A study linking autism with bacteria in the gut has raised hopes that the condition could be treated with probiotics. A team headed by Glenn Gibson from the University of Reading compared the bacteria in faeces taken from 50 autistic and 50 normal children. They found that the samples from autistic children had raised levels of the bacterium clostridium.

A trial was set up of 40 autistic children, giving half a probiotic treatment to reduce the level of clostridium, and half a placebo. Mr Gibson said the results were very preliminary but he was "cautiously optimistic".