The relationship between autism and Lyme disease

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a collective term for neurological disorders in which some aspect of communication, the establishment of relationships with others, and the response to stimuli in the environment are inadequate. Although the specific causes of ASD are unknown, it appears that a number of factors may play a role, such as inherited genetic patterns, exposure to chemicals, heavy metals, and certain biological agents. It is concluded that infections can play an important role in the development of ASD, as various pathogens, i.e. viruses, bacteria and fungi, were found in the examined samples of many patients diagnosed with ASD. For example, the Taenia solium parasite is one of the causes of neurocysticercosis, the common symptoms of which are epilepsy, headache, dizziness, cerebrovascular events and neuropsychiatric disorders. It develops when cysts form in the brain as a result of the spread of infection. Toxoplasmosis is caused by Toxoplasma gondii, a protozoa. It usually does not cause any particular symptoms in adults. It is typically transmitted through eating poorly cooked food containing cysts, contact with infected cat faces, and through transplacental infection, i.e. from mother to child during pregnancy if the mother is infected. (1)
Autism spectrum disorder and Lyme disease may not seem similar at first, but in the case of young children, several characteristic symptoms overlap. Neurological symptoms include disorientation, brain fog, confusion, sensitivity to light, muscle twitching, communication difficulties, and physical and mental developmental disorders. There are also psychological symptoms that can be observed in both cases, but their recognition is much more complex: anxiety, mood swings and behavioral disorders. Physical symptoms such as arthritis, rash and muscle weakness are also seen in both Lyme disease and autism spectrum disorder, but symptoms affecting the digestive system do not give a clear answer to which diagnosis is correct: food allergies, bloating, constipation or diarrhea and general lower abdominal pain. Of course, other diseases can also have similar symptoms, for example, autoimmune diseases are characterized by many gastrointestinal symptoms, and in adulthood, Lyme disease is often misdiagnosed as arthritis or fibromyalgia. It is often not clear which events are closer to being a cause or just a simple symptom. However, it can be concluded that in the presence of an infection, that can be regarded as a general cause, and therefore should be eliminated first, before any other remaining symptoms are considered as stemming from autoimmune, genetic, or other causes.

Lyme disease is the most common vector-borne disease, which is typically transmitted by the bite of a tick – more precisely, the Ixodes species in Europe. The incidence of Lyme borreliosis is constantly increasing, which may be due to a number of factors. One of these is the possibility of transmission from mother to fetus. The first scientific evidence was described in 1985, when a mother and newborn were diagnosed with a vertically transmitted Lyme infection. There are published facts that the spirochete bacterium that causes Lyme disease, Borrelia, can pass through the placenta from mother to fetus. The acronym TORCH, familiar from many books on congenital infectious diseases, which describes the most basic congenital infectious diseases, has been expanded: TORCHES-CLAP, where the letter L stands for Lyme disease. (T: toxoplasma, R: rubella, C: Cytomegalovirus, H: Herpes simplex, E: Enterovirus, S: Syphilis, C: Chiken pox, L: Lyme, A: AIDS, P: Parvovirus B19.) (8)

