Autism - Autism Spectrum Disorder - ASD
Multi-level analysis of the gut–brain axis shows autism spectrum disorder-associated molecular and microbial profiles
SYNOPSIS
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by heterogeneous cognitive, behavioral and communication impairments. Disruption of the gut–brain axis (GBA) has been implicated in ASD although with limited reproducibility across studies.
J. T. Morton, D. Jin, R. H. Mills, Y. Shao, G. Rahman, D. McDonald, Q. Zhu, M. Balaban, Y. Jiang, K. Cantrell, A. Gonzalez, J. Carmel, L. Frankiensztajn, S. Martin-Brevet, K. Berding, B. Needham, M. Fernanda Zurita, M. David, O. V. Averina, A. Kovtun, A. Noto, M. Mussap, M. Wang, D. N. Frank, G. Taroncher-Oldenburg
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by heterogeneous cognitive, behavioral and communication impairments. Disruption of the gut–brain axis (GBA) has been implicated in ASD although with limited reproducibility across studies. In this study, we developed a Bayesian differential ranking algorithm to identify ASD-associated molecular and taxa profiles across 10 cross-sectional microbiome datasets and 15 other datasets, including dietary patterns, metabolomics, cytokine profiles and human brain gene expression profiles. We found a functional architecture along the GBA that correlates with heterogeneity of ASD phenotypes, and it is characterized by ASD-associated amino acid, carbohydrate and lipid profiles predominantly encoded by microbial species in the genera Prevotella, Bifidobacterium, Desulfovibrio and Bacteroides and correlates with brain gene expression changes, restrictive dietary patterns and pro-inflammatory cytokine profiles. The functional architecture revealed in age-matched and sex-matched cohorts is not present in sibling-matched cohorts. We also show a strong association between temporal changes in microbiome composition and ASD phenotypes. In summary, we propose a framework to leverage multi-omic datasets from well-defined cohorts and investigate how the GBA influences ASD.
The Relationship Between the Level of Copper, Lead, Mercury and Autism Disorders: A Meta-Analysis
SYNOPSIS
There is, nevertheless, a significant relationship between mercury concentration and autism. Thus, the concentration for mercury can be listed as a pathogenic cause (disease-causing) for autism.
CITATION
Jafari Mohammadabadi H, Rahmatian A, Sayehmiri F, Rafiei M. The Relationship Between the Level of Copper, Lead, Mercury and Autism Disorders: A Meta-Analysis. Pediatric Health Med Ther. 2020;11:369-378 https://doi.org/10.2147/PHMT.S210042
SUMMARY
In this study, 18 articles conducted in different countries from 1982 to 2019 were collected to determine the authenticity or lack of relationship between the concentrations of copper, lead, and mercury and autism and to provide a reliable pattern in the field for the researchers and planners. Results: In these 18 studies, 1797 patients (981 cases and 816 controls) aged 2 to 16 years were examined. Concentration of the samples (blood, hair, and nails) for both case and control groups was evaluated. There was no significant relationship between copper concentration and autism; there was a significant relationship between mercury concentration and autism; there was also a significant relationship between lead concentration and autism.
Mercury-induced autoimmunity: Drifting from micro to macro concerns on autoimmune disorders
SYNOPSIS
In susceptible individuals, chronic low Hg exposure may trigger local and systemic inflammation, even exacerbating the already existing autoimmune response in patients with autoimmunity.
CITATION
SUMMARY
Mercury (Hg) is widely recognized as a neurotoxic metal, besides it can also act as a proinflammatory agent and immunostimulant, depending on individual exposure and susceptibility. Mercury exposure may arise from internal body pathways, such as via dental amalgams, preservatives in drugs and vaccines, and seafood consumption, or even from external pathways, i.e., occupation, environmental pollution, and handling of metallic items and cosmetics containing Hg. In susceptible individuals, chronic low Hg exposure may trigger local and systemic inflammation, even exacerbating the already existing autoimmune response in patients with autoimmunity. Mercury exposure can trigger dysfunction of the autoimmune responses and aggravate immunotoxic effects associated with elevated serum autoantibodies titers. The purpose of the present report is to provide a critical overview of the many issues associated with Hg exposure and autoimmunity. In addition, the paper also focuses on individual susceptibility and other health effects of Hg.
