Fever can unlock autism's grip?

[cjolley]

Wow (if it pans out)

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN2921232720071203

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Fever can temporarily unlock autism's grip on children, a finding that could shed light on the roots of the condition and perhaps provide clues for treatment, researchers reported on Monday.
It appears that fever restores nerve cell communications in regions of the autistic brain, restoring a child's ability to interact and socialize during the fever, the study said.
"The results of this study are important because they show us that the autistic brain is plastic, or capable of altering current connections and forming new ones in response to different experiences or conditions," said Dr. Andrew Zimmerman, a pediatric neurologist at Baltimore's Kennedy Krieger Institute, who was one of the study authors.
The study, published in the journal Pediatrics, was based on 30 children with autism aged 2 to 18 who were observed during and after a fever of at least 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit.
More than 80 percent of those with fever showed some improvements in behavior during it and 30 percent had dramatic improvements, the researchers said. The change involved things like longer concentration spans, more talking, improved eye contact and better overall relations with adults and other children.



...

[Mehen]

I'm interested in seeing how they will turn that into a long-term treatment.

Promising none-the-less.

[Nowhere]

That's obvious, isn't it?

Mr. Freeze suit in reverse

[Dr Mordrid]

Perhaps a protein is released in fever that has an effect on critical neurons.

[cjolley]

Perhaps a protein is released in fever that has an effect on critical neurons.

Very likely.

But it seems to me that the big point is that it is REVERSIBLE.
And rather immediately the way it sounds.
That is just amazing and unexpected to me.

I had always assumed that autism was a structural problem. Which would make it nearly impossible to really treat physically, as opposed to psychologically. This is something researchers will be able to really sink their teeth into.

We have a godson with Asperger's Syndrome, and I know there are others here with an even more direct connection to Autism.
It's just very exciting to me.

[Brian Ellis]

There is no apparent proof, from the quotation, that the observed improvement is a change in the neuropathy. Any child who is ill seeks comfort from those around him, therefore the improved contact could just be the result of a plea for help to make him/her better.

As the neuropathic side of autism is still unknown as to cause or effect (other than the observed behaviour) and there is also a psychological side to the condition, how can this be separated in such a small statistical sample?

I would exercise much caution in drawing any conclusions from this news report.

[cjolley]

...
"The results of this study are important because they show us that the autistic brain is plastic, or capable of altering current connections and forming new ones in response to different experiences or conditions," said Dr. Andrew Zimmerman, a pediatric neurologist at Baltimore's Kennedy Krieger Institute, who was one of the study authors.

...

He called the fever research, headed by colleague Laura Curran, "an exciting lead" that could help point the way to a treatment that would reconnect the autistic brain. He said the fever effect was believed found only in children, whose brains are more "plastic" than those of adults.

Proof? Of course not.
It's "an exciting lead."
I'll settle for that description.

[Dr Mordrid]

Me too. Many, many major medical discoveries have been made by following such associations, and many more would have been missed by adopting negativism as a substitute for more detailed investigation.

IMO this association is strong enough to fund a major study spanning a large population then if that pans out a search for receptors and the proteins (or portions thereof) that attach to them.