Research: Is This Recently Characterized Gastrointestinal Pathogen Responsible for Rising Rates of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) and IBD Associated Autism in Europe and the United States in the 1990s?

Authored by Boorom, KF in Medical Hypotheses, Volume 69, Issue 3, p. 652-659, (2007).

Article summary (posted Aug 10, 2007):

Broad spectrum antibiotics that also work against protozoa may be a good treatment for autism.

The author notes that in the 1990s an increased number of people were diagnosed with autism and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). He suggests that autism may be caused by a new form of a type of bacteria (Blastocystis) that is found in the gut. The first step to see if this is true would be to screen people with autism to see if they have antibodies to this type of bacteria. This type of bacteria is now difficult to identify in the gut. He suggests that it would be easy to develop a routine test for it in the future.

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antibiotics, antibodies, autism, bacteria, gastrointestinal, gastrointestinal (GI) tract, immunoglobulin, inflammatory bowel disease, routine, treatment
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