Autism Vox

A “cure” for Rett Syndrome and an “epidemic” of autism

by Kristina Chew, PhD on February 9th, 2007

Thursday, February 8, 2007, may well go down as a curious day in autism history with two stories generating numerous headlines. The first was the CDC’s releasing the “1 in 100″ figure (in New Jersey) for the prevalence rate of autism among children in various regions of the U.S. This story appears to be launching what seems like a thousand rather alarmist headlines:

• Autism data raise red flag on disorder’s prevalence
• ‘Wake-Up Call’ on Autism: Study shows dramatic growth in syndrome
• NJ Autism Numbers Reach Epidemic Proportions
• Autism exploding in U.S., Colorado 9.9 boys per 1000
• etc.

The other well-publicized February 8, 2007, autism story was the announcement of a “cure” for Rett Syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder that only affects girls. As noted in the February 9th Telegraph.co.uk, researchers in Scotland genetically altered mice by “introducing a DNA stop’ message into the MeCP2 gene.” The MeCP2 gene is the gene that, when mutated, results in the development of Rett Syndrome. The researchers removed the “stop” message in the mice by giving them an enzyme drug and have noted that this process could not be performed on those with Rett: “this drug would not work on Rett girls because the disease is caused by faults in the MeCP2 gene itself.” While the scientists have made certain symptoms of Rett Syndrome “disappear” in the mice—and thereby found out that “brain damage caused by faulty genes” can be countered—they acknowledge that the “experiment was highly idealised” and that the technique is not a treatment for Rett Syndrome.

Nonetheless, here are some of the headlines for their discovery:

• Autism-like disorder reversed in mice
• Autism Hope: Rett Syndrme May Be Curable
• Hope raised for reversing severe childhood disease
• Study Raises Hope for Rett Syndrome Cure
• etc.

Calling this technique (done on mice) a “cure for Rett Syndrome” seems a bit exaggerated and even misleading.

Similarly: Is not announcing that there is an epidemic of autism also and equally exaggerated and even misleading, just because the prevalence rate for 2000 and 2002 is lower than the figure of 1 in 166 that we have become so accustomed to?

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POSTED IN: Epidemic, Genetics, Health, Science, Statistics, Stereotypes, Treatment