Lyme And Links To Autism

Autism is increasing zillion-fold across the United States. Some estimate that as many as 1 in 50-150 children are now born with the disorder. Not fifty years ago, it was thought to be one in 10,000. While heavy metals from vaccines have been implicated in the development of this disorder, for some, Lyme disease plays a role. At the LIA Conference this past weekend, Dr. Robert Bransfield stated that approximately 23% of autistic children also have Lyme disease, and 58% percent are infected with mycoplasma, a common Lyme disease co-infection. Mycoplasma, according to Bransfield, may be an even bigger contributer to autism than Lyme disease. (For those who aren't enlightened, mycoplasma is a man-made biowarefare germ that is an inconvenient cross between a virus and a bacteria). In any case, most autism, according to Bransfield, is the result of both environmental and genetic contributions, including Lyme disease.

Sorting out whether an autism patient has Lyme disease can be difficult, however. Since tests for Lyme disease are often inaccurate, physicians must base their diagnoses upon clinical evaluation, and this can be difficult when many similarities can be found between those with Lyme disease and those with autism (Never mind those autism patients with Lyme disease)!. For instance, chronic bacterial and viral infections, especially HHV-6 and strep, are prevalent in both conditions. Amino acid and mineral imbalances are high, anemia is common, as are high levels of heavy metals. Most confounding are neurological symptoms, which can be similar, and temporal lobe brain deficits and oxidative stress, resulting in atrophy of the cerebellum, are common. Detoxification mechanisms are often compromised. In addition, Lyme and autism parallel one another in bizarre, and/or dysfunctional immune processes. High levels of tumor necrosis factor, low NK (killer cell) counts, oxidative stress, susceptibility to viruses, microglia activation and the production of antibodies to neurons, as well as other auto-immune processes, are found in both conditions.

Healing from autism involves using some of the same nutritional and supportive strategies as those used for Lyme disease, and where Lyme disease is a factor, even more so. But because autism is a broad-spectrum disorder, the treatments used for Lyme disease may only result in partial recovery from symptoms of autism. Every autism patient is different, but for those for whom Lyme disease is a problem, treatment of the Lyme complex can result in significant improvement to the autistic person's overall symptom picture.