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^^ Yes to that. If the flu could cause autism, why is the rate of autism rising even though more pregnant women are getting the flu shot?? I don't think the flu shot causes autism but we should see the rates of autism going down since more and more pregnant women get the flu shot. Autism was almost unheard of decades ago before anyone really ever got the flu shot. So that theory makes no sense.
Technically the RATE of autism is not rising.... what is rising is education & awareness, so what has been written off in the past as social awkwardness or some kind of learning disability is now correctly diagnosed.
Technically the RATE of autism is not rising.... what is rising is education & awareness, so what has been written off in the past as social awkwardness or some kind of learning disability is now correctly diagnosed.
Unfathomable nonsense. Some time ago I wrote a lengthy and well-sourced post in the "Politics and Other Controversies" forum on this myth. The cliffs notes version of the post is that tweaks to the ASD diagnosis criteria, education and awareness had zero statistical effect on autism diagnoses. After each tweak to the diagnosis criteria, the autism rate continued to rise at the same level as under the previous criteria. Plus, at least 25 percent of autistic kids are non-verbal, and some pediatricians are downright insulted by the idea that they have simply missed significant signs of autism over the past 50 years or so. Where those awareness programs and diagnoses tweaks might bring some of the outlines of ASD under the diagnosis, those small changes likely have no statistical impact on the incidence and prevalence rate of autism (which is increasing exponentially in a uniform epidemiological fashion and not a hap-hazard awareness-based fashion). The sooner we eliminate the myth that the huge increase in autism is an awareness phenomenon, the sooner we can look to find a cause (something I suspect that some people with a great amount of influence are trying to hide).
It doesn't have to be the virus that causes damage, it's possible it's the fever and rise in body temperature...
True. If influenza infection causes ASD (something I sincerely doubt), then the virus itself cannot be the cause, which means that the response to the virus is the cause. Thus, under that theory, the vaccine itself could potentially cause autism.
Unfathomable nonsense. Some time ago I wrote a lengthy and well-sourced post in the "Politics and Other Controversies" forum on this myth. The cliffs notes version of the post is that tweaks to the ASD diagnosis criteria, education and awareness had zero statistical effect on autism diagnoses. After each tweak to the diagnosis criteria, the autism rate continued to rise at the same level as under the previous criteria. Plus, at least 25 percent of autistic kids are non-verbal, and some pediatricians are downright insulted by the idea that they have simply missed significant signs of autism over the past 50 years or so. Where those awareness programs and diagnoses tweaks might bring some of the outlines of ASD under the diagnosis, those small changes likely have no statistical impact on the incidence and prevalence rate of autism (which is increasing exponentially in a uniform epidemiological fashion and not a hap-hazard awareness-based fashion). The sooner we eliminate the myth that the huge increase in autism is an awareness phenomenon, the sooner we can look to find a cause (something I suspect that some people with a great amount of influence are trying to hide).
It's neither nonsense nor a myth. It's more than just overall awareness, they keep changing the diagnostic criteria. It was actually changed again this year in the latest DSM. That has a huge impact on the # of diagnoses made. I'm not into arguing with conspiracy theorists though, and now we are getting away from the original topic of this post, which is measles.
It's neither nonsense nor a myth. It's more than just overall awareness, they keep changing the diagnostic criteria. It was actually changed again this year in the latest DSM. That has a huge impact on the # of diagnoses made. I'm not into arguing with conspiracy theorists though, and now we are getting away from the original topic of this post, which is measles.
Again, I addressed changes in diagnosis criteria, and I'm not sure what "conspiracy" you're referring to. And GoYanks moved the topic to a "similar" topic, which I responded to.
Technically the RATE of autism is not rising.... what is rising is education & awareness, so what has been written off in the past as social awkwardness or some kind of learning disability is now correctly diagnosed.
I agree that since, say the 70,'s, 80's, even 90's, this was true...many kids were not being diagnosed. But the rates doubled since 2007 according to last night's World News Tonight. I worked in special ed during this time, 2002-2008, and I don't think Autism was still being chalked up to social awkwardness then, only 6 years ago. Something is going on, and hopefully they will try to figure out what it is rather than claim the numbers don't mean anything significant.
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