Long term antibiotic therapy for children co-morbid with Lyme disease and Autism Spectrum Disorder

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Long term antibiotic therapy may be an effective treatment for children

co-morbid with Lyme disease and Autism Spectrum Disorder.

<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22361005>

Kuhn M, Grave S, Bransfield R, S.

Med Hypotheses. 2012 Feb 21.

Patients diagnosed with Lyme disease share many of the same physical

manifestations as those diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Disorder

(ASD). In this study four male children (ages 26-55months) who have an

ASD diagnosis and one male child (age 18months) who displayed behaviors

consistent with an ASD, were assessed using the SCERTS Assessment

Process Observation (SAP-O) from. The SAP-O meets state and federal

requirements for providing a comprehensive, ongoing assessment of a

child with an ASD [33]. The SAP-O form measures children's abilities

using observational, authentic assessment procedures in the domains of

joint attention, symbol use, mutual regulation, and self regulation via

observations of specific behaviors in familiar settings [33]. The five

children tested positive for Lyme disease and their SAP-O score was

evaluated before and after 6months of antibiotic therapy. Each child was

prescribed 200mg of amoxicillin three times per day and three of the

five children were prescribed an additional 50mg of Azithromycin once

per day. All of the children's scores on the SAP-O assessment improved

after 6months of antibiotic therapy. The assessors also reported

anecdotal data of improved speech, eye contact, sleep behaviors, and a

reduction of repetitive behaviors.