Olmsted on Autism: Travolta, Kawasaki, Acrodynia

By Dan Olmsted

Kawasaki's Disease, according to the American Osteopathic College of Dermatology: Kawasaki's Disease (KD) is an acute febrile illness of infants and children in which redness of the mucous membranes, skin and tongue are associated with swelling of the hands and feet and subsequent desquamation (peeling of the skin) of the hands and feet. Other signs include swollen lymph nodes of the neck (cervical lymphadenitis), redness and swelling of the eyes (conjuctival congestion), sores in the mouth (stomatitis) and swollen lips (chelitis). After a week or two the skin of the hands and feet begin to peel starting around the nails. Upwards of 20% of patients develop coronary artery complications, however most patients have uneventful recoveries without any long term problems.
 
The peak age of incidence is 1 year of age with a mean of 2.6 years and it is uncommon over 8 years of age.
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Acrodynia, or Pink Disease, according to Donald Cheek, Australia, 1953: "The physician is consulted because of a sudden change of well-being on the part of the infant. There may be a history of a cold, or of recent infection associated with rhinitis. Irritability is present and the little patient, usually age 5 or 6 months or older, refuses to take his food. Teething is in progress, and the mother often ascribes the state of her infant to this. [Rashes] … spread across the trunk of the body. …. The muscles are soft to the feel, and the hands and feet previously pink some of the time become pink, swollen, edamtous, cold, and moist most of the time. … There is always the potential danger of shock."
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From TMZ.com, 7:10 p.m. Jan. 2, 2009: Rand Memorial Hospital in the Bahamas tells TMZ the son of John Travolta died today.

We're told 16-year-old Jett was vacationing with Travolta and wife Kelly Preston.

There have been reports that Jett was autistic, though Travolta has denied it, saying he suffers from Kawasaki Syndrome, a condition which often leads to heart disease.
--
From Wikipedia.org: Initially, the cause of the acrodynia epidemic among infants and young children was unknown; however, mercury poisoning, primarily from calomel in teething powders, began to be widely accepted as its cause in the 1950s and 60s. The prevalence of acrodynia decreased greatly after calomel was excluded from most teething powders in 1954.
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From Kawasaki's disease, acrodynia, and mercury. Mutter J, Yeter D.; Department of Environmental and Complementary Medicine, Salusmed Medical Center, Berlingen, Switzerland. (HERE), December 2008:
 
A superantigen or autoimmunity has been hypothesized to be the main cause of the Kawasaki's Disease but the etiology is unknown. Medical literature, epidemiological findings, and some case reports have suggested that mercury may play a pathogenic role. Several patients with Kawasaki's Disease have presented with elevated urine mercury levels compared to matched controls. Most symptoms and diagnostic criteria which are seen in children with acrodynia, known to be caused by mercury, are similar to those seen in Kawasaki's Disease. Genetic depletion of glutathione S-transferase , a susceptibility marker for Kawasaki's Disease, is known to be also a risk factor for acrodynia and may also increase susceptibility to mercury . Coinciding with the largest increase (1985-1990) of thimerosal (49.6% ethyl mercury) in vaccines, routinely given to infants in the U.S. by 6 months of age (from 75microg to 187.5microg), the rates of Kawasaki's Disease increased ten times, and, later (1985-1997), by 20 times. Since 1990 88 cases of patients developing Kawasaki's Disease some days after vaccination have been reported to the Centers of Disease Control (CDC) including 19% manifesting symptoms the same day. The presented pathogenetic model may lead to new preventive- and therapeutic strategies for Kawasaki's disease.
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From CNN.com: Jett Travolta had a developmental disability that his parents, John Travolta and Kelly Preston, have linked to Kawasaki disease, an inflammatory disorder of the artery walls that most commonly occurs in young children and can lead to heart disease.

In 2001, John Travolta told CNN's Larry King that his son had a near brush with death related to the condition.

