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News › Cases of child autism have increased 850 percent in Missouri
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Autism Statistics: Cases of child autism have increased 850 percent in Missouri
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Posted by Sylvia on Friday, April 30, 2004 (18:43:28)
Missourian 25/04/2004
By Callie Clark
The smell of burning flesh made Tammila Miller turn around. The Grassy, Mo., mom was on the phone in the kitchen waiting for her oven to preheat. She whirled around to find her autistic son, Michael, gripping the hot baking rack in the oven.
Michael, now 7 years old, suffered third-degree burns on his palms but never cried or showed any sign of pain during the ordeal.
There are more than 2,800 children in Missouri diagnosed by schools as autistic, an 850 percent increase since 1991. That's 2,800 children who may, for no apparent reason, bolt toward a busy highway. That's 2,800 children who may get so frustrated at their inability to communicate that they punch themselves in the face or bang their heads against a wall.
The skyrocketing numbers of autistic children across the United States are starting to test society's ability to treat them. The demand for services has outpaced the supply of therapists as parents waste critical months on a waiting list just to get diagnosed.
Autistic children wait a year to have their first music therapy lesson because there is only one part-time music therapist in a 100-mile region. Schools are having to pay more to educate autistic children. Parents are going broke because insurance companies refuse to pay for services.
The United States spends $90 billion per year to provide care for the country's 1.5 million autistic children and adults. The Autism Society of America estimates that cost could balloon to $200 billion to $400 billion by 2013.
To make matters worse, scientific research offers conflicting and inconclusive explanations as to why autism is growing more like an infectious disease than a genetic neurological disorder.
The rate of children being diagnosed with autism is now as high as one in 166. Ten years ago it was one in 2,500, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The actual number of autistic Missourians -- children and adults -- is unknown because some children diagnosed by medical authorities as autistic aren't recognized as such by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education -- the only government-sanctioned census of autistic children in the state.
DESE currently identifies 2,801 children between the ages of 3 and 21 as autistic, up from 294 children in 1991. Some parents believe there are actually many more.
Whatever the numbers are, the medical establishment hasn't been able to agree on the cause of the huge increase over the past decade.
"Before too long it's going to become a public health issue," said Dr. David Crowe, a Cape Girardeau orthodontist whose son was diagnosed with autism in 1985. "It's like a ticking time bomb, because the cost of providing the needed care and therapy is astronomical."
National explosion
Other states are seeing similar explosions in the number of children diagnosed as autistic. The Autism Society of America, an advocacy organization in Bethesda, Md., estimates that every day 50 children in the United States are diagnosed with a form of autism.
"We are seeing more diagnoses, and there doesn't seem to be one good reason why," said Julia Kaufmann, director of children's services with the Missouri Department of Mental Health. "It could be a number of things. We're open to looking at all causes."
The Department of Mental Health, in conjunction with lawmakers, state agencies and universities, has formed the Missouri Autism Research and Response Agenda to look at the possible causes of autism and improve support services for individuals with the disorder. The agenda group is putting together a statewide database with information on autism to aid research in the growing field.
The words "epidemic" and "autism" are being paired in hushed tones in the country's medical community.
Dr. Mark Geier, a Maryland geneticist and vaccinologist, and his research partner and son, David Geier, estimate the lifetime cost of caring for an autistic person at between $5 million and $10 million.
"It's the greatest catastrophe to fall on this country," said David Geier. "We've looked at it backwards, forwards, upside down. It won't go away. This thing is absolutely going to damage the country."
The father-son team are part of a growing number of scientists, physicians and parents who believe the increase in autism during the 1990s was caused by the mercury-containing preservative thimerosal, which was added to vaccines 70 years ago.
During the past decade, the amount of thimerosal children received increased as the United States expanded its immunization program. At the same time, the country's autism population began to grow significantly.
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Posted by Sylvia on Friday, April 30, 2004 (18:43:28) (19251 reads)
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