autism | MY SPECIAL DOCTOR

No contact with reality, inability to interact and communicate with others, difficulty in speech, rigidity of movements: these are some typical manifestations of autism, a disease whose knowledge is still limited in the world, especially in low- or middle-income countries, while in high-income countries there is much investment in research. To redress this imbalance, a project was born at the “Bambino Gesù” hospital in Rome to create a international network of physicians and researchers engaged in the development of therapeutic protocols for use in shared.

Source: Recreation Center

The jesus child project

Over four years, physicians and researchers from twenty countries and four continents will collaborate on research to disseminate evidence-based best practices among clinical centers in low- and middle-income countries. Based on the studies that each network member will carry out in his or her area of focus, the following will be developed diagnostic and therapeutic protocols that can be applied in any social and cultural context. At a later stage, local operators will be remotely trained to implement sustainable protocols.

What is autism

What is autism? Autism-or autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by an atypical organization of certain mental functions and related areas of the brain. The origin is genetic, but environmental factors, su ch as exposure to pollutants during pregnancy, are also implicated. More risk elements are the advanced age of the parents (especially the father), low birth weight or strong prematurity.

Source: Free News

Incidence and characteristics of autism

In Italy, autism involves about 500,000 families; worldwide 1 in every 100 children has an autism spectrum disorder. The probability of a child being born with autism exceeds 1%, with a higher prevalence among boys than girls (the ratio is 4 to 1). The onset is early (between 14 and 28 months) and lasts throughout life.

About 50% of people with autism have a cognitive disability. In general, autistic people manifest a special focus on certain sensory stimuli, have a predisposition to repetitive behaviors and rigid routines, and also have a poor aptitude and motivation for reciprocal social interaction. Autism, in fact, impairs the ability to interact and communicate with others.

Source: Irpinianews

Treatments for autism

Early intervention is crucial: specialized, multidisciplinary teams today are able to make diagnosis as early as 2-3 years, to 4 in the most complex situations, and then adopt the most suitable on a case-by-case basis. There is no cure for autism, but there are treatments, such as “parent training,” that significantly improve symptoms and quality of life. Just at the “Bambino Gesù” children’s hospital, “parent-mediated cooperative therapy” has been carried out for years, targeting the entire family unit and involving the child from preschool age, sometimes immediately after diagnosis. The course lasts 6 months: starting with one session per week and ending on a monthly basis.

Source: For Us Autistic People

by Piercarlo Salari

Even if most members of the scientific community had no particular doubts about the lack of correlation between vaccines and autism, an important new study has further clarified once again that certain conspiracy theories are based on nothing.

From research conducted in Denmark by the Statens Serum Institut and later published in the ‘Annals of Internal Medicine’ of the American College Physicians it is established that on a significant sample of well 657461 children, no correlation was found between the administration of the MPR vaccine (i.e. Measles-Mumps-Mumps-Rosolia) and the onset of autism.

The children observed, all born between 1999 and 2010 in Denmark, a country with high vaccine participation, were monitored through 2013.

Cross-referencing the data collected with the Danish health registry, thus comparing unvaccinated and vaccinated children to established cases of autism, yielded a total result of 6517.

The researchers thus established that vaccines are not responsible for the occurrence of autism, and added that even in families genetically predisposed to autism, there is no increased risk that vaccinated children will suffer from it.

TheWorld Health Organization considers skepticism against vaccines to be among the top ten threats to health during 2019 and looking ahead to the coming years.

Autism cases have increased only virtually, due to better diagnoses and research , which can show how the disorder can be ‘detected’ early.

Measles for example, (a disease perfectly known in the scientific spectrum and recognizable by anyone) has once again come into the news precisely because of reduced vaccination coverage in so many countries.

Italy ranked among the worst, but after the introduction of the requirement it was at least possible to return to the minimum percentage for herd immunity.

So where did the controversy that would link vaccines and autism originate? From a study published a full 21 years ago in the prestigious journal Lancet , by Andrew Wakefield-author whose research was disavowed by the entire peer-reviewed community (and the journal itself). According to several courts, the researcher had falsified data to give credence to his theory.

The effect of these crackpot theories has been that many families have come to distrust vaccines, so much so that in 2018 there has been a 50 percent increase in measles cases worldwide, and the disease has killed as many as 136,000 people.