Rare pregnancy infections may triple the risk of autism

Rare infections that can pass from a pregnant woman to a developing fetus are associated with higher risks of autism and intellectual disability later in childhood, according to a large study from Karolinska Institutet published in JAMA Pediatrics .

"It is important to emphasize that it is unusual for these infections to be transmitted from mother to child. They account for a very small proportion of all cases of autism in the population, but for those children who are actually affected, we see a clearly elevated risk of both autism and intellectual disability," says Rene Gardner, a researcher at the Department of Global Public Health at Karolinska Institutet, who contributed to the study.