Parental asthma and risk of autism spectrum disorder in offspring: a population and family-based case-control study
SYNOPSIS
Children of mothers with asthma are at increased risk of developing autism, highlighting the importance of studying environmental risk factors during pregnancy.
Citation
Gong T, Lundholm C, Rejno G, et al. Clinical and Experimental Allergy. 2019 Feb 11.
Summary
This large observational study reports that children of mothers with asthma are at increased risk of developing autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The study looked at all children born in Sweden between 1992 and 2007, including almost 23,000 children with ASD. The researchers posit that maternal immune activation during pregnancy may represent a biological mechanism explaining the association. The increased ASD risk could not be explained by socioeconomic, demographic, or genetic factors, underscoring “the importance of investigating other maternal environmental factors.”
Dynamical features in fetal and postnatal zinc-copper metabolic cycles predict the emergence of autism spectrum disorder
SYNOPSIS
Mount Sinai research could result in an early diagnostic system for autism spectrum disorder.
CITATION
Curtin P, et al. Science Advances. 2018;4:eaat1293.
SUMMARY
Using evidence found in baby teeth, researchers from the Institute for Exposomic Research at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai report that cycles involved in zinc and copper metabolism are dysregulated in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and can be used to predict who will later develop the condition. The researchers used the teeth to reconstruct prenatal and early-life exposures to nutrient and toxic elements in healthy and autistic children.
Differential immune responses and microbiota profiles in children with autism spectrum disorders and co-morbid gastrointestinal symptoms
SYNOPSIS
Autistic children with gastrointestinal symptoms have an imbalance in their immune response that affects behavior and quality of life.
CITATION
Rose DR, Yang H, Serena G, Sturgeon C, Ma B, Careaga M, Hughes HK, Angkustsiri K, Rose M, Hertz-Picciotto I, Van de Water J, Hansen RL, Ravel J, Fasano A, Ashwood P. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity. 2018;70:354-368.
SUMMARY
Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and concurrent gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms have a more imbalanced immune response, a more disturbed gut microbiome and worse behavioral outcomes (such as irritability, agitation, social withdrawal, lethargy, hyperactivity and noncompliance) than ASD children without GI symptoms. The study additionally looked at typically developing children with and without GI symptoms and found that ASD+GI children stood out compared to those two groups as well. Children with ASD plus GI symptoms may have a “propensity” toward leaky gut that contributes to their other symptoms and clinical outcomes.
Immunoexcitotoxicity as the central mechanism of etiopathology and treatment of autism spectrum disorders: a possible role of fluoride and aluminum
SYNOPSIS
Fluoride and aluminum, alone or in combination, can produce the condition of “immunoexcitotoxicity” that leads to the pathological changes seen in autism.
Citation
Strunecka A, Blaylock RL, Patocka J, Strunecky O. Surgical Neurology International. 2018;9:74.
Summary
Children experience sequential immune stimulation from a growing number of neurotoxic metals and chemicals, vaccines and persistent viral infections. This excessive immune activation is the “initiating and sustaining event” in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), triggering inflammation and a cascade of excitotoxicity (damaged nerve cells). The fluoride added to drinking water and the aluminum in vaccines—singly or synergistically as aluminofluoride—can be potent factors in producing the condition of “immunoexcitotoxicity” that leads to the pathological changes seen in ASD.
Vaccines and neuroinflammation
SYNOPSIS
Vaccination can trigger a series of cascading events that disturbs the balance between “protective immunity” and “destructive inflammation.”
Citation
Giannotta G, Giannotta N. International Journal of Public Health & Safety. 2018;3:3.
Summary
This study explores molecular mechanisms capable of explaining “post-vaccination inflammatory syndrome” and the neuroinflammation observed in children with autism. Focusing especially on vaccines (such as HPV vaccines) that contain biopersistent aluminum adjuvants, the authors describe how “continuously escalating doses of this poorly biodegradable adjuvant…may become insidiously unsafe,” especially in children who are vaccinated repeatedly or who have an immature or altered blood-brain barrier. Vaccination can trigger a series of cascading events (involving overexpression of the signaling molecules that regulate inflammation and activation of brain cells called microglia) that disturbs the balance between “protective immunity” and “destructive inflammation.”