"I was obsessive about cleaning -- his space being clean, so we constantly had the carpets cleaned. And I think, between him, the fumes and walking around, maybe picking up pieces or something, he got what is rarely a thing to deal with, but it's Kawasaki syndrome," Travolta said of his then-2-year-old son. ….

"It was that the immune system overreacts, because they have almost the equivalent of metallic chemical," Travolta said.
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From Brian Clark Howard at The Daily Green.com: As celebrity actors John Travolta and Kelly Preston mourn the death of their 16-year-old son Jett, they raise questions about the potentially lethal effects of past exposure to toxic chemicals in carpet cleaners, as well as about the mysterious Kawasaki Disease -- which their son reportedly suffered from. … Three additional studies did find an association between exposure to freshly cleaned carpets within 4 hours of the cleaning process and Kawaski disease -- however, the results were the same if the carpets or upholstery were cleaned with chemicals or simply plain water. Four studies found no associations at all. When researchers tried to follow up and determine if the causative agent might be disturbing of dust mites, which they reasoned might harbor disease agents, that lead did not pan out."
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From EPA.gov: Never use a vacuum cleaner to clean up mercury (but see the "What to Do if a Fluorescent Light Bulb Breaks" section below for more specific instructions about vacuuming broken fluorescent light bulbs). The vacuum will put mercury into the air and increase exposure.
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From me -- We don't know why Jett Travolta died, but we do know that our environment is making more and more of our kids sick while the medical community and public health officials deliberately avoid investigating "the equivalent of a metallic chemical," whether it's found in commercial products, vaccines or carpets with spilled mercury. Our kids are paying the price.
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Dan Olmsted is Editor of Age of Autism.

Comments

[MichaelRoger]

I appreciate the concern which is been rose. The things need to be sorted out because it’s not about the individual but it can be with everyone.

Motorbike transport

[Benedetta Stilwell]

26 years ago, during the fourth of July, I found myself sitting in the hospital room at the University of Kentucky Medical Center by my two year old daughter's bedside. She was uncouncious, running a fever of 105,were the sun had hit her in her bathing suit the skin had turned bright red, her eyes were red, inside her mouth and lips were red. The boy in the the bed next to us had menigitius and their parents felt sorry for us! After two weeks the head of the Pediatic Department came in sat down with her and looked her over really good, left the room and later told me it was Kawaskais. Another young doctor came in and sat down with us and told me about a survey they took out in Oregon asking parents with Kawasaki children thousands of questions. One thing came out that a lot of people cleaned their carpet. I would say that most people with small children clean carpet, GEEEEZZZZZZZZZZZ most people clean thier carpet from time to time. BUT she had had a DPT shot one and half months ago? A few years went by and when she went to get her last DPT shot at five years old, we just got when she passed out on my bed, heavy labored breathing, temperature soared to 105. I sponged her off, fearful that if I got her up to take her to the emergency room that extra stress would cause her to have a seizureor die. The fever passed in 15 minutes she got up and went out to play! Two months later I took my six month old son in to get his second DPT shot and the same thing happened. I am ashamed to say that my son received another DPT shot three months later (The doctor and I had a long heated discussion and he won) MY son had a stroke 6 hours after receiving his third DPT shot. He was walking he stopped, became very quite, In a month and a half he started running a temperature of 104 and had long hard seizures for two days. The fever lasted eight days and it reminded me so much of kawaskis yet not nearly as bad as my daughter's. THe fever finally broke and they put him on phenolbarbitol because he showed seizure activity on his EEG. The seizure medicine did not stop that funny high fever from returning a month and half later and causing him to have seize again. He has aspbergers,and is epileptic - He will soon be 23 years old and I can't get him out of his room. My daughter is now a nurse, she had a recent checkup on her health and she has high cytokines or what ever it is called that is a alert warning that she could have heart disease, or vascular disease. We have all had to guess on everything, no really good studies have been done. The guess on mercury is a good one but I am sure it is not the right guess and it is only mudding the waters causing more confusion. Both my children had their MMR shots and had not a second of problems. MMR and DPT shot would both have had mercury.

