November 12, 2012 (USA TODAY) -- In a study already being
greeted with caution, Danish researchers report that children
whose mothers had the flu or ran a fever lasting more than a
week during pregnancy had an increased risk of developing an
autism spectrum disorder. U.S. health officials stress that the
study, published in today's Pediatrics, is "exploratory." The
study analyzed data collected from 97,000 mothers of children
born from 1997 through 2003. It found no association between
mothers with colds, common respiratory or sinus infections, or
urinary tract or genital infections during pregnancy and autism
in their offspring. Yet children whose mothers reported
influenza during pregnancy had twice the risk of an autism
diagnosis before age 3, and children whose mothers had a fever
for more than seven days had a threefold risk. There also was a
small increased risk after the mother's use of various
antibiotics during pregnancy. "The study is really exploratory,
and more research needs to be done," says Col