Association of maternal insecticide levels with autism in offspring from a national birth cohort
SYNOPSIS
The offspring of mothers exposed to DDT and its metabolites during pregnancy are at increased risk for autism.
Citation
Brown AS, Cheslack-Postava K, Rantakokko P, et al. American Journal of Psychiatry. 2018;175:1094-1101.
Summary
The study provides the first evidence based on biomarkers of an increased autism risk in the offspring of mothers exposed to certain insecticides during pregnancy. In this large national birth cohort study of Finnish children, the odds of autism plus intellectual disability were increased by greater than twofold in mothers measuring with the highest levels of a DDT metabolite.
Acetaminophen, antibiotics, ear infection, breastfeeding, vitamin D drops, and autism: an epidemiological study
SYNOPSIS
In children under age two, four postnatal risk factors (acetaminophen use, antibiotic use, ear infections and early weaning) were associated with an increased risk of autism.
Citation
Bittker SS, Bell KR. Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment. 2018;14:1399-1414.
Summary
This study suggests that increased use of acetaminophen and antibiotics in children under age two, along with an increased incidence of ear infections in the first two years and early weaning, are associated with an increased risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The researchers conducted a large parent Internet survey covering over 1,500 three- to twelve-year-old children who either had or did not have ASD. The findings replicate other studies focused on these postnatal ASD risk factors.
Prenatal stress, maternal immune dysregulation, and their association with autism spectrum disorders
SYNOPSIS
Two prenatal exposures—stress and maternal immune dysregulation—are associated with autism, probably in combination with other genetic and environmental risk factors.
Citation
Beversdorf DQ, Stevens HE, Jones KL. Current Psychiatry Reports. 2018;20:76.
Summary
Prenatal stress and disruption of a pregnant woman’s immune response (“maternal immune activation”) are two environmental factors associated with the increased incidence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, the fact that, in many cases, these prenatal exposures do not result in ASD suggests an “interaction with multiple other risks.” Some evidence points to greater susceptibility to prenatal stress and maternal immune dysregulation in male offspring.
Subcutaneous injections of aluminum at vaccine adjuvant levels activate innate immune genes in mouse brain that are homologous with biomarkers of autism
SYNOPSIS
Aluminum adjuvants promote brain inflammation, and males appear to be more susceptible to aluminum’s toxic effects.
CITATION
Li D, Tomljenovic L, Li Y, Shaw CA. Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry. 2017;177:39–54.
SUMMARY
Autism manifests in early childhood, during a window of early developmental vulnerability where the normal developmental trajectory is most susceptible to xenobiotic insults. Aluminum (Al) vaccine adjuvants are xenobiotics with immunostimulating and neurotoxic properties to which infants worldwide are routinely exposed. This research found that aluminum triggered innate immune system activation and altered neurotransmitter activity in male mice, observations which are consistent with those in autism. Female mice were less susceptible to aluminum as the frontal cortex was the most affected area in males and the cerebellum in females. These findings suggest that aluminum adjuvants promote brain inflammation and that males appear to be more susceptible to aluminum′s toxic effects. (Note: This study has since been retracted by the Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry, but the importance of the topic prompted our decision to keep it in our science library.)
Assessment of hair aluminum, lead, and mercury in a sample of autistic Egyptian children: Environmental risk factors of heavy metals in autism
SYNOPSIS
Autistic children accumulate metals at a much higher level than children who do not have a diagnosis of autism.
CITATION
El Baz Mohamed F, Zaky EA, Bassuoni EI-Sayed A, et al. Behavioural Neurology. 2015, Article ID 545674.
SUMMARY
Researchers found the mean levels of mercury, lead and aluminum in hair of autistic patients were significantly higher than in controls. Mercury, lead and aluminum levels were positively correlated with maternal fish consumption, living near gasoline stations and the usage of aluminum pans, respectively.
A dose-response relationship between organic mercury exposure from thimerosal-containing vaccines and neurodevelopmental disorders
SYNOPSIS
Neurodevelopmental disorders are much more common in children who received mercury-containing vaccines.
CITATION
Geier DA, Hooker BS, Kern JK, King PG, Sykes LK, Geier MR. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2014;11:9156-9170.
