On the front of its Science Times section, the New York Times (3/17, D1, McNeil) reports that a community of Somali immigrants in the Minneapolis area fear there is an “outbreak” of autism among their children. “But public health experts say it is hard to tell whether the apparent surge of cases is an actual outbreak, with a cause that can be addressed, or just a statistical fluke.” To find out, “the Minnesota Department of Health is conducting an epidemiological survey in consultation with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This kind of conundrum, experts say, arises whenever there is a cluster of noncontagious illnesses.” And for autism, since the disease’s “cause…is unknown, the authorities in Minnesota say it is hard to know even what to investigate.” Still, “many Somali parents are baffled and scared,” and “antivaccine activists are campaigning among them, which worries public health officials, especially because some families go back and forth to Somalia, where measles is still a significant cause of childhood death.” But, “even if the department confirms that a cluster exists, it will not answer the question why.”
Somali immigrant groups worry about high autism rates.
March 17, 2009 by abrandemihl
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I found most of the articles in newspapers on this subject to be rather well written. I have no doubt that genetic disposition, a major change in diet, migration stresses, prior diseases, poorer nutrient absorption due to alterations in the alimentary cannel, lessened exposure to sunlight, low vitamin D intake and regulation (and probably calcium too), too many vaccines given at once, the vaccines themselves, the thimerosal in vaccines which contains mercurial compounds, other metal toxicities, glutathione concentrations, and overall body health, other factors that I might have neglected to mention but the articles covered, all contribute to greater or lesser degrees to autism spectrum disorders in children.
But I found no articles that linked autism spectrum disorders with anti-epileptic and anti-convulsant pharmaceutical products. Sweden has extensively and aggressively treated, especially, Ugandans for epilepsy. I found one well written scientific study that did link autism spectrum disorders and anti-epileptic drugs. Three anti-convulsant drugs that I came across were Valproic acid, Carbamazepine, and phenytocin.
If you read tropical medicine journals, you will find that in many parts of the world, hospitalizations due to neurological problems exceed 30%, of which epilepsy is the number one cause. Many mosquito borne diseases cause neurological problems. Science, medicine and technology are all double edged swords. They should all be taken with a dose of wisdom, limits, communication and decorum.
Other migrant groups have had similar problems. People from the Indian sub-continent living in certain parts of Britain suffered from very high rates of rickets. This was thought to be from lessened exposure to sunlight, lowered intake and regulation of calcium and vitamin D. In the 1980’s it was widely publicized that even Prince Charles campaigned to better their health.
As I prepared this draft, a randomly selected radio announced it was broadcasting from the city of Detroit. There was an announcement that today was Purple day. I think this has something to do with preventing/treating being informed about epilepsy. Later, Jenny from the Michigan Neurologists asked the audience to bring children 12 years and above for a new drug testing for the treatment of epilepsy. It did not matter if they already had been on three other epilepsy drugs.