Autism is a brain development disorder that begins at birth or within the first three years of a child's life, and typically involves delays and impairment in basic social skills, language skills, and behavior. The illness currently has no cure although less severe cases may be diagnosed as a Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) or the neuro–biological disorder: Asperger's syndrome – both of which are less severe versions of autism. Variable in its clinical presentation, the spectrum of autism – known as the autism spectrum disorders (ASD) – ranges from mild cognitive changes and behaviors to severe emotional withdrawal. According to two specialists in the field, autism is not a psychological or behavioral illness – as commonly perceived by most people – but rather, a medical one that can be treated to a certain extent by alternative medicine. Dr. Faiza Ghazanfar is a certified biofeedback therapist (teaching patients to read the signs of their body – blood pressure and muscle tension, for example – rather than relying on a doctor's prognosis) and a registered Defeat Autism Now! (DAN) adviser. Dr. Syed Naqvi is a consultant at the emergency department at King Faisal Specialist hospital in Jeddah, and he is also a registered DAN doctor for alternative medicine. Both specialists have worked in the United States – where they first got involved with DAN – and are affiliated with the Autism Research Institute (ARI) there. According to them, autism is a medical and physiological disorder and any form of treatment therefore requires medical treatment with ancillary help, particularly from teachers. Autistic children require specially trained teachers who are capable of addressing the child's needs on an individual basis. On a scientific basis, autism is the lack of response in conjunction with inappropriate responses to every message the brain receives. It is triggered by an autoimmune response to myelin basic protein – the protein believed to be important in the process of the myelination of nerves in the central nervous system. Various systems in the body fail to respond to outside signals because cells, in essence, don't know how to respond. The immune system, for instance, does not know how to respond to antigens, while the nervous system cannot comprehend sensory information. Worrying signs in the Kingdom The prevalence of ASD is about 6 per 1,000 people according to a 2007 research paper, with about four times as many males as females. The number of people known to have autism has increased dramatically since the 1980s, partly due to changes in diagnostic practice, although the question of whether actual prevalence has increased remains unresolved. In a report published in the Saudi Gazette on July 4, five ministries have presented reports to King Abdullah on the situation of the roughly 100,000 registered autistic children in the Kingdom, as part of a Ministry of Social Affairs study conducted through the Saudi Autism Society in 22 major cities. The study aims to provide support to the families of autistic children as well as any social and medical assistance they require. “There are a very limited number of centers in the Kingdom, and only Saudi children are getting any assistance or financial aid from those centers,” explained Dr. Naqvi in an interview with Saudi Gazette. Despite the high incidence rate of this disorder, there are still not adequate and specific services and centers for autism. Another issue is the lack of relevant treatment and resources to help with the disorder. “Autism comes under the category of alternative medicine because conventional medicine – popular in hospitals here – is not yet equipped for integrative medicine, even though the crown prince has already approved (the use of) alternative medicine last August and recommended the issuance of license to qualified doctors,” he added. “The number of qualified doctors is still very low in the Kingdom, and I am in the process of trying to get approval for this internationally recognized alternative treatment through King Faisal (hospital).” Since autism is widely seen as a psychological disorder in the Kingdom, autistic children are given conventional medicine for the disorder along with behavioral therapies in school. How does autism happen? A number of symptoms combine to constitute autism, and unlike most other disorders, there is no single factor that causes it. There may be a number of factors that have caused the disorder and for different reasons. Dr. Faiza Ghazanfar said, “Autism is caused by a number of factors, the primary one being genetic, as well as environmental factors. In fact, there are two types of autism: one that occurs at birth, and another that develops between 12 to 16 months. The former has not changed much in the past 50 years, but the latter has grown exceptionally – almost like a pandemic – from 1 in 50,000 to 1 in 20 live births.” The genetic factor is normally the primary one indicated by most specialists, as genes form the blueprint of a person's body, and autism happens as a result of those genes malfunctioning. According to ARI, there are 20 to 22 genes involved in the causation of autism. “Genes make proteins – or enzymes – and these enzymes carry out different functions in a person's body,” explained Dr. Naqvi. “These paths or function ensure that we receive proper nutrition to grow both physically and mentally.” However, he was quick to point out that genetic problems can never become a pandemic – as autism seems set on becoming – so autism is primarily caused by both genetic and environmental factors. In fact, the ever–increasing incidence of this disorder, particularly in the past decade, is largerly due to the latter. So what are these environmental factors? Both specialists point toward toxic elements in the atmosphere, such as pesticides, chemicals and fertilizers used to grow food. Lifestyles are also to blame according to them. “We are not doing proper exercise, and pregnant women are not eating healthy during term. Ingesting junk food means that mothers–to–be are dumping a lot of chemical load on the unborn child, triggering autism,” they both asserted. Beside the toxic chemicals and fumes unborn children are exposed to, another major factor is the overuse of medicine and antibiotics, which “knocks out” a child's immune system at the onset, and according to the latest studies done on the disorder, autism is mainly an immune system problem. “Autistic children have immune dysfunction, and vaccines are one of the reasons why,” asserted Dr. Naqvi. “Indiscriminate and unreasonable use of vaccines cannot, in itself, cause autism but it is a trigger, and since it is such a complicated disorder, research is still being conducted on how it happens.” The incidence of autism has also been claimed to increase with the mandatory use of the Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccine, a mixture of three live attenuated viruses administered for immunization against measles, mumps and rubella (German measles) at roughly 12 months. In the United Kingdom, the vaccine was blamed for autism in a 1998 research paper by Andrew Wakefield but his claims were soundly refuted and as of yet, no tenable link has been found between the vaccine and autism. What advocates of this view – and there are many of them – claim is that these vaccines are often unnecessary and full of toxic chemicals that such young children should not be administered with. More worrying is the fact that vaccines like the MMR hits children with a triple dose in one go, and that can cause a chemical reaction in the child. One established fact about autism is that vaccines on their own cannot cause the disorder, but merely act as a trigger. The same theory applies to Mercury, Casein and Gluten, all of which have been held accountable for causing autism but only work to exacerbate a pre–existing biological condition – SG In part two next week, Fouzia Khan will be writing about the extremely important initial stages of autism, the need for special autism labs and alternative treatment in the Kingdom as well as dietary changes parents of an autistic child should make. __
