Fever May Briefly Relieve Autism Symptoms

Researchers from Drexel University have released a study that says children who suffer from autism may have their symptoms alleviated when they contract a fever. The researchers think that the reason for this is that the fever may do something that causes the nerve cells that are normally not functioning, begin to communicate with each other in the patient's brain. Having the ability to communicate restored might help the patients improve their socialization skills.

During the study, they observed 30 children aged from 2 to 18 who suffer from autism both during and after they developed a fever that reached at a minimum of 100.4 degrees F. The results were that in excess of 80% of the patients experienced at least some improvement in their behavior patterns during their fever and 30% had a significant level of improvement. Some of the changes that they were able to observe were having a longer concentration span, talking more, and more eye contact.

The results indicate that the changes that the patients experienced by not be the result of being sick, but more the effect of the way the body responds to a fever.

However, this was a very small study and more research needs to be done in order to prove whether or not developing a fever is connected to the relief of the symptoms and if it does, to find out exactly how.

Any type of information that holds out the possibility of leading to treatments for autism is more than welcome in the medical community. Children with autism are limited in their social abilities and they have trouble with both verbal and non verbal means of communication. Even though Autism has been around a long time and affects close to 1.5 million
Americans, the cause is still unknown.

The lead researchers on the project are Craig J. Newschaffer, Ph.D., who is a professor and chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Drexel University, and Laura K. Curran, Ph.D., who is an epidemiology doctoral degree graduate who Newschaffer advised before he joined Drexel from Johns Hopkins University. The rest of the team includes Stephen O. Crawford, M.H.S., predoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins University; Michael V. Johnston, M.D., research scientist in the Kennedy Krieger Institute; Li-Ching Lee, Ph.D., assistant scientist at Johns Hopkins University; and Dr. Andrew W. Zimmerman, M.D., pediatric neurologist and research scientist at the Kennedy Krieger Institute.

Source: Drexel University http://newswise.com/p/articles/view/536025/