Autism is a medical mystery

Autism is a medical mystery, a political and research hot potato — and something that thousands of families live with every day.

Autism affects 1 out of every 150 children, primarily boys.

The debate continues over what causes autism, who should pay for treatments and therapies, and what the best treatment or therapy is.

David Wallace, the director of the Center for Integrative Neuroscience at Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences, wants to find answers for parents of children afficted with this developmental disability: How did their children develop this mysterious disorder, one that seems to show up near age 2 and affects boys at four times the rate for girls?

Wallace and several other of the center's scientists and physicians, formed the Autism Research Group to help answer these questions.

Specifically, they're researching environmental ties to autism. They are trying to answer the question is there a link between heavy metals such as mercury, lead and cadmium and Autism.


Some parents suspected vaccines containing thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative, as an autism trigger, but several major scientific studies have disputed that link. And despite thimerosal's removal from vaccines several years ago, the number of autism cases diagnosed continues to rise.

The Autism Research Group is neutral on the subject of possible autism links to vaccines but they're interested in a possible link between adults who had the thimerosal-treated vaccines as children, who are now grown and having their own children.

Other suspects: mercury vapor from forest fires, various food additives and household chemicals, just to name a few.

Some scientists think autism may have a genetic component that is triggered by environmental factors. Finding the branch points is what Wallace and his team are attempting to do. Many scientists agree that looking at the entire autism spectrum, it's virtually impossible to pinpoint a single cause. However, researching and finding commonalities across the autism spectrum should help lead to treatments, and possibly prevention.

Here is to hoping for success!

Autism is a disease. It can be cured. We just need to find out how!