Subj: Medical Board Says Autism Epidemic may not be Autism
Medical Board Says Autism Epidemic may not be Autism
- A Panel of Scientific Experts Asserts that Autism and Other Pediatric
Special Needs Classifications may not be Developmental Disorders but are
Likely Medical Disease Processes that are Beginning to Overwhelm Our Country -
NEW YORK, March 31 /PRNewswire/ -- A statistical study commissioned by
MAT: Medicine for Autism Today projects that the population of children with
special needs/learning disabilities will be growing at a rate three times
faster than the general pediatric population by next year. This means nearly
six (6) million children, or ten percent of the population between the ages of
5 and 19, will receive special assistance during their formative years and
beyond. Autism is the fastest growing of these classifications,
conservatively accounting for a 900% (nine hundred percent) increase in the
ten year study period (1992 to 2001) according to US Department of Education
data! It is now generally recognized that the incidence of autism has
increased at least twenty-fold in the last decade.
"With such compelling data, it is time to focus attention and funding on
what can only be called an epidemic," says Dr. Michael Goldberg, a
pediatrician on the clinical teaching staff of UCLA and President of the NIDS
Research Institute, an international panel of medical experts studying immune
and brain function in children with autism and other neuro-cognitive
dysfunctions. "If autism were purely behavioral or genetic, we would not be
witnessing this dramatic rise in the number of cases, particularly those
children that experience a period of normal development prior to the emergence
of symptoms. It is scientifically impossible to have an epidemic of a
developmental or genetic disorder of any type. Clearly something is very wrong
here," he concludes.
There is strong anecdotal evidence that a large subset of children with
"acquired" autism, where symptoms do not emerge until after the child's first
birthday, suffer from a disease process that elevates their immune system to a
dysfunctional level. "We are calling this epiphenomenon "NIDS" --
Neuro-Immune Dysfunction Syndromes," continues Goldberg. With sufficient
resources, he says, it is entirely possible that medical treatments can be
developed in time to help many of the more than 500,000 individuals currently
diagnosed with autism, pervasive developmental disorder (PDD) and other
related "neuro-immune" conditions.
"It is time to recognize that these children may be suffering from a
potentially treatable medical disease and need our clinical research efforts
now," says Dr. Jeffrey Galpin, Associate Professor at the University of
Southern California and Infectious Disease specialist who has championed
several therapies for severe neurological disease related to AIDS. "An
increasing number of studies in national journals are linking the regulation
of the immune system with nervous system diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis
and even Alzheimer's Disease. Cognitive function, memory, and fatigue may all
be controlled by small molecule immune modulators. Current treatments need to
be modified if we confirm that this finding applies to children with autism,"
added Galpin.
"The continued exploration of this NIDS theory and the potential
etiologies linked to it, is a door we must walk through to supplement the
current behavioral and genetic research on autism if we expect to change the
future of this generation of children," concludes David Gregory, Executive
Director of the NIDS Research Institute. "Right now, our only hurdle is
funding and we hope the nation recognizes that we can change the future of
these children if it responds as it has with other diseases like cystic
fibrosis, multiple sclerosis, Down's syndrome and SIDS, all of which are less
prevalent than autism. The time is now!"
To support this effort, MAT: Medicine for Autism Today, a parent-sponsored
support organization dedicated to identifying treatment options for autism,
today announced its intent to merge with the NIDS Research Institute and
established an immediate fund-raising goal of $750,000 to develop a
scientifically-sound neuro-immune database for children with NIDS-Autism. MAT
also plans to fund studies to evaluate the efficacy of immune modulating
agents in the treatment of NIDS-Autism. Active discussions have already begun
with several interested pharmaceutical companies.
Spokespersons: Dr. Michael J. Goldberg (biography enclosed)
(P) 818-343-1010
Mr. David Alan Gregory, Executive Director
(P) 888-540-4999
Websites: http://www.mat.org or http://www.nids.net
SPOKESPERSON BIOGRAPHY -- Michael J. Goldberg, M.D.
Michael Goldberg, M.D.: Dr. Goldberg received his Medical Degree from UCLA
and trained at LAC-USC Medical Center. He is the President of the NIDS
Medical Advisory Board and is on the clinical teaching staff at both UCLA and
Cedars-Sinai Hospitals. He has seventeen years experience in evaluating and
treating children with disorders that fall within the evolving spectrum of
"NIDS", including autism, ADD/ADHD and chronic fatigue syndrome. Dr. Goldberg
possesses a patient panel of over 400 with varying NIDS conditions. This
patient base has provided the NIDS Board with several preliminary findings
relative to immune dysregulation and brain blood flow patterns through
NeuroSpect analyses.
SOURCE MAT: Medicine for Autism Today
CO: MAT: Medicine for Autism Today
ST: New York
IN: HEA BIO MTC
SU:
03/31/2000 09:17 EST http://www.prnewswire.com
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