Posts found in:
autism

Autism Spectrum Disorders and Lyme Disease: Exploring Shared Neuro-Inflammatory and Immune Pathways
DASHORE, Jodie A. et al. Autism Spectrum Disorders and Lyme Disease: Exploring Shared Neuro-Inflammatory and Immune Pathways. Medical Research Archives, [S.l.], v. 13, n. 11, nov. 2025. ISSN 2375-1924. doi: https://doi.org/10.18103/mra.v13i11.7019.

  • 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.

Serum zonulin level in autistic children and its relation to severity of symptoms a case-control study

Sonbol, H.M., Abdelmawgoud, A.S., El-kady, N.M. et al. Serum zonulin level in autistic children and its relation to severity of symptoms a case-control study. Sci Rep 15, 27802 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-11420-0

  • Findings: Children with autism had significantly higher serum zonulin levels (avg. 73 ng/ml) vs. neurotypical controls (avg. 22 ng/ml).
  • Correlation: Higher zonulin levels were strongly associated with greater symptom severity (r = 0.9).
  • Mechanism: Zonulin regulates tight junctions in the intestinal and blood–brain barriers; elevated levels increase permeability (“leaky gut”), promoting systemic and neuroinflammation.
  • Relevance to PANS/PANDAS: Similar barrier dysfunction and inflammation may contribute to symptom flares following infections or immune triggers.
Long COVID Syndrome Presenting as Neuropsychiatric Exacerbations in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Insights for Treatment

Jyonouchi, H.; Geng, L.; Rossignol, D.A.; Frye, R.E. Long.COVID Syndrome Presenting as Neuropsychiatric Exacerbations in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Insights for Treatment. J. Pers. Med. 2022, 12,1815. https://doi.org/10.3390/jpm12111815

Neurological and neuropsychiatric symptoms are emerging as major long-term sequalae. In patients with pre-existing behavioral symptoms, such as individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), the emergence of neuropsychiatric symptoms due to long COVID can be difficult to diagnose and manage. Herein, we present three ASD cases who presented with markedly worsening neuropsychiatric symptoms following COVID-19 exposure and subsequent difficulty in managing the post-COVID neuropsychiatric symptoms.

Autism and PANS
Autism and PANS

My child was diagnosed at the age of 6 with severe autism. No eye contact, social skills, empathy, poor academic...

Read Story

Gabriella’s Family
Gabriella’s Family

Up until recently our PANS family story really only focused around T, but now X has own PANS story and so do I.  We got lucky. We got lucky that...

Read Story