Prednisone item

[Guest guest]

Note item Q. This was the item I was trying to remember.

Something about steroids and the herpes class viruses.

Ms Binstock often posts to ABMD group. You could

query her on this .....

doris

Prednisone Considerations

for Autism-Spectrum Children

------------------------------------------------------------------------

by Binstock

Researcher in Developmental and Behavioral Neuroanatomy

My writings do not constitute medical advice.

Instead, they represent a seeking to understand autism-spectrum disorders

and their causes and associated traits.

Prednisone: OK for some, not for others

Many physicians prescribe Prednisone for autism spectrum children; however,

*thorough* immune-panels that some autism-spectrum kids' parents have purchased

indicate that significant, chronic-active infections are occurring -- as judged,

for example, by highly elevated antibodies levels against CMV, HSV, measles,

HHV6, enteroviruses, Yersinia species, etc. Other immune-atypicalities are also

identified amidst the lab data of many such kids -- eg, extremely low or

virtually non-existent titres against antigens for which the child has been

vaccinated.

The chance of worsening an autism-spectrum child's underlying infection

(or several!) is important and, if possible, ought be avoided, this this

researcher's concern for the prescribing of Prednisone. This webpage presents

brief summaries of a number of glucocorticoid-related citations, followed by the

citations and abstracts.

My intention is that these summaries and citations convey the impression

that physicians treating autism-spectrum children ought order *thorough*

immune-panel and other lab tests before prescribing steroid pharmaceuticals.

Binstock

Researcher in Developmental and Behavioral Neuroanatomy

Summaries and Quotations

[a] " A 55-year-old woman developed aphasia and delirium during ophthalmic

herpes zoster infection treated with oral prednisone and ophthalmic steroids,

which was followed by progressive cognitive decline without acute neurologic

events for 5 years. At age 60, the patient presented with new onset of

seizures, hemiparesis, and hemianopsia. " (1)

" Atypical [herpes simplex virus encephalitis] HSVE was associated with

HSV-2 infection (two of the four patients), immunosuppression by steroid

therapy or coexisting HIV infection (three of the four patients), or disease

predominantly involving the nondominant temporal lobe (two of the four

patients). " (2)

[c] Intestinal HHV6 and/or EBV, and interferon alpha therapy after

prednisone and other common therapies had ceased to produce benefits.

[d] An example of endogenous elevated-cortisol plus multiple infections (4).

[e] Here is an example of a sackie virus infection treated successfully

with a combination of pharmaceuticals, noting also that her case was

especially severe and included alterations of consciousness, " After the

combined administration of ara-A, dexamethasone and anti-convulsant, the

consciousness level was recovered within a month. " This case illustrates that

in certain emergency situations, diminishing inflammatory processes with

Prednisone and similar pharmaceuticals is important -- but these cases are

different from those of children with symptoms onset and who have not yet had

thorough immune tests. Also, note that despite a sackie infection

apparently generating neurologic signs, " There were no neurological findings

that suspected cerebral focal lesions. " (5).

[f] Another study documenting HSV in the jejunem, albeit not found until

after a transplantation had occurred (6); RM Gesser and colleagues have shown

that gastointestinal HSV can migrate into the CNS, even into the temporal

lobe.

[g] This study was a surprise to me. Even a stress like prolonged long noise

can impair the offspring's ability to generate antibody responses (7).

[h] In Bell's Palsy, treating the virus (HSV; acyclovir) is a better therapy

than treating the inflammation alone (via prednisone) (8); this reminds me of

the smoldering herpes/seizures study wherein treatment improved significantly

after treating-the-virus was initiated (8). [Too bad that recognition had not

occurred years earlier.]

We recall also that a citation and abstract presented earlier in this

Orlando-8 series of posts documented atypical demyelination in response to

intraneuronal HSV. We note that HSV can migrate from the eye into the

brainstem and, while so doing, can generate no noticable symptoms; :

" Following corneal inoculation with HSV-1, the virus invaded the nervous

system and replicated in the brainstem without clinical signs of disease.

During this asymptomatic brainstem infection with HSV-1, significant changes

were found in the function of the HPA axis... We therefore suggest that

asymptomatic acute infection of the brainstem with HSV-1 may affect brain

regions involved in the regulation of the HPA axis... " (9)

[j] Another example of when life-threatening inflammation is occurring

prednisone plus anti-viral therapy is effective (10).

[k] In this study, dexamethasone was used to *induce* viral reactivation.

(11)

[l] Group A strep, with latent HSV reactivated by glucocorticoid therapy for

adolescent female (12).

[m] Tonic pupils, autonomic dysfunction, demyelination stemming from HSV in

a person with Guillain-Barre Syndrome (13).

[n] Steroid-related HSV2-croup: " Prolonged infections may involve other

pathogens. To date and to our knowledge, there has been but a single case

report of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) infection prolonging croup

attributed to prolonged use of corticosteroids. " (14)

[o] Intestinal pathogy induced by the steroid therapy in conjunction with HSV

(15).

[p] An herb root with anti-HSV and anti-Measles properties. Warning! I do not

know if this herb is safe for human consumption. In the very least, the

citations suggests that an antiviral for measles may exist or could be

developed. (16)

[q] A number of the immune-panels I've perused indicate extreme elevations of

EBV. EBV infection is exacerbated by glucocorticoids (17-18).

[r] A clear test-tube/petri-dish example of steroid effects (19)