Official figures shared by the CDC have revealed that the cases of Autism disorder have surged by as much as 57% in just 4 years. As of 2006, every 1 child in the US out of 110 had a positive Autism diagnosis by the age of 8, and a figure of 1 in every 70 boys and 1 in 315 girls proved that boys were more vulnerable to the disorder.

The new figures posted, obtained after extensive analysis of the child evaluation records in 11 states, have recorded a substantial increase in cases when compared to the number collected for
2002 when there was an average occurrence of Autism of 1 in every 150 children.

"Two decades ago we were looking at a prevalence of one in 5,000 children. Now we're looking at one in 100. That really is a staggering increase. The question is what it will take for the federal government to begin to respond to this crisis. President Obama during the election campaign made a promise that there would be a billion dollars spent every year on finding the causes of autism. We feel that this kind of data coming from a CDC study really requires that level of response", said Dr. Geraldine Dawson, Chief Science Officer of advocacy group Autism Speaks.

The report, however, did manage to find a slight improvement in the age in which diagnosis was made, which had increased to 8 from an earlier 4 and a half.

The report was released today, and lead author is CDC Behavioral Health Scientist Catherine Rice.