Immune system and Autism

Today on Autism speaks there was an interesting article. The article talked about how infants who have lots of infections and immune problems may be at higher risk for developing Autism. Now, while we still do not know what causes Autism. In my opinion there might be some truth to immunology and autism. I think there is some truth to this based on my personal experience. While I stated that we do not know what causes Autism, we do know it can be genetic in some cases. However that is not so much in my case. I’m the only one in my family that is know to be Autistic not even past generations were there ancestors that were thought to be autistic or had what the world would say is not “normal” traits.

However like the article suggested, I did have immune problems, and I still have them to this day, but when I was really young I had a lot of immune problems. At a young age doctors said I had some Autism traits but not quite enough to be diagnosed. However, this would change later in my life when they determined that yes I was Autistic but high functioning. In this new study, it talked about P.A.N.D.A and other infections that Autistics seemed to have a lot of when they were toddlers. I also have learned something about  myself and my other Autistic friends is that sometimes before we get sick we are more prone to meltdowns. Moreover, it also possible that those with Autism may develop immune problems down the road.

Now, I’m not saying that every person who is sick a lot is going to develop Autism and not every Autistic will develop immune problems down the road. What I’m saying is I think more private research needs to be done between immunology and Autism, because it appears there could be a link between the two.

Derecho

If you have paid any attention to the news you probably have Heard the term Derecho such as the one that hit the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic region on June 29 and 30th. Derechoes are common in the summertime. So just how do these things form. Derechoes are usually found North of heat. Such as the one that devastated the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic states places south of there temps were over 100 degrees. A stationary cold front and winds caused the storms to fire up and grow into a massive windstorm. Derechoes are hard to predict so what is a Derecho

First of all before I explain what a Derecho is I think it is important to look at the Basics. I will start off with a squall line. A squall line is a line of severe thunderstorms with damaging winds, hail, and tornadoes are often found in squall lines. Squall lines are usually found ahead of cold fronts, that collide with warm unstable air.

Now The Derecho is a type of squall line. However Derechoes move very fast, some of them can move fast as 70-80 mph. Derecho’s also have hurricane force damaging winds, the winds in a Derecho can be over 75mph. In addition some of the stronger Derechoes can have winds inside of the thunderstorms over 110 mph. Not only do they have damaging winds but also hail. While it may not be common as the typical squall line. Derechoe’s can also have embedded tornadoes inside of them as well.

Here are some recent examples of strong Derechoes

In Summer 2008 a Derecho formed in Eastern Montana and in one day moved into Northern Illinois. Winds in Montana and Minnesota in the thunderstorms were clocked at 110 mph. In addition this Derecho also spawned over 20 tornadoes along with damaging winds

In the Spring of 2009, A Derecho impacted Ohio, Eastern Kentucky, Eastern Tennessee, this Derecho also spawned tornadoes but the bigger story was the destructive winds.

June 29/30th 2012 Derecho, this Derecho started just south of Chicago and grew and by nightfall had made it all the way to New Jersey, The Derecho has of this writing only spawned 3 tornadoes, but it left millions without power as the destructive winds damaged buildings, took out power lines and trees.

So, Derechoes are just as bad as tornadoes, and while they do spawn tornadoes sometimes, they bigger story with them is the damaging winds. Tornadoes tend to do damage in narrow areas, while Derechoes do widespread damage and can cover hundreds of miles