[Benedetta Stilwell]

P.S. Not only Depokote but all the statin drugs (cholostrol controlling drugs) This includes Welco an oil that binds all the fats in the intestines can kill or sicken them too.
I've had 28 years experience with my three.

[Benedetta Stilwell]

Depokote or Valporic Acid should not be given to a child that has had a reaction to a DPT shot or autistic epileptic, or mitochondrial disorder or oxidation phosphoraltion or kawaskis or have had kawaskis. It is all related. My three daughter, husband, son have all or some of these. They all have low L Carnitine levers and Depokote/valporic acid depletes the body futher of L-Carnitine. I had to fight the neurologists in 2002 and again in 2006 to not give it to my epileptic son. When they asked me why not - I did not know at the time why except my mother-in-law took a turn for the worst and died a little after she was given Depokote. Please pass this on. I know I am right.

[Deniz]

Seizures are seen in Kawasaki Disease, but I've never heard of a child with KD dying from this. Those who die from KD do so from a result of cardiovascular complications.

[Kathleen Woody]

I am so sad for the Travoltas and for Jett no matter what you call his illness his system was hurt. My heart goes out to them. I agree with commentators who say that the label of autism is merely a bundle of about 25 symptoms and if you are deemed to have a certain number of them [anywhere from 3 to 10 depending on who is judging] you are deemed to have autism spectrum disorder.In reality it is damaged Central nervous system [CNS] due to environmental toxicity. The mercury in shots and the gaggles of diseases clustered in single shots are two excellent forms of environmental toxins. Psychopharmocological drugs are another form of toxin for the CNS and the rest of the body. Antiseizure medicines like depakote do really have more adverse side effects than any help they give. Our children and our elderly are truly the canaries in the mine-shaft warning us to clean up our diets, food processing, shots and environment.

[Mariame Boujlil]

Hi,

I am a mother of a sweet boy who has autism( He is 5 )Autism ,seizures,mercury,poison....what a crualty towards the humanity.instead of criticizing the Travoltas,why don't we blame the pharmaceutical companies,the government. How many kids are in good health here in the USA? NONE!!!
If it is not ADD,ADHD,Bipolar,Depression, Asthma,Diabetes,....
Name all kinds of disorders we have!
They are killing us slowly by poisoning our precious children ! I can't sleep since I heard about Jett's death.
Jett had autism ,he was obviously having a problem,of Eye contact, being disturbed by the media...
The suffering of a parent( or parents) who lost a child ( no a young man) is hurtful,hard...
Can ou imagine what it took the Travoltas to raise Jett for 16 years ..with seizures?

God bless them!

Have some sympathy and empathy.
It is about time to punish all the creators of these diseases.
The health of our children is unfortunately not that important,shame on them! Sometimes I am thinking deserting this nasty(and poisonnous) environment.

My hardest feelings with the Travoltas!
My love To Jett!

God will have in his mercy

[Twyla]

D. Lee - Thanks for the additional info on Kawasaki's disease. Interesting that "proinflammatory cytokines are elevated in serum and CSF" because that has been found among people with autism as well.

[D Lee]

I'd like to clear up one major misconception. The notion that Kawasaki's disease is not linked to seizures is simply false. In Japan it is WELL KNOWN that KD and seizures are related.

Here is one study I found on Pubmed by searcing for Kawasaki and seizures.

