After witnessing a marked improvement in his autistic son, molecular biologist John Rodakis has called on researchers to begin studies into a link between the brains of autistic children and gut bacteria.
According to Rodakis, his son began showing dramatic improvements after beginning the antibiotic amoxillin for strep throat. Rodakis and other family members noticed that the boy began maintaining eye contact, had improvements in his speech and began to exhibit drive and the energy to do things by himself.
Rodakis believes the changes were due to an effect of the medication on gut bacteria caused by a reaction in the autistic child’s brain.
[quote text_size=”small” author=”– John Rodakis” author_title=”Molecular biologist and boy’s father”]
I’m not advocating the use of antibiotics as a long-term treatment for autism, but I would like to see serious medical research into why some children seem to improve when taking antibiotics.
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During his call for more research into the link between gut bacteria and autistic spectrum disorder (ASD), Rodakis published his report in Microbial Ecology in Health and Disease. Despite his call for research, Rodakis took care to avoid recommending the use of antibiotics as a treatment for autism, saying that it’s important to avoid causing a rush for parents to put children on antibiotics, Tech Times reported.
Rodakis also noted that some parents found that their children’s symptoms actually worsened while taking antibiotics. He called this a reinforcement of the idea that antibiotics can cause an effect in autism.
In his search for an answer, Rodakis said he found many other parents who had similar experiences with their ASD children after taking antibiotics, as well as some who give their children antibiotics regularly to improve symptoms.
Evidence has started to grow associating the microbiome, or collection of microorganisms on and in the body, with autism. At the First International Symposium on the Microbiome in Health and Disease with a Special Focus on Autism held last year, speaker Dr. Rosa Krajmalnik-Brown discussed her research finding that children with autism have less diversity in gut bacteria than other children, calling it a “gut-brain” connection, Medical News Today reported.
