In California today, 37,000 people, mostly children, receive treatment for the most severe form of autism. This is a sevenfold increase from 15 years ago, prompting officials to call the situation a public health crisis. QUEST takes an intimate look at Northern California autism researchers as they study everything from saliva samples to carpet dust in hopes of cracking the mystery.
Duration:
12:01 Original Air Date:
Tuesday, Aug 19, 2008
It's challenging to report on an illness such as autism, which scientists and doctors are only beginning to understand (the disease was described in the 1940s) and over which there is so much debate. There is even disagreement around the question of whether or not there has been a real increase in the number of children being diagnosed with autism in California.
Read more of Gabriela Quirós' post on the QUEST Community Science Blog.
By 2050, as our population ages, 15 million Americans will suffer from Alzheimer's disease-- triple today's number. Researchers at San Francisco's Gladstone Institutes have found that a gene may hold the key to a cure.
QUEST Community Science Blog contributor Dr. Barry Starr answers the question, "Scientists have known for awhile that autism is partly genetic. How do they know?"