Etiology of Autism

There is no theory of the cause of autism which everyone has found convincing. There may be multiple causes. Thus we will review some of the proposed causes. Most researchers are absolutely convinced that the cause is biological rather than psychological. Bernard Rimland in his book Infantile Autism (1965) cited the following evidence for a biological genesis and against the idea that parents cause their children to be autistic:

1. MERCURY poisoning in a genetically predisposed child 
2. Some clearly autistic children are born to parents who do not fit the autistic parent personality pattern.
3. Parents who do fit the description of the supposedly pathogenic parent almost invariably have normal, non-autistic children.
4. With very few exceptions, the siblings of autistic children are normal.
5. Autistic children are behaviorally unusual "from the moment of birth."
6. There is a consistent ratio of three or four boys to one girl.
7. Virtually all cases of twins reported in the literature have been identical, with both twins afflicted.
8. Autism can occur or be closely simulated in children with known organic brain damage.
9. The symptomatology is highly unique and specific.
10. There is an absence of gradations of infantile autism which would create "blends" from normal to severely afflicted.

Autism and the Brain

Even though the precise cause of autism remains unknown the following areas of the brain have been implicated in autism

What Does Not cause Autism

 

Of the many supposed causes for Autism, the one that created the greatest stir when published was the supposed association with the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine . When published in Lancet in 1998 the study created a flurry of lawsuits, with parents in the United States rushing to sue the drug companies that manufactured the vaccine. However later investigation showed that the lead author of the article had a conflict of interest. In 2004 the New York Times reported that 10 of the original 13 authors had retracted their claims. Ealier this year a case control study proved without doubt the absence of any link between autism and the MMR vaccine

Hornig M, Briese T, Buie T, Bauman ML, Lauwers G, et al. 2008 Lack of Association between Measles Virus Vaccine and Autism with Enteropathy: A Case-Control Study. PLoS ONE 3(9): e3140 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0003140