Autism Spectrum Disorders and Lyme Disease: Exploring Shared Neuro-Inflammatory and Immune Pathways

Examines Lyme disease and co-infections as infectious drivers of neuroinflammation overlapping with autism spectrum disorder.

Reports a cohort of 1,722 children with treatment-resistant ASD and PANS/PANDAS who met clinical criteria for chronic inflammatory response syndrome (CIRS).

Describes improvements in cognition, motor skills, and gastrointestinal function following CIRS-directed therapies.

Identifies a subset of children in tick-endemic regions with Lyme-specific clinical features, diagnosed clinically using CDC criteria.

Notes immune mechanisms including blood–brain barrier disruption, immune imbalance, mitochondrial dysfunction, and microglial priming.

Highlights diagnostic challenges due to limited sensitivity of conventional serologic testing in early or chronic disease.