yeast not excessive, but child responds to antifungals; regressions during pollen seasons

[Guest guest]

During a conversation at the recent DAN! in Mclean, Va, Jim Neubrander,

M.D.,

offered a fascinating model for understanding why some autistic kids

show no elevated yeast via CDSA but show positive response to antifungals.

Here is my rendition of Jim's hypothetical offering:

A. Virtually everyone has yeast, and most healthy people would test low

for Candida species on a CDSA.

B. Jim and other docs have reported that some autistic kids regress

(mildly?) during times of pollen, an observation that links immune

reactions to regressions.

C. Jim offered that perhaps the low-yeast-on-CDSA kids who improve via

an antifungal may be kids who have a hypersensitivity to at least some

antigens generated by yeast.

D. A parallel is found in allergies to cats and peanuts. Whereas most

individuals are fine while eating peanuts in the presence of cats, some

individuals know that the presence of either, even in trace amounts,

causes adverse reactions.

E. Perhaps the low-yeast-on-CDSA kids who improve via antifungals are

kids whose hypersensitivity reactions to yeast (see B above) are kids

for whom the antifungal is (temporarily) drastically reducing the level

of yeast-derived antigens, thereby minimizing or transiently eliminating

source of the child's yeast-hypersensitivity reaction.

This model is very different from the alternative model whereby the

child who improves via antifungals despite " no " yeast via CDSA is said

to have yeast colonization despite the negative lab findings.

Parental observations about regressions during allergy seasons would be

informative.