news article about vancomycin and secretin

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clipped this from the news:

06:38 PM ET 07/17/00

Autism Study Sparks Concern

By LAURAN NEERGAARD=

AP Medical Writer=

WASHINGTON (AP) _ First, parents clamored for the

hormone

secretin in hopes it would help their autistic

children. Put to the

test, however, secretin is proving disappointing.

Now a new theory is triggering desperate parents'

interest _ and

this time the stakes are higher because it could spur

misuse of the

nation's most precious antibiotic, vancomycin.

An Illinois mother persuaded scientists to try a

bizarre-sounding experiment, testing whether

vancomycin might help

her son's severe autism. To their surprise, little

Bolte got

better.

Dr. Sandler of Rush Children's Hospital in

Chicago was

skeptical of Ellen Bolte's theory that a

neurotoxin-producing

intestinal infection was behind some of her son's

symptoms.

He administered the antibiotic anyway.

``was not cured,

but all of a sudden he started saying words, became

toilet-trained,'' Sandler recalled. ``I found that

very intriguing.

It's not supposed to happen.''

So Sandler treated 11 autistic children who, like

about a third

of children with this serious brain disorder, also

suffer painful

gastrointestinal problems. Neuropsychological testing

concluded

that 10 children improved, he reports in this month's

Journal of

Child Neurology _ but only for a while.

And that's the problem: and the others

worsened again

after just a few months. Yet already parents are

calling doctors

about vancomycin. That's worrisome because overuse of

vancomycin,

considered the best weapon against the problem of

antibiotic-resistant infections, will spur germs to

become

impervious to it.

``It is a danger,'' said Sandler, who has quit

using vancomycin,

calling it inappropriate until more research proves if

it is a real

clue or a false lead.

Another Chicagoan, Dr. Chez, plans to

compare vancomycin

to a dummy drug this fall, important because simple

attention

during medical research markedly helps autistic

children, the

so-called ``placebo effect.'' (Send an e-mail to

rushstudy@...

for study information.)

Like other autism experts, s Hopkins

University neurologist

Dr. Zimmerman is bracing for families' calls.

``It's

heartbreaking, because you know they really want

answers,'' yet the

study is far too weak to back antibiotic use, he said.

Still, it's ``provocative,'' Zimmerman said,

because scientists

are scrutinizing whether bowel problems are caused by

or worsen

autistic symptoms, or are a coincidental side effect

of the

terrible brain disorder.

More than 400,000 Americans have autism,

characterized by

profound social withdrawal, inability to communicate,

repetitive

behavior and sometimes aggression. No one knows what

causes it,

although much research suggests something goes wrong

during

critical fetal brain development.

Several thousand children have taken secretin, an

intestinal

hormone, after a mother said one dose brought her son

out of

autistic isolation. But in scientific studies,

secretin so far has

proved no better than a dummy injection.

Intense behavior therapy is autism's only proven

treatment. But

Bolte was so aggressive the therapy didn't

stand a chance,

his mother said. He screamed for hours. He even chewed

drywall from

the walls. Complicating matters were severe diarrhea

and other

gastrointestinal problems.

Bolte blames antibiotics prescribed for fluid in

's ears

shortly before he became autistic at 19 months. Her

unproven

theory: those drugs killed 's normal

gut-protective bacteria,

allowing an intestinal infection that can produce

nerve-killing

toxins, which entered his brain. Vancomycin, she

thought, could

kill that infection.

Thirty-six doctors scoffed. After all, autism

typically appears

between ages 14 and 22 months, and no sufferers have

ever been

found with neurotoxic infections.

Sandler called it ``highly improbable,'' too, but

he tried

because , by now 3, was miserable. Two months

later,

was ``very calm,'' allowed Bolte to hug him and

finally followed

verbal commands.

Aggression and other symptoms soon returned. But

Bolte believes

vancomycin eased his bowel problem enough to open a

window for

behavior therapy, saying retained his language

improvements.

Even she cautions against demanding vancomycin,

however.

Instead, she is raising money for bacterial research.

___=

EDITOR'S NOTE _ n Neergaard covers health and

medical

issues for The Associated Press in Washington.

On the Net: For general autism information:

http://www.cureautismnow.org

=====

Schaffer

Sierra Vista, Arizona

__________________________________________________