"It is well known that convulsions may occur in clinical course of Kawasaki disease. However, the features of such seizures remain unclear. Recent reports have hypothesized that pro-inflammatory cytokines may contribute to the genesis of febrile convulsions (FC). In the acute phase of Kawasaki disease, proinflammatory cytokines are elevated in serum and CSF. If cytokines play a role in seizure phenomena in patients with Kawasaki disease, FC and seizures in Kawasaki disease might share some clinical features. To clarify the clinical features of convulsion in Kawasaki disease, we investigated 7 patients with Kawasaki disease with convulsions who were diagnosed and treated from November 2003 to November 2005. We found several features of the seizures, as well as the onset age, were diffrent among these clinical entities. The onset of Kawasaki disease was characteristically before six months of age in all patients. Seizure clustering was seen in 5 patients and partial seizures in 4. Prolonged unconsciousness after seizures was seen in one patient, syndrome of inappropriate secretion of ADH (SIADH) in one other. One patient had markedly elevated IL-6 in CSF. These observations led us to speculate that the convulsion of Kawasaki disease may be attributable to an encephalitis. The results of this study suggest that seizure pathophysiology differs between FC and Kawasaki disease."

Why is it that so many in the US are promoting the false notion that this disorder is not linked to seizures? In my opinion, many in the Autism community are being divisive by suggesting that Jett Travolta had Autism vs. XYZ. Brain damage can occur in many different ways. Any disease that can impact a child in such a serious manner, is certainly not exempt from causing harm to the brain.

That said, I think the theory about mercury is very interesting. Is it possible that some people hire carpet cleaning companies to clean various mercury spills, and the companies unknowingly spread mercury from home to home? Might this be one avenue to Kawasaki's Disease?

[Raymond Gallup]

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/picrender.fcgi?artid=267029&blobtype=pdf
1989
========
SUMMARY
This article reports on key presentations at the 5th International
Conference on Human Herpesvirus (HHV)-6 and -7, organized by the
HHV-6 Foundation. New assays for HHV-6 and -7 promise to be more
accurate and better able to distinguish between HHV-6A and B or
differentiate active from latent infection. Nevertheless, more research
is needed to enhance the sensitivity and specificity of these assays.
Cellular receptors for both HHV-6 and -7 have been identified. Both
viruses have in vitro tropism for neurons and dendritic cells of the
central nervous system (CNS), and their role in producing CNS disease
in the immunocompromised (particularly transplant recipients and the
HIV-infected) is well established. HHV-6 may enhance the progression of
simian immunodeficiency virus in monkeys, as suggested by in vivo
data. In immunocompetent children and adults, HHV-6 and/or -7 may
play a role in triggering and perpetuating several diseases of the
nervous system, namely encephalitis, multiple sclerosis, chronic fatigue
syndrome and epilepsy.

http://www.ihmf.org/journal/download/133komaroff(81)1381.pdf
2006

====================
V K Singh Research

More recently, I conducted a study of measles virus (MV) and human herpesvirus-6 (HHV-6) in autism. This was done by two types of laboratory analysis: (a) virus antibody levels of MV and HHV-6; and (b) brain autoantibody titers in the same samples as those assayed for virus antibodies. This study showed two things in particular: first, that the virus antibody levels in the blood of autistic children were much higher when compared to normal children; and secondly, the elevated virus antibody levels were associated with the brain autoantibody titer. Interestingly, the viral antibody and brain autoantibody association was particularly true of MV antibody and MBP autoantibody (i.e., 90 percent of autistic children showed this association). This observation led me to hypothesize that a measles virus-induced autoimmune response is a causal factor in autism, whereas HHV-6 via co-infection may contribute to pathophysiology of the disorder. Although as yet unproven, I think it is an excellent working hypothesis to explain autism, and it may also help us understand why some children show autistic regression after the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) immunization.

http://www.crossroadsinstitute.org/newsletter/nlarticles/aug05/singhautism.html

=======

Serological Association of Measles Virus and Human Herpesvirus-6 with Brain Autoantibodies in Autism

Vijendra K. Singh, Sheren X. Lin and Victor C. Yang
College of Pharmacy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 48109-1065

Received 17 June 1998; accepted 24 June 1998. ; Available online 12 April 2002.

