新的数据表明，美国儿童自闭症发病不断攀升

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根据美国联邦政府最新报告，美国自闭症儿童的发病率是110个孩子有1个。新的数字来自于包括8岁以下孩子的最全面的数据调查。

以前的联邦数据调查是150个孩子有1个自闭症。新的数据表明，儿童现在的自闭症发病率是1％，包括综合的神经系统障碍，其症状可能从轻度的社会障碍到较严重的沟通，语言和认知障碍。新的数据表明，自2002年以来，自闭症患病率出现惊人的57％增长。2002年是卫生官方第一次开始全国范围的调查，以量化儿童孤独症的风险。

新的数字也支持自闭症更频繁地发生于男孩。新的统计数字显示，自2002年以来男孩患病率上升了60％，而女童是48％。

的确，新的数据令人吃惊，不过现在还不清楚，这种增加有多少是真正反映了自闭症风险增加，还是因为人们提高了对自闭症的认识和诊断。特殊教育班和其他疗法的增多也可能使这个数字升高，因为教育工作者和家长希望更多的孩子加入来优化他们的学习环境。

但是，大多数科学家相信，仅仅用人们提高了对自闭症的认识和诊断似乎无法解释这种高增长，背后应该有更多的原因。

那么，什么是推动自闭症飙升的原因呢？虽然最近的研究强调，可能是基因变化的原因，但是一些专家质疑说，基因变化应该是随着时间慢慢推移，无法解释自闭症近期的猛涨。 “当你看到这样的增长，你必须认为这是一个环境问题，”托马斯博士说，他是国立卫生研究院心理健康所和国家孤独症研究所主任。

由于自闭症通常是在两岁以前发生，大多数科学家认为，自闭症的影响因素应该发生在怀孕期间，或在出生后几个月内。怀孕母亲的年纪过大或许是原因之一，还有她或她的新生婴儿可能会遇到的某些行为和各种环境因素，这些因素的组合与他们特别基因组成的互动，可能促进自闭症的发生。自闭症专家马丁说：“找到最主要的致病因素将是一个挑战，因为有如此多的东西包括在里面，无论是饮食或者感染，如果我们做一个列表，可以列出上千的东西来。”

最新统计表明，自闭症强已成为严重的公共卫生问题，凸显出对自闭症原因及治疗研究的迫切需要，以及对自闭症儿童关爱与对自闭症家庭更好的支援服务。国家疾病预防控制中心官员赖斯认为，自闭症是一个重要的公共健康问题，全国研究人员应该不断发现与自闭症有关的新基因。但对受自闭症影响的家庭而言，目前所作出的努力还不够。自闭症科学领导小组首席科学家道森说：“我们看到了激动人心的事情发生，但科研步伐太慢，根本达不到应付危机的程度。”

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关于发烧缓解自闭症的事情，外国也有报道，还记得一篇文章专门谈这个问题。

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这篇文章认为，发烧可以短暂缓解自闭症。因为不是太重要，就不翻译了。懂英文的可以看看：

Fever May Briefly Relieve Autism Symptoms

Researchers from Drexel University have released a study that says children who suffer from autism may have their symptoms alleviated when they contract a fever. The researchers think that the reason for this is that the
Fever May Briefly Relieve Autism Symptoms
fever may do something that causes the nerve cells that are normally not functioning, begin to communicate with each other in the patient's brain. Having the ability to communicate restored might help the patients improve their socialization skills.

During the study, they observed 30 children aged from 2 to 18 who suffer from autism both during and after they developed a fever that reached at a minimum of 100.4 degrees F. The results were that in excess of 80% of the patients experienced at least some improvement in their behavior patterns during their fever and 30% had a significant level of improvement. Some of the changes that they were able to observe were having a longer concentration span, talking more, and more eye contact.

The results indicate that the changes that the patients experienced by not be the result of being sick, but more the effect of the way the body responds to a fever.

However, this was a very small study and more research needs to be done in order to prove whether or not developing a fever is connected to the relief of the symptoms and if it does, to find out exactly how.

Any type of information that holds out the possibility of leading to treatments for autism is more than welcome in the medical community. Children with autism are limited in their social abilities and they have trouble with both verbal and non verbal means of communication. Even though Autism has been around a long time and affects close to 1.5 million
Americans, the cause is still unknown.