Bone pain, growth failure, and skin rash after an upper respiratory illness in a boy with autism: possible association with altered retinoid metabolism.

Symptoms of bone pain and skin rashes are not uncommon following a variety of infectious illnesses, but the underlying mechanisms are not well understood. The case of a 9-year-old boy with autism was recently described, who was hospitalized because of pain in the right hip, refusal to walk, fatigue, irritability, skin rash, and subsequent gingival swelling after an unspecified upper respiratory illness. The boy was diagnosed with scurvy. However, the gingival symptoms occurred after treatment with indomethacin, which lowers vitamin C levels; severe bone pain and fatigue are also well-documented symptoms of hypervitaminosis A. This review of a case report of a boy with autism provides an opportunity to present a new hypothesis of the mechanism of these postinfection symptoms in the context of an increasingly common condition of childhood.