Abstract
Considering an autoimmunity and autism connection, brain autoantibodies to myelin basic protein (anti-MBP) and neuron–axon filament protein (anti-NAFP) have been found in autistic children. In this current study, we examined associations between virus serology and autoantibody by simultaneous analysis of measles virus antibody (measles-IgG), human herpesvirus-6 antibody (HHV-6-IgG), anti-MBP, and anti-NAFP. We found that measles-IgG and HHV-6-IgG titers were moderately higher in autistic children but they did not significantly differ from normal controls. Moreover, we found that a vast majority of virus serology-positive autistic sera was also positive for brain autoantibody: (i) 90% of measles-IgG-positive autistic sera was also positive for anti-MBP; (ii) 73% of measles-IgG-positive autistic sera was also positive for anti-NAFP; (iii) 84% of HHV-6-IgG-positive autistic sera was also positive for anti-MBP; and (iv) 72% of HHV-6-IgG-positive autistic sera was also positive for anti-NAFP. This study is the first to report an association between virus serology and brain autoantibody in autism; it supports the hypothesis that a virus-induced autoimmune response may play a causal role in autism.

Author Keywords: autism; autoimmunity; autoantibodies; developmental disorders; virus serology; measles; HHV-6; child behavior; brain disorders

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WCK-45K0Y05-D&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221
&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=f419ebcf5a947ce50023ffa1d8399849

==========

http://www.americanchiropractic.net/autism/Findings%20in%20Immunology%20in%20Autism-Singh,PhD.pdf

[Twyla]

My heart goes out to the Travolta family. Loss of a child must be unendurable for any family, and to go through this in the public eye adds a whole additional layer of stress.

I do not judge the Travoltas for any decisions they made regarding their son. I don’t know them, I didn’t know Jett, and it is so hard to make decisions regarding treatment even for those we do know – even for my own son.

Based on the little I read in the news, it seems likely that Jett had autism. But even if his parents had embraced an autism diagnosis, they could have taken him to leading autism “experts” without anyone ever recommending treatment for mercury poisoning. Currently there is no general consensus on treating autism as a medical condition. And anti-seizure meds are often ineffective with serious side effects.

I don’t know whether their son was vaccinated. But if he was, he was born at a time when he would have received a lot of thimerosal (mercury) in his vaccines. If his condition was caused by mercury in vaccines – which is plausible – this is an example of a tragedy that could have been prevented if our agencies in charge had been doing their jobs, instead of "asleep at the switch", allowing hep B with thimerosal at birth followed by multiple additional vaxes containing thimerosal. And this is an example of a condition that could have been treated if our doctors and scientists were doing their jobs to investigate and treat mercury poisoning from vaccines. Instead, denial is the strategy, and tragic stories such as this one are the result of this denial. I don’t judge the parents. I do judge the CDC, FDA, AAP, and pharma companies.

A few additional interesting pieces of information:
- Kawasaki disease affects boys more than girls.
- Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) is the standard treatment for Kawasaki disease (also effective for some people with autism).
- John Travolta grew up in the state of New Jersey – which has high mercury levels from the resident pharma companies’ dumping – and exceptionally high autism rates.

May Jett Travolta rest in peace, and may his love live on in his family, and may his family feel that his life was complete and as it was meant to be, and that their love for him and his love for them was what mattered the most.

[Patrick]

I am glad I didn't hear of this before last summer.
My son suffered from seizure disorder since he started having tics (half hiccups- just the intake) at age 4.
After experiencing side effects of seizure med.s for almost 2 years (5 different kinds) we were referred to a surgeon who prescribed a final EEG. We had given up on MRI's and EEG's because, regardless of the results, any intervention other than med.s (surgery) would only be considered if the patient experiences painful symptoms.
This neurosurgeon was terribly objective and mentioned that if my son's tics did not bother us, he was going to recommend taking him off seizure med.s. We happened to really like his thinking!
He did the EEG off all med.s to increase his seizure activity and...
he had 2 tics during the recording AND HE HAD no matching EEG irregularities. They let him stay off medication and said that the hiccups were simply vocal tics and NOT seizures. After that day, his tics terminated. Almost 2 years of tic activity and everything ended for my son. It was like a dream, he never had a tic again after he stopped taking his medication SO....PLEASE don't ever judge because seizure disorders are mysterious and so painful that a parent worries about it to the exclusion of all else.
My son still struggles with reading in first grade at age 7 (held back a year), but has shown huge improvements in fine motor skills, his OCD tendencies have disappeared, and the tics have been gone since June 23rd, 2008.
The Travolta's could have been as lucky as we were, quitting the med.s. There are no easy answers.
Looking at the picture at the top of the page, it's painful to imagine the hopes and dreams the Travolta's had for their son (at that early age) that has so tragically been taken away.

