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Query: UMLS:C0004352 (autism)
 32,579 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Symptoms of bone pain and skin rashes are not uncommon following a variety of infectious illnesses, but the underlying mechanisms are not well understood. The case of a 9-year-old boy with autism was recently described, who was hospitalized because of pain in the right hip, refusal to walk, fatigue, irritability, skin rash, and subsequent gingival swelling after an unspecified upper respiratory illness. The boy was diagnosed with scurvy. However, the gingival symptoms occurred after treatment with indomethacin, which lowers vitamin C levels; severe bone pain and fatigue are also well-documented symptoms of hypervitaminosis A. This review of a case report of a boy with autism provides an opportunity to present a new hypothesis of the mechanism of these postinfection symptoms in the context of an increasingly common condition of childhood.
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PMID:Bone pain, growth failure, and skin rash after an upper respiratory illness in a boy with autism: possible association with altered retinoid metabolism. 1856 48

Vitamin A intoxication secondary to over-the-counter nutritional supplements and from its use in acne treatment has been described. However, there have been very few case reports of chronic hypervitaminosis A leading to hypercalcemia in the pediatric population. This paper describes a boy with hypercalcemia secondary to chronic vitamin A intoxication in the context of vitamin A usage for therapy of autism. In addition to discontinuation of vitamin A, hyperhydration, and furosemide, the hypercalcemia in this patient required the use of prednisone and pamidronate to normalize the calcium.
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PMID:Case of hypercalcemia secondary to hypervitaminosis a in a 6-year-old boy with autism. 2293 83

Rubella is a systemic virus infection that is usually mild. It can, however, cause severe birth defects known as the congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) when infection occurs early in pregnancy. As many as 8%-13% of children with CRS developed autism during the rubella epidemic of the 1960s compared to the background rate of about 1 new case per 5000 children. Rubella infection and CRS are now rare in the U.S. and in Europe due to widespread vaccination. However, autism rates have risen dramatically in recent decades to about 3% of children today, with many cases appearing after a period of normal development ('regressive autism'). Evidence is reviewed here suggesting that the signs and symptoms of rubella may be due to alterations in the hepatic metabolism of vitamin A (retinoids), precipitated by the acute phase of the infection. The infection causes mild liver dysfunction and the spillage of stored vitamin A compounds into the circulation, resulting in an endogenous form of hypervitaminosis A. Given that vitamin A is a known teratogen, it is suggested that rubella infection occurring in the early weeks of pregnancy causes CRS through maternal liver dysfunction and exposure of the developing fetus to excessive vitamin A. On this view, the multiple manifestations of CRS and associated autism represent endogenous forms of hypervitaminosis A. It is further proposed that regressive autism results primarily from post-natal influences of a liver-damaging nature and exposure to excess vitamin A, inducing CRS-like features as a function of vitamin A toxicity, but without the associated dysmorphogenesis. A number of environmental factors are discussed that may plausibly be candidates for this role, and suggestions are offered for testing the model. The model also suggests a number of measures that may be effective both in reducing the risk of fetal CRS in women who acquire rubella in their first trimester and in reversing or minimizing regressive autism among children in whom the diagnosis is suspected or confirmed.
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PMID:Rubella Virus Infection, the Congenital Rubella Syndrome, and the Link to Autism. 3154 93

Objectives Vitamin A is essential for normal cellular physiology and is often taken as a dietary supplement. Hypervitaminosis A can lead to hypercalcemia by increasing osteoclasts and subsequent bone resporption. Dietary supplements including vitamin A are new popular treatment stategies for autism. Case presentation We report a five-year old boy with autism spectrum disorder presenting with severe abdominal pain and bilateral lower extremity pain, who was found to have persistent hypercalcemia due to hypervitaminosis A. The patient ingested over 700 times the recommended intake of Vitamin A per day for age. Retention of vitamin A in the liver and adipose tissue causes toxic levels of retinoids and hypercalcemia. Conclusions Acute treatment included intravenous rehydration, furosemide, and calcitonin. Pamidronate was the definitive treatment for hypercalcemia from hypervitaminosis A due to its osteoclast inhibition and long biologic half-life. Parents should be counseled on risks of toxicity and absence of evidence showing benefits of vitamin A therapy for autism.
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PMID:Hypercalcemia from hypervitaminosis A in a child with autism. 3265 63