SUMMARY
On a per microgram of organic-mercury (Hg) basis, pervasive developmental disorder, specific developmental disorder, tic disorder and hyperkinetic syndrome of childhood cases were significantly more likely than controls to receive increased organic-Hg exposure. This study provides new epidemiological evidence supporting a significant relationship between increasing organic-Hg exposure from vaccines and the subsequent risk of a neurodevelopmental disorder diagnosis.
Transcriptomic analyses of neurotoxic effects in mouse brain after intermittent neonatal administration of thimerosal
SYNOPSIS
Chinese scientists find mice injected with thimerosal (vaccine mercury) have behavioral impairments similar to autism.
CITATION
Li X, Qu F, Xie W, et al. Toxicological Sciences. 2014;139:452–465.
SUMMARY
“Thimerosal-treated mice exhibited neural development delay, social interaction deficiency, and inclination of depression. Apparent neuropathological changes were also observed in adult mice neonatally treated with thimerosal. High-throughput RNA sequencing of autistic-behaved mice brains revealed the alternation of a number of canonical pathways involving neuronal development, neuronal synaptic function, and the dysregulation of endocrine system.”
Mesenchymal stem cells in treating autism: novel insights
SYNOPSIS
Mesenchymal stem cells may be promising candidates for addressing autism-related immune dysregulation.
Citation
Siniscalco D, Bradstreet JJ, Sych N, Antonucci N. World Journal of Stem Cells. 2014;6:173-178.
Summary
Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) possess unique immunological properties that make them promising candidates in regenerative medicine, with the potential to address the immune dysregulation often observed in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study describes a variety of mechanisms through which MSCs could exert a positive effect in ASD.
A comparison of temporal trends in United States autism prevalence to trends in suspected environmental factors
SYNOPSIS
UC-Boulder professor says the autism epidemic is real and therefore must be the product of an environmental factor.
CITATION
Nevison CD. Environmental Health. 2014;13:73.
SUMMARY
“Diagnosed autism prevalence has risen dramatically in the U.S over the last several decades and continued to trend upward as of birth year 2005. The increase is mainly real and has occurred mostly since the late 1980s. In contrast, children’s exposure to most of the top ten toxic compounds has remained flat or decreased over this same time frame. Environmental factors with increasing temporal trends can help suggest hypotheses for drivers of autism that merit further investigation.”
Can awareness of medical pathophysiology in autism lead to primary care autism prevention strategies?
SYNOPSIS
Following implementation of changes in a pediatric medical practice to address autism risks, no new cases of autism occurred.
Citation
Mumper E. North American Journal of Medicine and Science. 2013;6:134-144.
Summary
In 2005, the author’s pediatric practice implemented seven changes to address autism risks, focusing on minimizing environmental toxicant exposure, encouraging prolonged breastfeeding, recommending probiotics, providing nutritional counseling, limiting use of antibiotics and acetaminophen and allowing a modified vaccine schedule. No new cases of autism occurred in children born between 2005 and 2011, even though the CDC autism rate would have predicted about six new cases in the practice over that period. The author cautions that “epidemiology may be too blunt a tool to determine all risks for subsets of the population who may be more vulnerable to vaccine reactions.”
Aluminum in the central nervous system (CNS): toxicity in humans and animals, vaccine adjuvants, and autoimmunity
SYNOPSIS
Canadian researchers: aluminum in vaccines can cause both autoimmunity and neurological damage.
CITATION
Shaw C, Tomljenovic L. Immunologic Research. 2013;56:304–316.
SUMMARY
“In young children, a highly significant correlation exists between the number of pediatric aluminum-adjuvanted vaccines administered and the rate of autism spectrum disorders. Many of the features of aluminum-induced neurotoxicity may arise, in part, from autoimmune reactions, as part of the ASIA syndrome. Aluminum is added to vaccines to help the vaccine work more effectively, but unlike dietary aluminum which will usually clear rapidly from the body, aluminum used in vaccines and injected is designed to provide a long-lasting cellular exposure. Thus, the problem with vaccine-derived aluminum is really twofold: It drives the immune response even in the absence of a viral or bacterial threat and it can make its way into the central nervous system. It is not really a matter of much debate that aluminum in various forms can be neurotoxic.”
