Dangers From The Flu: Autism Linked To The Flu

A new study found that a child whose mother suffered from the flu while pregnant is more likely to suffer from infantile autism. Infantile autism is a rare syndrome that affects children. It usually will be diagnosed before a child is three years old. Infantile autism is when a child is withdrawn, lacks social responsiveness, has no interest in others, or has significant language deficiencies. A child with infantile autism has a severe disorder, which will likely effect the child’s emotional, social and language development.

The study cautioned the findings saying that the research is still in the preliminary stages. Further, the study concluded that even though there was a higher rate of infantile autism, children whose mother suffered from the flu while pregnant overall did not have a higher rate of developmental disorders. This means, that there is only a slightly higher chance of infantile autism, but if you suffered from flu there is no higher rate of your child developing any other type of disorder.

The Danish study started with 100,000 expectant mothers and took information from them while they were pregnant. The study then went back through the children’s records while the children were between eight and fourteen years old. The study found that of the 96,736 children that they looked at, only one percent of them suffered from autism, with .4 percent suffering from infantile autism. However, when looking at the children of women who reported having the flu while pregnant, the percentage of infantile autism jumped to .87 percent.

The study said that they would not recommend that women do anything differently while pregnant because as I said before this research is still in its early stages. Part of what is believe to cause this jump in percentage was that when the pregnant woman gets the flu her immune system and some of the chemicals that the immune system releases might effect an infant’s brain. But once again this was cautioned due to the early stages of this research.

Even with all the cautions in this study, the results are interesting. 1 in 88 children in the U.S. suffer from autism or a similar disorder. The more we understand the causes of autism the better we will be able to help children who are suffering from it.

But what do you think? I would love to hear from you! Leave a comment or I also welcome your phone call on my toll-free cell at 1-866-889-6882 or you can drop me an e-mail at jfisher@fishermalpracticelaw.com . You are always welcome to request my FREE book, The Seven Deadly Mistakes of Malpractice Victims, at the home page of my website at www.protectingpatientrights.com.