Cheryl: Please read this now.

PRIOR Exposure To Mycobacteria May Interfere With Immune Response To Vaccine
A medical review of :"Patterns and Implications of Naturally Acquired Immune Responses to Environmental and Tuberculous Mycobacterial Antigens in Northern Malawi"
Journal of Infectious Diseases

08/03/2001
By James Adams
Immune responses to Mycobacterium tuberculosis purified protein derivative (PPD) attributable to [M bovis bacille Calmette-Gúerin (BCG) vaccine are reduced in patients with higher responsiveness to antigens of M avium, M intracellulare and M scrofulaceum (MAIS complex). "Although not statistically significant, the trend is consistent with the hypothesis that prior exposure to environmental mycobacteria interferes with immune responses to BCG vaccination," according to investigators from the Karonga Prevention Study in Chilumba, Malawi, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in London, United Kingdom. The investigators studied young adults living in northern Malawi, an area where M bovis BCG vaccination does not protect against pulmonary tuberculosis. Interferon (IFN)-g responses to 12 PPD and new tuberculin antigens from nine species of mycobacteria were assessed in 616 subjects by whole blood assay. Results showed the highest prevalence of IFN-g responsiveness for PPDs of the MAIS complex. A randomized, controlled trial revealed that those subjects with low initial responsiveness to MAIS antigens tended to have a greater BCG-attributable increase in IFN-g response to M tuberculosis PPD compared to those with high initial responsiveness to MAIS antigens.

J Infect Dis 2001; 184: 322-329>>

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This makes a lot of sense to me. If your child is exposed to a lot of respiratory synctial viral load or some other kind from the moment of birth or prior to birth itself, the immune system genes become kind of hyperactive and tired.
The question is how would we find out what kinds of viral load a woman's body is harboring prior to pregnancy and childbirth? Or did she receive a sperm that was very "weird" (read an article in Scientific American this month about "Weird Y" Chromosome! In any case, the aim is not to blame either one of the genders here, but to study the "real cause" for autism.