A two-phase study evaluating the relationship between Thimerosal-containing vaccine administration and the risk for an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis in the United States
SYNOPSIS
Infants receiving mercury-containing vaccines had much higher rates of autism than infants receiving vaccines without mercury.
CITATION
Geier DA, Hooker BS, Kern JK, King PG, Sykes LK, Geier MR. Translational Neurodegeneration. 2013;2:25.
SUMMARY
“The present study provides new epidemiological evidence supporting an association between increasing organic-Hg [mercury] exposure from Thimerosal-containing childhood vaccines and the subsequent risk of ASD [autism] diagnosis.”
Neurologic adverse events following vaccination
SYNOPSIS
Polish scientists propose new vaccine schedule, express concern at high rate of vaccine adverse events.
CITATION
Sienkiewicz D, Kulak W, Okurowska-Zawada B, Paszko-Patej G. Progress in Health Sciences. 2012;2.
SUMMARY
“[I]t is not reasonable to assume that manipulation of the immune system through an increasing number of vaccinations during critical periods of brain development will not result in adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes. European countries have different models of vaccination that have been modified in recent decades. In Scandinavian countries, which have the lowest infant mortality, vaccinations are voluntary and infants receive their first vaccination at 3 months of age. In the first year of life, they receive 9 recommended vaccinations, and at 18 months – MMR. The acellular pertussis vaccine (DTaP) is used, as well as IPV. BCG and Hepatitis B vaccines are administered to children from high risk groups. Similar vaccination schedules exist in other European countries, where the vaccination of neonates was abandoned and a ban on the use of thimerosal in vaccines was introduced. Note also that Scandinavian countries have the lowest rates of autism compared to other developed countries in which children are vaccinated much earlier and with greater number of vaccines.”
Do aluminum vaccine adjuvants contribute to the rising prevalence of autism?
SYNOPSIS
Canadian researchers report vaccine aluminum and autism prevalence related.
CITATION
Tomljenovic L, Shaw CA. Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry. 2011;105:1489-1499.
SUMMARY
“Dysfunctional immunity and impaired brain function are core deficits in ASD. Aluminum (Al), the most commonly used vaccine adjuvant, is a demonstrated neurotoxin and a strong immune stimulator. Hence, adjuvant Al has the potential to induce neuroimmune disorders. The application of the Hill’s criteria to these data indicates that the correlation between Al in vaccines and ASD may be causal. Because children represent a fraction of the population most at risk for complications following exposure to Al, a more rigorous evaluation of Al adjuvant safety seems warranted. By satisfying eight of the Hill’s criteria for establishing causality applicable to our study, we show that Al-adjuvanted vaccines may be a significant etiological factor in the rising prevalence of ASD in the Western world. We also show that children from countries with the highest ASD prevalence appear to have a much higher exposure to Al from vaccines, particularly at 2 months of age.”
Persistent behavioral impairments and alterations of brain dopamine system after early postnatal administration of thimerosal in rats.
SYNOPSIS
Exposure to thimerosal at vaccine relevant doses alters behavior and brain neurochemistry in a rat model. Based on their findings the authors call for removal of thimerosal from all medicinal products intended for use by children and pregnant women.
CITATION
SUMMARY
The preservative thimerosal added to some vaccines contains about 49% mercury by weight. The toxic effects of thimerosal are dependent on a number of variables including: age of exposure, sex, genetics, tissue concentrations, nutritional adequacy and co-exposures to other toxic chemicals and/or infections. Using a rat animal model, these researchers investigated a series of tests to determine the association of early postnatal exposure to thimerosal on behavioral, neurochemical and neuropathological outcomes. A variety of dose exposures were chosen and were administered by injection i.m. into the glutei maximi in four equal doses on postnatal days 7, 9, 11 and 15. The lowest dose of 12 micro grams of mercury per kilogram of weight was within the range of dose achieved in pediatric vaccines. The higher doses of 240, 1440 and 3000 were used, in part, to account for the lower sensitivity that rats have to the toxic effects of mercury compared to humans. A control cohort received injections of saline. According to the authors, the specific tests utilized were based on behaviors, “which are characteristically altered in autism, such as locomotor activity, anxiety, social interactions, spatial learning, and on the brain dopaminergic system”. Male rats treated with the lowest thimerosal dose (or higher) had a significant reduction in general locomotor activity while in the females this only occurred at the highest thimerosal dose. Such a sexual dimorphism is consistent with males being more sensitive to the neurotoxic property of mercury.
