Autism caused by the flu???

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I just saw a report on the news that mothers that contract the flu while pregnant increase the likelihood of having a child with autism.
Their research says the percentage rises from 1% to 2%. This is the best researchers can come up with?
Thoughts?

Ha, hmm...I mean, as far as the scientific implications, I have no idea how reliable that information is but it just so happens, my Mom came down with an awful flu within a few days of my birth (which was premature and might have been affected by the flu). I know some women in labor might have flu-like symptoms, but the doctors seem to think it was simply a stomach virus...I also, have emetophobia so it looks like a nice, clean circle of existence

Ah, I caught the headline on the news but missed the story. Sounds like it was no loss. Did you know that there is a body of research that claims the flu is a causative agent in the development of schizophrenia as well? That one has been out for a while. Oh, here is a 2007 article from Science Daily implicating the flu in both schizophrenia and autism: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 090135.htm

"News", eh?

the news is not always the truth.

also just about everything has been linked with autism

Any changes to myself, any so-called "cure," would need to be a series of medium steps and my choice every step of the way.

Now, that said, it's within the realm of possibility and actually somewhat reasonable that there could be an autoimmune cause to at least some cases of autism. PANDAS (still controversial) and Guillain Barre might be rough analogies.

It's possible. Viruses do reproduce by killing cells. We do know HPV can cause cancer.

This is all utter garbage. Autism is genetic in origin but as most things people have, they're a bundle of many individual SNPs, which have not been figured out yet.

There is no cause and there is no cure, since it is the way the mind is structured, from the start.

Hang around here a bit longer and it'll become more clear to you.

A correlative rise from 1% to 2% is not indicative of a causative rise.

It's like saying that the success rate for prayer rises from 1% to 2% if a person has attended church or temple services in the last 9 months, when the data was based on a total of only 100 (out of a few million) people in 100 different cities.

More study is needed.

That's exactly what I thought.
In fact that's my first reaction in my mind whenever I read any research articles.
I find it quite depressing, personally.

Since this finding is merely pointing out a statistical incidence of autism, and doesn't mention anything to do with treating it or even desire to do anything about it, then there is no need for the anti-curebies to hijack the thread and push the "no cure" ideology down our throats either. That is for another thread.

This may not be as ridiculous as it sounds, although I believe in our case it's genetic. I did have a really bad flu when pregnant with my first child. The mother's immune system must have some effect on the baby as her blood products are directly feeding the baby as well as her tissues supporting it, and this has been discussed before:

http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt208088.html

Scientists seem to currently believe that there could be more than one cause for autism, as they are still struggling to locate the genes involved. It could be that for at least some people, there is an immune system cause. Don't forget people with autism themselves frequently have immune system issues.

I think we should at least keep an open mind to this theory. Even if it's not the whole truth there could be some truth in it, a clue if you like.

Last edited by whirlingmind on 13 Nov 2012, 6:58 am, edited 1 time in total.

I happen to be one of the group of people who believes "that genetics loads the gun but environment pulls the trigger" (in some, not all cases) but I believe this with regard to my son.

I think that this is a very big lie. My mother had never gotten a flu while she was pregnant with my brother and me, and we're both autistic.

*Sigh* anything else that causes Autism?

Sighing.

...and cake.

Doing the Can Can dance while pregnant causes Autism too.

Could I make up anything more random than that?

(Not getting at the OP by the way).