Autism spectrum disorder

Autism is a disorder of neural development characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior. These signs all begin before a child is three years old.

Clustering of Autism in California 1993–2001 – This spatial clustering map shows a small area North of Los Angeles, where there is a cluster of children born with autism. Here, children are at four times greater risk for autism than children living in other parts of California. The risk is still present after adjusting for a number of factors. Source: Yap et al.

The prevalence of autism in the United States has increased significantly over the past twenty years. Using information from state birth records and case records of patients affiliated with the California Department of Health Services, Bearman and colleagues estimate that approximately 25 percent of the increased prevalence of autism observed in California between 1992 and 2005 is due to changes in how autism is diagnosed.¹

Dr. Bearman and colleagues recently published that there are certain geographical areas of California where babies are more likely to develop autism (see right). The authors point out that localized “clusters” of autism suggests that environmental factors such as increased public awareness and local advocacy may play a role. However, clusters of disease may just as well suggest autism is caused by a communicable infection such as the slow-growing chronic infection described by the Marshall PathogenesisA description for how chronic inflammatory diseases originate and develop..

Growing evidence exists to conclude that autism spectrum disorder is driven by microbial pathogens.

Persistent co-infections are generally a sign of an immune system disabled by the Th1 pathogens. It's telling to note that there remains no conclusive evidence for any single kind of virus always present in patients with autism.

• Patients with autism tend to suffer from severe gastrointestinal problems and have different bacteria in their GI tract. In a 2005 Paracho et al. study, the fecal flora of ASD patients contained a higher incidence of Clostridium histolyticum bacteria than that of healthy children.²

Ratio of selected urinary metabolite concentrations to that of urinary creatinine between children with autism, their siblings, and controls. Key: *, ***, indicates a significant difference at p < 0.05, 0.001 confidence levels, respectively.

• According to Nicolson et al.: “A large subset of ASD [autism spectrum disorder] patients shows evidence of bacterial and/or viral infections.” ³ He reports that his team found conclusive evidence of Mycoplasma ssp., Chlamydia pneunomiae, and human herpes virus-6 coinfections in ASD patients.
• Nicolson's team also showed that autistic children had several urinary metabolites that were highly significant as compared to controls (see right).⁴ This study confirms other work that children with ASD have unique microbial populations and further suggests that ASD could be clinically diagnosed using a urine test.

• Familial aggregation of other chronic inflammatory diseases – In one large-scale study, schizophrenia was more common among mothers and fathers of autistic children compared to controls. Depression and personality disorders were more common among case mothers but not fathers.⁵ A John's Hopkins study found that mothers with celiac disease and rheumatoid arthritis have higher incidence of having children with autism. A connection was also identified for children with a family history of type 1 diabetes.⁶
• Autistic symptoms appear following infection reactivation – One paper described two cases of children who at first developed normally, but before the age of three developed autistic symptoms following the reactivation of a chronic oto-rhinolaryngologic infection”⁷
• Autoantibodies – In a 2009 study, a significant proportion of autistic children harbored brain myelin basic protein autoantibodies and elevated levels of antibodies to measles virus and measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine.⁸ A second study found high levels of anti-nuclear antibodies in the blood serum of Egyptian autistic children.⁹ The Marshall Pathogenesis explains so-called “autoantibodies” as antibodies generated in response to pathogenic bacterial cells that have been destroyed as a result of an active immune response.
• Temporary remission of symptoms during fever – A Johns Hopkins research team has documented how children with ASD exhibit fewer characteristic autistic behaviors during fever, a change which was unrelated to fever severity.¹⁰ This provocative change in behavior may be due to the fact that acute infections such as those which cause fevers may temporarily delay immunopathologyA temporary increase in disease symptoms experienced by Marshall Protocol patients that results from the release of cytokines and endotoxins as disease-causing bacteria are killed.. In the absence of immunopathology, autistic children display less behaviors characteristic of autism and consistent with die-off of chronic bacteria.
• Read additional studies – PubMed studies that discuss the microbiology of autism

Doreen V. (patient's mother)

autism, ADHD, depression, severe anxiety, chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS)

Read the interview

Interviews of patients with other diseases are also available.