An unknown but probable explanation for the development of autism spectrum disorder is vertical transmission, i.e. fetal infection during pregnancy. Bransfield and colleagues proposed this theory and identified 24 infections and co-infections that may contribute to the development of autism spectrum disorder in early childhood. If this is the case, it raises several unanswered questions: does the primary form of infection occur in infancy or during pregnancy? Is the original cause of the disease a direct infection of the nerve tissue or a secondary immune reaction to an infection, or both?
The connection between Lyme disease/tick-borne diseases and certain childhood neuropsychiatric disorders was highlighted by an American study. Of the states with the highest prevalence of autism, 15 reported more than average cases of Lyme disease. Conversely, none of the states with the lowest prevalence of autism reported an above average number of cases of Lyme disease. This suggests a correlation between the occurrence of the two diseases. (2)
Clinicians had already suggested the possibility of a link between Lyme disease and autism spectrum disorder, the first research in this field provided a comprehensive picture of the medical history of 102 cases of Lyme disease during pregnancy. 9% of the subjects were diagnosed with autism, and most of them were found to have some kind of developmental disorder. As a control group, 66 mothers with Lyme disease who received antibiotics before and during pregnancy were studied: all of them gave birth to healthy newborns. In 25% of children who develop autism spectrum disorder, the causative agent of Lyme disease, Borrelia burgdorferi, can be detected. (3)
Tick-borne diseases, such as Borrelia burgdorferi infection, which causes Lyme disease, can promote the development of other infections and cause a weakened, sensitive, immunologically unprotected condition during fetal and infant development, which favors the development of autism spectrum disorder. These disorders also generate each other, and in addition to the presence of other factors, they can trigger immune reactions that can result in inflammation, molecular mimicry, changes in the kinurenine molecular pathway, elevated quinoline acid levels, decreased serotonin levels, oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction and excitotoxicity in sensitive individuals. All of these inhibit the development of the amygdala and other neural structures and networks, which can lead to the development of partial Klüver-Bucy syndrome, autism spectrum disorder and other neuropsychiatric diseases.

This hypothesis is supported by the case of many pregnant women with Lyme disease and children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, as well as foetal neurological disorders associated with tick-borne diseases. In addition, the similarities between tick-borne diseases and autism spectrum disorder symptoms, pathophysiology, immune reaction, temporal lobe pathology and brain imaging results are not negligible. (7)
In a study of congenital Lyme disease, Charles Ray Jones and colleagues found that treating Lyme disease and other tick-borne diseases during pregnancy can prevent the development of autism and other developmental disorders caused by them. (4)
A study of the effects of long-term antibiotic therapy conducted by Mason Kuhn et al. objectively demonstrated that antibiotic treatment reduces symptoms of autism spectrum disorder associated with Lyme disease/tick-borne diseases. (5)
We also have access to data presented at a conference that has not yet been published in an official journal: an autism specialist paediatrician who is also a Lyme expert shared her clinical experience. She has administered combined antibiotic treatment for more than 100 children diagnosed with autism and Lyme disease. In nearly 60 percent of cases, the symptoms of autism (partly common to Lyme disease) improved, while in 8 percent the symptoms became more severe – the latter could be eliminated by administering an antimycotic together with the antibiotics.

Another “mysterious” childhood disease that has been linked to fetal Lyme disease is SMA, or spinal muscular atrophy. Recent studies also suggest a link between ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) and SMA (spinal muscular atrophy). (6)

 

 

 

 

Interesting video materials:
A boy diagnosed with autism who tested positive for Lyme disease, babesiosis, and mycoplasmosis: Youtube

Dr. Luc Montagnier, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine for the discovery of the HIV virus, interviewed in French in 2008 about his research topic at the time: the relationship between autism and Lyme disease: Youtube

 

References:

 

  1. M Zubair Alam, Q Alam, M Amjad Kamal, A Ahmad Jiman-Fatani, EI Azhar, M Azhar Khan…Infectious agents and neurodegenerative diseases: exploring the links .Current topics in medicinal chemistry, 2017 [PubMed]
  2. Kuhn M, Grave S, Bransfield R, Harris S. Long term antibiotic therapy may be an effective treatment for children co-morbid with Lyme disease and Autism Spectrum Disorder. Med Hypotheses. (2012) 78:606–15. 10.1016/j.mehy.2012.01.037 [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
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  6. Cetin B. A new complication of lyme disease; spinal muscular atrophy. Eur J Biomed Pharm Sci. (2019) 6:464–8.: MALSG
  7. RC Bransfield, JS Wulfman, WT Harvey, AI Usman The association between tick-borne infections, Lyme borreliosis and autism spectrum disorders- Medical hypotheses, 2008 – Elsevier [PubMed]
  8. Weborvos summary article (Hungarian): Weborvos