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Why autism symptoms can ease during a fever — and how to mimic it

Ellsworth Toohey
Jun 05, 2026
∙ Paid

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Parents and caregivers have long reported that when some autistic people run a fever from an infection, their autism-related symptoms ease for a while. MIT and Harvard Medical School researchers, backed by $2.1 million in grants from the Marcus Foundation, want to work out the biology behind this “fever effect” and eventually …

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