• Question: Thanks for answering my question Sarah , you see my brother has autism and i was wondering what could of caused it ?:D

    Asked by blueeyes1998 to Sarah, Will on 21 Jun 2012. This question was also asked by grace1d.
    • Photo: Sarah Martin

      Sarah Martin answered on 21 Jun 2012:

      Thanks blueeyes1998!

      Sadly, nobody knows for sure – there are several causes, and there may well be some undiscovered ones.

      The main ones we know about are genes, as studies of twins show that between half and 90% of children with autism inherit it. But there are also other causes: if the mum or dad are old there’s a slightly higher chance of having a baby with autism; same goes for a mum with diabetes or who uses certain psychiatric drugs during pregnancy.
      If the mum has rubella or cytomegalovirus infections during pregnancy, the reaction of the immune response als increases the risk of autism.

      People used to think that vaccinations caused autism as well, but that has been disproven, because no more children with or without the vaccine have autism.

      I have a couple of friends with mild autism who are fellow scientists!

      Hope this helps!

      🙂
      Sarah

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