Sorting out the spinning of autism: heavy metals and the question of incidence
SYNOPSIS
Scientists review literature and raise concerns about denial of environmental toxin link to autism.
CITATION
DeSoto MC, Hitlan RT. ACTA Neurobiological Experimentals. 2010;70:165–176.
SUMMARY
“In this paper, we argue that increasingly over the past decade, positions that deny a link to environmental toxins and autism are based on relatively weak science and are disregarding the bulk of scientific literature. The question about toxic exposure and autism is open, with the weight of evidence favoring a connection that is not well understood. Although it is not possible to say with certainty, it seems likely that the connection would be mediated by genetic susceptibility and ability to detoxify. That is, some people have genotypes that confer higher susceptibility to toxic exposures. If so, then 50 years ago few people would have had enough toxic exposure to have the neurological changes that result in autism.”
Hepatitis B vaccination of male neonates and autism diagnosis, NHIS 1997-2002
SYNOPSIS
SUNY-Stony Brook scientists find boys receiving the hepatitis B vaccine series are three times more likely to have autism.
CITATION
Gallagher C, Goodman M. Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Part A. 2010;73:1665–1677.
SUMMARY
“Boys vaccinated as neonates had threefold greater odds for autism diagnosis compared to boys never vaccinated or vaccinated after the first month of life. Findings suggest that U.S. male neonates vaccinated with the hepatitis B vaccine prior to 1999 (from vaccination record) had a threefold higher risk for parental report of autism diagnosis compared to boys not vaccinated as neonates during that same time period.”
Activation of methionine synthase by insulin-like growth factor-1 and dopamine: a target for neurodevelopmental toxins and thimerosal
SYNOPSIS
Scientists identify vaccine mercury’s role in blocking crucial neurodevelopmental pathways.
CITATION
M Waly, H Olteanu, R Banerjee, S-W Choi, JB Mason, BS Parker, S Sukumar, S Shim,
A Sharma, JM Benzecry, V-A Power-Charnitsky and RC Deth. Molecular Psychiatry , (2004) 9, 358–370.
SUMMARY
“The ethylmercury-containing preservative thimerosal inhibited both IGF-1- and dopamine-stimulated methylation with an IC50 of 1nM and eliminated MS activity. Our findings outline a novel growth factor signaling pathway that regulates MS activity and thereby modulates methylation reactions, including DNA methylation. The potent inhibition of this pathway by ethanol, lead, mercury, aluminum and thimerosal suggest that it may be an important target of neurodevelopmental toxins.”
Abnormal measles-mumps-rubella antibodies and CNS autoimmunity in children with autism
SYNOPSIS
Utah state scientists find autoimmune reaction to MMR in children with autism, including autoimmunity to myelin basic protein, a brain building-block.
CITATION
Singh VK, Lin SX, Newell E, Nelson C. Journal of Biomedical Science. 2002;9:359–364.
SUMMARY
“[A]s described herein, autistic children showed a serological correlation between MMR and brain autoimmunity, i.e., over 90% of MMR antibody-positive autistic sera also had autoantibodies to brain MBP. This is quite an intriguing observation in favor of a connection between atypical measles infection and autism; an atypical infection usually refers to infection that occurs in the absence of a rash. An atypical measles infection in the absence of a rash and unusual neurological symptoms was recently described to suggest the existence of a variant MV in children and adults. In light of these new findings, we suggest that a considerable proportion of autistic cases may result from an atypical measles infection that does not produce a rash but causes neurological symptoms in some children. The source of this virus could be a variant MV or it could be the MMR vaccine.”
Increased risk of developmental neurologic impairment after high exposure to thimerosal-containing vaccine in first month of life
SYNOPSIS
Infants receiving mercury-containing vaccines developed speech disorders, sleep disorders and autism, according to CDC scientists.
CITATION
Verstraeten TM, Davies R, Gu D, DeStefano F. Proceedings of the Epidemic Intelligence Service Annual Conference, April 2000.
SUMMARY
“This analysis suggests that high exposure to ethylmercury from thimerosal-containing vaccines in the first month of life increases the risk of subsequent development of neurologic development impairment.”