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[velvetpage]

Genetic link to autism

I wonder if this will have any impact on the people who believe vaccines caused their child's autism?

Comments

[merlyn4401.livejournal.com]

Eh, doubtful. It seems to me that those who believe a vax caused autism in their child are just looking for something - anything - to blame.

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

And now they have it! They can blame themselves, and their own genetics!

[merlyn4401.livejournal.com]

Well THAT'S not the answer they want! They want to blame the drug companies so they can SUE someone!

[failstoexist.livejournal.com]

yep...they want it to be not their fault, and they want someone to pay for it, and they want someone to FIX it and stop it...::sighs:: oh the vaccine believers. I think they're batshit insane and leading a hell of a lot of people down a very dangerous non-vaxing road. :(

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

And we're already seeing the effects of that in many places - whooping cough in Toronto and London, England, massive mumps outbreaks all over the place, polio in third-world countries where it had been eradicated. It's not good.

[failstoexist.livejournal.com]

yeah...well, i'm not sure about whooping cough. I mean, the vaccine wears off after not too long. it's just meant to protect babies who could cough themselves to death. I got it when I was 18 and my doctor said that it had nothing to do with not having the vaccine(bad reaction in the family)....but yeah, as for the others...totally the result of this madness.

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

You're supposed to get a booster for whooping cough every ten years. If you get it, the chances of getting the disease are much slimmer. It's a good example of herd immunity - the more people have some immunity, the fewer will get sick when they come across it, and the fewer people there will be to spread it, etc, etc.

[sassy-fae.livejournal.com]

There have been studies done showing vaccinating vs newly non vaccinating countries, and the rates of diagnosis did not change.

It's an emotional belief, not necessary a rational one. Another new study won't change that.

And what if there are multiple causes of PDD, and only a percentage of cases are genetic? Multiple causes.. birth trauma.. there's a lonnnng way to go with this research, something the article doesn't go into.

Nevertheless, I'm still proud :)

[kibbles.livejournal.com]

Autism IS a PDD. PDD-NOS, however, is on the autism spectrum.

And yes, there's a lot to go on, they're questioning environmental factors with my son, but they admit in his case they can never really know (9/11 related environmental factors).

But the genetic stuff has been talked about for a bit and the vax stuff (which my kid didnt really get because of $ reasons, not until after DX) has pretty much been disproven.

So really, I'm still stuck with no hope. Maybe for my grandkids, if I have any. But every bit helps.

[sassy-fae.livejournal.com]

I know autism is a PDD, the whole autism spectrum classifies under PDD by it's very definition.

I don't think environmental factors need to be discounted even if autism is shown to be 100% in the genes. One theory holds that some children's genes leave them susceptible to developing autism if exposed to certain environmental factors, situations, etc. I don't think they have any evidence for this yet, but the field is so huge, I can't even be sure of that.

I'm willing to bet though, that if this research accurately narrows down the field of possibilities, then research is going to make faster strides as everyone concentrates in the right places.

Dr Szatmari told me last year that there were big breakthroughs coming in the next year, as researchers worldwide were pooling their data. Boy, he was right. I'd love for him and his colleagues to put my entire department out of work someday, and this discovery puts us another step closer to that.

[kibbles.livejournal.com]

As down as I seem sometimes, I am AMAZED at how the OT we are doing is helping my son. All these sensory things, his sensory diet, how it's changing things, what a turnaround it's been.

I still think WE ARE GETTING NOWHERE because he is nothing like how a 5 year old should be, but compared to last year, he's come so far.

How they even came up with this stuff that we are doing, I don't know. I kind of WISH they were studying my son because I can't believe the difference it makes. (And we aren't doing ABA, FWIW.)

And I got nitpicky because people used to do it to me I guess. I'm passing the torch or whatever. I should really STOP that. (And actually I do in public if anyone asks about him, I say he has 'something like autism' and leave it at that.)

[blue-comet.livejournal.com]

Man, those people bug me.

[neosis.livejournal.com]

It seems you can pretty much thank the Assocation of American Physicians and Surgeons (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_of_American_Physicians_and_Surgeons) for the "vaccines cause autism" issue. They're a Conservative/Libertarian political organization, that just so happens to oppose mandatory vaccinations. They published the article because it serves their agenda, and gets them attention and money.

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

I could have sworn it was a British publication that started it all, though the one you quote probably did something very similar. It seems to me the original article was published in the Lancet, and later retracted by almost all of the authors.

[neosis.livejournal.com]

You might be right, I read an aticle which laid the blame squarely on them.

Oh, and here's an interesting and well thought out article on Vaccines and Autism:
http://www.theness.com/articles.asp?id=74 (http://www.theness.com/articles.asp?id=74)