A new study casts aspersion on the possibility that the risk of developing autism spectrum disorder may be linked to contracting influenza during pregnancy. Although the relationship between maternal infections and ASD is certainly not causal, experts believe that influenza infection in pregnancy may add to the risk.
What autism is known to be today is not considered an illness but rather a spectrum of traits that vary from mild to severe. While the exact causes of ASD are still unknown, there is a tendency toward genetic and environmental factors. One of those environmental factors recently brought to trial is the infection during pregnancy and, most recently, the focus on influenza.
Dr. Ian Lipkin is the director of the Center for Infection and Immunity at Columbia University. He conducted research on the connection of maternal flu with ASD, targeting real cases of laboratory-confirmed influenza, not relying on self-reporting or medical records and found that ASD could possibly be more risk in presence of severe symptoms accompanied with laboratory diagnosed influenza.
Dr. Lipkin said that the flu virus itself does not cause autism, but the mother’s immune response and inflammation created by the infection might interrupt fetal development. This concurs with existing advice against factors such as alcohol, smoking, and some drugs when pregnant, all of which affect fetal health.
Besides Dr. Lipkin’s studies, animal studies further indicate potential effects of infections during pregnancy. Dr. Irene Sanchez Martin is a postdoctoral fellow at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, conducting studies on the potential basis of neurodevelopmental disorders by maternal immune activation during pregnancy. The studies done with mouse models have shown developmental deficits in embryos, particularly males, as a result of maternal immune activation, and this association is connected to behaviors relevant to ASDs in humans. Though this cannot be directly translated to human beings, it does give great clues as to the involvement of inflammation in neurodevelopmental disorders.
Autism
Both Lipkin and Sanchez Martin agree that inflammation, rather than the specific infectious agent, may be the key factor influencing the risk of autism. Elevated cytokine levels, common in women who later have children diagnosed with ASD, suggest that immune system activation could disrupt normal fetal brain development.
This research shows the complexity of the origin of autism, making it important to consider the environmental factors, such as infections during pregnancy. Further studies are needed to fully understand the underlying mechanisms.
