Fwd: Is Autism Associated with A Viral Infection?

[Guest guest]

I posted this on one of the SLT sites I visit here in the UK,I hope it gets

them thinking . When we returned from the US we found no support in the UK

in trying to establish treatment for our boys based on Dr Goldberg's

hypothesis or work.

In a message dated 14/10/2009 22:12:11 GMT Daylight Time, Goldsmull writes:

Not strictly applicable to Becta but for those professionals and parents

who are driven to understand cause as opposed to symptom treatment this

latest development from the Whittemore Institute is more than

interesting. Clearly while this is potentially very exciting it needs more

investigation but it would be great to see some paradigm shifting.

The frightening year on year upward trend of Autism and other

neurodevelopment disorders might finally have some scientific enquiry thrown at

it and

all those parents who claimed their children regressed following

vaccination or immune problems might not be crazy after all!!

Dr Goldberg of course has long stated the obvious namely that you

can not have a developmental/genetic epidemic.

_http://www.nids.net/pdf/myth.pdf_ (http://www.nids.net/pdf/myth.pdf) and the

Whittmore findings

support his hypothesis.

Here is a video link that features Annette Whittemore, president and

founder

> of the Whittemore Institute and Dr. Judy Mikovits... and they

> discuss the autism link

> _http://nevadanewsmahttp://ne_ (http://nevadanewsmakers.com/)

_Is Autism Associated with A Viral Infection?_

(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-kirby/is-autism-associated-with_b_316986.ht\

ml)

Last week, researchers from the University of Nevada, the National Cancer

Institute and The Cleveland Clinic announced the startling discovery of

antibodies to a little known retrovirus in 95% of patients with Myalgic

Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS), a debilitating

neuro-immune

disease impacting more than a million people in the United States.

The finding, published in the highly respected journal Science, " clearly

points to the retrovirus as a significant contributing factor in this

illness, " said lead author Judy Mikovits, Ph.D., director of research for the

_Whittemore Institute for Neuro-Immune Disease_

(http://www.wpinstitute.org/index.html) , which is affiliated with the

_University of Nevada,

Reno_

(http://www.medicine.nevada.edu/news/university-commends-research-breakthrough-b\

y-whittemore-peterson.htm) . It was the first study to isolate

particles of the retrovirus, XMRV, in human blood and demonstrate that it is

transmitted between blood cells. XMRV was first discovered in prostate cancer

tissue of men with certain genetic defects. Like the more well-known

retrovirus, HIV, this pathogen is blood-borne, and not transmitted through the

air.

The findings have potential significance for a number of other disorders

including, it turns out, autism.

Researchers tested blood samples from a " small group of children " with

autism and found that 40% of them were positive for XMRV, according to a

statement from the Nevada Commission on Autism Spectrum Disorders. More testing

is underway which, the Commission said, " could dramatically increase that

40% positive finding. " (Given the small sample size, such a statement is

purely speculative).

As Dr. Mikovits explained to a _television news program_

(http://nevadanewsmakers.com/) in Nevada, " It is not in the paper and not

reported, but we

have actually done some of these studies (in ASD children) and found the

virus in a significant number of samples that we have tested for. It could be

linked to a number of neuro-immune diseases, including autism. It certainly

won't be all, because there are genetic defects that result in autism. But

there are also the environmental effects; there is always the hypothesis

that, 'My child was fine and then they got sick, and then they got autism.' "

According to Dr. Mikovits, XMRV (which admittedly sounds like a satellite

radio system for your Winnebago) can lie dormant in people, until it is

" turned on or off " by other factors, such as stress hormones like cortisol, or

in response to the presence of inflammatory " cytokines, " protein molecules

secreted by immune cells to help regulate the immune system.

And then Dr. Mikovits dropped a bombshell that is sure to spark

controversy.

" On that note, if I might speculate a little bit, " she said, " This might

even explain why vaccines would lead to autism in some children, because

these viruses live and divide and grow in lymphocytes -- the immune response

cells, the B and the T cells. So when you give a vaccine, you send your B and

T cells in your immune system into overdrive. That's its job. Well, if you

are harboring one virus, and you replicate it a whole bunch, you've now

broken the balance between the immune response and the virus. So you have had

the underlying virus, and then amplified it with that vaccine, and then

set off the disease, such that your immune system could no longer control

other infections, and created an immune deficiency. "

So there you have it - a possible explanation of regressive autism in a

significant number of cases associated with immune system deregulation

triggered by vaccination.

Of course, much more work is needed to nail down the exact significance of

such an association. For example, is the virus implicated in the cause of

autism, or do children harbor the virus as a result of autism?

Either way, it is notable that such questions are being asked by mainstream

sources such as the University of Nevada, and by extension the NCI and the

Cleveland Clinic: Can XMRV infection plus vaccination create the right

conditions for regressive autism? That remains to be seen. But it also means

that the thousands of parents who claim their children did regress shortly

after vaccination may not be so crazy and " fringe " as they have been

portrayed by experts such as Dr. Offit of Children's Hospital of

Philadelphia

and Dr. Insel, head of the National Institute of Mental Health and

Chair of the federal Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC).

" We certainly are advocating vaccinations and how important those are to

the well being of the children, " explained Annette Whittemore, founder of the

Whittemore Institute.

" But what we are hoping for is, by finding out whether or not one is

positive to XMRV, whether it is in one family member or another, and then

looking for it in children, you could alter the immune response in such a way

that you can protect the child and still be able to vaccinate and avoid autism

in these kids. And again, I don't think ether one of us is sitting here

saying, 'Vaccinations cause autism,' but rather a number of factors; a genetic

susceptibility to the illness, to the infection itself, and then on top of

that you are adding something to that mix that takes that child over the

top. "

Apparently, the CFS findings have impressed the scientific community. " We

presented these data three times: Twice at closed conferences at the NIH,

and one at an international meeting a few weeks ago, and you could hear a pin

drop in the audience - it's amazement " Mikovits said. " The scientists are

excited, everyone is working on it, so we know we are going to get a lot of

help. It's just amazement, it's an entirely new field of medicine and

everyone who's ever worked in this family of viruses is, now that we've shown

it's a human pathogen, is extremely excited. "

Whittemore added that researchers hoped to develop a vaccine against XMRV

quickly, noting that " It would be easier to find a vaccine against this than

HIV, because it is a simple retrovirus. "

The discovery raises more questions than it answers. What, exactly, is it

about immunization that might switch on XMRV viral expression? Could the

effect of heavy metals upon cytokine balances be at play? Where did this

retrovirus come from, and how did it apparently become so prevalent in children

with autism? Did these children inherit the virus from a parent, or was

there some other unexplained route of transmission? Why has the NIH said

nothing about XMRV in association with autism, and did Dr. Insel know about

these findings without sharing them with the IACC?

Finally, Dr. Insel has said that a vaccine against autism may one day be

developed. Was he actually referring to a vaccine against XMRV, and what

role, if any, might he or _members of his family_

(http://www.ageofautism.com/2009/08/when-vaccine-development-is-family-business-\

thomas-insels-conflicted-r

ole-on-vaccines-and-autism.html) play in the development of such a

vaccine?

According to Insel's _own biography_

(http://www.med.umich.edu/depression/bio/insel_bio.htm) , in 1994, he went to

Emory University, Atlanta as a

Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, and Director of the Yerkes Regional

Primate Research Center. " As director of Yerkes, " his bio says, " Dr. Insel

built one of the nation's leading HIV vaccine research programs. "

Read more at:

_http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-kirby/is-autism-associated-with_b_316986.ht\

ml_

(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-kirby/is-autism-associated-with_b_316986.ht\

ml)