Autistic teen speaks first full sentence after century-old drug use

Scientists are constantly looking for ways to make treatment for autism better and they may have just had a breakthrough. US professors used an age-old remedy for another disease to treat autism and it has helped a teen speak properly for the first time and it may just help others too.

According to a report in the Daily Mail, the researchers at the University of California carried out the study on a six-year-old child and a 14-year-old and the effects were astounding. They used a sleeping sickness drug called suramin, a drug developed by German scientists in 1916. One dose of the drug had amazing results because the children were able to say their first full sentence which they could never do before. Administration of the drug made the 14-year-old make eye-contact which was a first.

Interestingly, the drug also helped him be more social and willing to play a game of hide-and-seek with his 16-year-old brother. He also started making new sounds and looking for his dad which wasn’t the case before. The new development has given a major breakthrough in the attempt to get a cure for autism and for other studies related to the condition.