FW: [LymeInfo] [sci] Long term antibiotic therapy may be an effective treatment for children co-morbid with Lyme disease and Autism Spectrum Disorder

[Guest guest]

Thought this might be of interest to the group...

I bet you know someone who has Chronic Lyme and doesn't realize it yet!

www.lyme-resource.com

Long term antibiotic therapy may be an effective treatment for children

co-morbid with Lyme disease and Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Kuhn M, Grave S, Bransfield R, S.

Medical Hypotheses, online before print, February 21, 2012.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mehy.2012.01.037

Abstract

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 26-55 months) who have an ASD diagnosis

and one male child (age 18 months) who displayed behaviors consistent with

an ASD, were assessed using the SCERTS Assessment Process Observation

(SAP-O) form. 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 6 months of antibiotic therapy. Each child was

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

children were prescribed an additional 50 mg of Azithromycin once per day.

All of the children's scores on the SAP-O assessment improved after 6 months

of antibiotic therapy.

The assessors also reported anecdotal data of improved speech, eye contact,

sleep behaviors, and a reduction of repetitive behaviors.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mehy.2012.01.037