Elizabeth Read
Michael Johnson, 12, was cured of hereditary autism following a severe infection with poliovirus causing poliomyelitis last month.
Despite currently receiving respiratory support due to acute paralysis, his parents have noted a significant improvement in his ability to interact socially, as well as a decrease in stereotypy and compulsive behaviour.
Although the disease’s spread to the muscles of his head, neck and diaphragm rendered it difficult for him to give us a quote, Tharunka was assured by Michael’s parents Zelda and Collin that Michael was enjoying his new found mental health and even had ‘the gift of the gab’.
Zelda, a well known homeopath in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs, declined vaccination for Michael as a child on the basis of Jenny McCarthy’s article alongside her March 2000 appearance in Maxim magazine.
Though she says she briefly considered vaccinating Michael following his 2004 diagnosis, scientific evidence of ‘double autism’ prevented this.
Asked if they would now consider giving Michael either the MMR or Hepatitis shots, Zelda replied that they were waiting to see if a measles infection could cure his alopecia.