A stool sample could help diagnose autism
![Research In the light of their findings, the researchers believe that the microbiota may influence the severity or expression of autism spectrum disorder symptoms. This raises the possibility that patients could one day be offered personalized interventions to endow them with a more varied gut microbiota. (Credit: AP Photo/Gillian Flaccus)](/content/dam/ctvnews/en/images/2024/7/11/research-1-6960036-1720718302419.jpg)
Analysis of a stool sample could one day help diagnose autism much earlier and much faster, enabling earlier treatment for patients.
This, at least, is the hope of research carried out at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the results of which were recently published in the medical journal Nature Biology.
The study's authors examined stool samples from 1,627 children aged between 1 and 13, including some with autism. They painted a complete picture of these samples by analyzing the bacteria they contained, but also viruses, fungi and single-celled microorganisms called archaea.
They found that 51 types of bacteria, 18 viruses, 14 archaea and seven fungi were different in autistic children. The artificial intelligence was then able to identify autistic children with 82 per cent accuracy.
"The stool test they did is absolutely not simple," says Dr. Mickael Bouin, a gastroenterologist at the Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM). It's very complex, and there aren't many teams in the world capable of doing it right now.'
At the very least, he added, this study opens up a new avenue 'to try and better understand the disease'. It may also one day enable children to be screened earlier, so that some can be prioritized, he added.
"Autism remains a developmental disorder," said Dr Bouin. The diagnosis will always have to be validated by an expert in autism, not by an expert in gut microbiota."
Previous studies had already revealed that autistic people have a different intestinal microbiota, he pointed out. Experiments carried out on mice had generated similar results, in addition to showing that the symptoms of autistic mice could be reduced by modifying their microbiota, and that healthy mice could be given autistic symptoms by feeding them the gut microbiota of an autistic mouse.
It's a chicken-and-egg question," said Dr Bouin. But we feel that (the intestinal microbiota) has an effect on the brain, and we know that for several diseases."
Indeed, the authors of the study admit that it is not yet possible to say whether autism is responsible for this different microbiota, or whether the different microbiota is responsible for autism.
But in light of their findings, the authors believe that microbiota may influence the severity or expression of autism spectrum disorder symptoms. This raises the possibility that patients could one day be offered personalized interventions to endow them with a more varied gut microbiota.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.6986342.1722543843!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.jpg)
'Summer Olympics': Summer McIntosh wins gold in women's 200 medley
The Toronto swimmer won her third gold in Paris with a victory in the 200-metre individual medley in an Olympic-record time of two minutes 6.56 seconds.
Doug Emhoff acknowledges affair during first marriage after tabloid report
Vice-President Kamala Harris’ husband Doug Emhoff acknowledged Saturday in a statement to CNN that he had an affair during his first marriage.
She wanted 'the world' for her daughter. Instead, she got a landmark prison sentence
Ruqia Haidari was the baby of the family. The youngest of five children, she was born in Afghanistan in 1999, just a month before her father, a fruit and vegetable seller, was killed by the Taliban.
Donald Trump proposes alternative U.S. election debate, Kamala Harris says no
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump proposed to debate Democratic U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris on Fox News on Sept. 4, and the Harris campaign responded saying Trump is trying to back out of a debate that had been set to run on ABC.
She hit it off with the guy she met at the bar on vacation. Then he sent her an unexpected text message
When Giuseppe Morisani first suggested it, Skyler Mapes thought she must have misread his message.
Cut your risk of dementia by 20% with this dietary change
Dementia risk rose by 14 per cent when people ate about one ounce of processed red meat a day — the equivalent of slightly less than two three-ounce servings a week — compared with people who only ate about three servings a month, a preliminary new study found.
Getaway car found, but suspect who lit shopkeeper on fire still at large: Surrey RCMP
Mounties in Surrey say they have found the stolen car he fled in, but the man who allegedly lit a shopkeeper on fire Friday remains at large.
Canadian cities sweltering in wildfire smoke: Here's what to know
Wildfire smoke is drifting over Canada from the Rockies all the way to the Newfoundland Sea, according to modelling for the August long weekend.
Father of Algerian boxer Khelif says he is honoured by his daughter
The father of Imane Khelif, the Algerian boxer at the centre of an Olympic row over whether athletes with Differences of Sexual Development (DSD) should compete as women, said she had honoured his family, calling attacks against her immoral.