[Steve]

In my opinion this isn't the time to pick on John & Kelly for how they chose to handle their situation. Not that it matters - but they were privately doing many things that the readers of this board would have approved of.

This is a time to show our support for a family in need of it.

[Diane]

The situation is a tragedy regardless of what Jett had or didn't have.

There are tons of people - I'm sure some famous too - that are in denial about what their kids have - regardless of label. Heck many now in the ASD community don't like to use autism, instead vaccine injured, etc.

It also brought me back to a prior Dan column on where are all the autistic adults? While we all know that the rates have sky rocketed - I can't help but think that many died prematurely (particuarly in adolescents and young adulthood) - this keeps me up at night!

[Lisa @ TACA]

Regardless of the child's label this situation is a tragic beyond words. Heart felt condolences go to the family for their loss.

No death so young seems justifiable or right. It is tragic and sad.

My hope is that we can learn from this situation to prevent future deaths. Perhaps the autopsy will provide answers and because of the high visibility of this family - other families will seek help to prevent this horrific situation from reoccuring.

My other hope is this family - regardless if the child had autism or not - can find some healing from this incredible loss.

[Stagmom for Elucidatus]

Elucidatus, that was one of the nicest comments I've ever read. And now I'm teary. Kim

[Elucidatus]

Dear John Travolta,

I just want to tell you that you were a good father and friend to your son. You did the best you could and thats all that matters. Kawasaki, Autism or whatever the diagnosis was never mattered because the love you gave your son made him perfect!

[Michelle]

This piece of news really got to me in a lot of ways. It made me feel sad to the core.

One thing I keep thinking is that stripped down, autism is just a word describing symptoms. So they didn't use the word; but their child was exposed to toxins and suffered physically and neurologically. In that way, they are no different than any other parent going through the same thing. From what I read briefly, Mr. Travolta was quoted as saying they ate "90% organic" among other things. So obviously, they did know something had happened. He and his wife also spoke about being very careful when they brought their second child home. They wanted to make the environment as safe as possible.

[nhokkanen]

Chemist Boyd Haley, PhD reported on finding extremely high levels of mercury in the heart tissue of "young people who died from idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy while under physical stress in athletic events."

Dr. Haley stated that scientists have found 178,400 ng/g mercury -- "22,000 times more than the quantities measured in the heart and muscle tissue of individuals with other forms of cardiac disease." Sources of ingested or injected mercury include amalgam tooth fillings and preservatives used in vaccines and testosterone injections.

I once asked a doctor at a heart clinic whether mercury played a role in cardiac malfunction. He said no, because other Hg toxicity symptoms would be detected first. Yeah, right. He failed to realize that many of those symptoms either mimic other diseases, or are given misleading names. And of course, too often the prescription is a pill -- to add another chemical, rather than remove one.

[The menace of experts]

The reason for the death of their son assumes paramount importance if they find something that implicates something from the vaccines in his brain and CNS - such as the vaccine type measles virus for instance. Even though a pepto-bismal Gerberding might come out and say it does not mean that all kids have the measles virus in their brains and CNS and that Jett Travolta is a rare and unique case.

Do you think Larry King might have Generation Rescue on now? He was looking much troubled last night over the fact that the boy had seizures and subsequently died. Gee, who would have thought that could happen?