U.S. NIH TO STUDY AUTISM TREATMENTS

The National Institute of Mental Health, part of the U.S. NIH, has launched clinical studies on autism. These studies are the first products of a new focus on autism in response to a reported increase of autism cases.

In one study, researchers will examine the use of the antibiotic minocycline to measure its usefulness in treating regressive autism. Past research suggests that autism may be linked with changes in the immune response that cause inflammation in the brain. Minocycline has known anti-inflammatory effects and has been shown to be helpful in other brain disorders such as Huntington's disease.

Another study seeks to address the widespread but unproven theory that autism may be treated successfully by chelation therapy, which seeks to remove heavy metals from the blood. Chelation is more commonly used to treat lead toxicity, but currently many families seek the treatment to try to remove mercury and other metals from their autistic children's blood. This practice is based on the belief that many cases of autism were caused by exposure to thimerosol, a mercury-based preservative previously used in childhood vaccines.