bacteria in particular is a harmless strain of E.coli called MM294. This strain, a strain unable to survive outside of its broth and agar domain, is used commonly in our classrooms. As students visit us each year, many have the opportunity to work with the bacteria. Whenever I tell my students that they will be working with E.coli, I tend to be on the receiving end of much criticism. E.coli

E.coli gets a bad reputation and I understand that. My students immediately cringe and I know what goes through their minds. They think of the E.coli outbreaks we’ve had in our foods as of late such as the ones that are leading to cases of severe food poisoning and death. I can quickly reassure them that this bacteria does not have this capability. In fact, many are surprised to learn that not all bacteria can cause harm. With the bad also comes the good and there are good bacteria as well.

Bacteria have taken up residence everywhere on and in you. Hundreds of species of bacteria live on your skin, live in your mouth, and in your intestines. Everyone is born sterile (completely clear of bacteria), but soon after birth bacteria moves in and multiplies enough to include more bacteria cells than human cells in your body.

Don’t get too grossed out! These bacteria strains are important. For example, Biologist Jeffrey Gordon of Washington University has a group of mice that are completely gut bacteria free. These mice are very different from their non-sterile cousins in the way that they are extremely skinny. Food passes right through their intestines, mainly undigested. Thus it is shown that the gut bacteria are more efficient at digesting our food than we are alone.

Today, the bacteria in our guts seem to do more things than originally thought. They are currently under investigation in studies of Autism. There is a hypothesis that these gut bacteria might be releasing chemicals that are contributing to the onset of Autism. Autism has already been linked to gastrointestinal problems. These gastrointestinal problems also seem to appear around the same time as behavior symptoms, so perhaps these gastrointestinal microbes have something to do with it.

Researchers in the UK are studying chemicals in the urine of people with Autism compared to those without the condition to detect any chemical differences. These metabolic changes might be detected in the urine. Using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, the urine was analyzed. The results showed a clear difference between the two groups.

There is a theory that these gut bacteria are producing a toxin that might interact and disrupt brain development. One compound that was identified using the NMR spectroscopy was N-methyl-nicotinamide (NMND) which has already been linked to Parkinson’s disease.

At the University of Western Ontario in Canada, Derrick MacFabe and his colleagues have discovered that clostridium bacteria produce a short-chain fatty acid that many cause autism-like behavioral and biochemical changes in rats that can be reversed.

With this possible link, there might be a simple urine test for Autism. This test, done early enough, might then lead to earlier therapy and treatment options.

I have misplaced the link, but there was also a recent article proposing that many cases of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) do not in fact originate in the gut, but in the brain. Several women being studied displayed no unusual fauna or structures in the intestines or bowels; however, they did display unusual brain structures, particularly in those areas governing pain and excitation (they tended to have extra grey matter in the pain-reporting regions, which could cause their bodies to overreact to sensory stimuli from the gut).

It is possible, I believe, for the same to hold true of those on the spectrum who display "gut issues" - the problem originates in the non-standard autistic brain structure, not in the intestines. This would explain why, for instance, the GFCF diet, which works wonderfully for those with celiac disease, does little if anything for many of us who are just plain autistic. If this holds true, it could also explain the observed anomalies in the study cited above. One must be careful in any such study not to confuse correlation with causation, after all - that risks both missing mere coincidence, and reversing cause and effect where such a relationship exists (like observing that the faster a car goes, the hotter its engine gets, and concluding that hot engines make cars go faster).