Curie Brief
Turn on cookies to sign in
Signing in saves your progress to your Curie account. We can only do that with cookies on — turn them on to continue.
News
A massive Swedish study found that rare TORCH infections — passed from mother to fetus during pregnancy — are tied to dramatically higher risks of autism and intellectual disability. Children born with these infections were ~3x more likely to develop autism and over 7x more likely to have an intellectual disability. While the infections are rare, the findings underscore the importance of vaccination and prevention programs.
A landmark study from Karolinska Institutet, published in JAMA Pediatrics, tracked 3.7 million people born in Sweden over nearly three decades and found that congenital TORCH infections — a group that includes cytomegalovirus, rubella, toxoplasma, and herpesvirus — are strongly linked to neurodevelopmental conditions in children. Only 975 individuals in the cohort had a confirmed congenital TORCH infection, but the risk signals were striking.
Researchers also ran sibling comparisons to rule out shared family traits as a confounding factor, and the associations held up. Notably, even children with TORCH infections who weren't diagnosed with autism or intellectual disability still scored lower grades on average — hinting at subtler, long-term effects on brain development.
By the Numbers:
Why it matters: Though these infections are rare, some — like rubella — are vaccine-preventable. Sweden's rubella vaccination program has nearly eliminated the disease, offering a clear proof of concept. Maintaining robust immunization programs could meaningfully reduce a preventable cause of autism and intellectual disability.
