Evidence presented at the conference by physicians researching the physical symptoms of autism should change the way doctors understand and treat children suffering from the disorder. They now believe that autism is triggered by an environmental insult or toxicity that damages the immature and fragile immune system of a fetus, infant or very young child. This causes the immune system to react against body organs. The result is a condition that has a multisystem effect, not just on a patient's neurological system. Many of the children also have a long history of susceptibility to infections and experience hormonal imbalance, such as hyperthyroidism and early puberty.
Some children even display coagulation and circulatory disorders.
Research presented at the conference showed that tests on blood and tissue samples from autistic children have detected autoantibodies to proteins in the brain, gastrointestinal system and other organs. The speakers also agreed that autism happens more often in families suffering diseases of the immune system such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, inflammatory bowel disease and even asthma and eczema. The incidence of all such diseases has markedly increased in recent decades, they note. According to research by Dr. Anne Comi and colleagues at Johns Hopkins Hospital division of pediatric neurology in Baltimore that was cited at the conference, there is a nine-fold increase in the incidence of autism in children born to mothers with immune illnesses. Dr. Ed Yazbak, a pediatric infectious disease specialist from Boston, said research will not find a chromosome responsible for autism.