What happened to her? She suffered from herpes simplex encephalitis, a viral infection of the brain. X-rays at the age of 22 showed serious damage to the temporal lobes of the brain, extending to parts of the parietal lobes. (No pictures were provided, however.)
Can her case really be described as a "typical autistic syndrome"? Certainly, there are striking similarities, from the obsessive routines, to the echolalia (repeating what other people say), to the avoidance of eye contact, all classic symptoms of severe autism.
Of course it's always possible that the case report was written to accentuate these similarities, in order to make a nice publication. There have been a handful of other similar cases, though the same caveats apply. Still, if we do accept that these patients are indeed autistic, the implications for understanding the neurobiology of "normal" autism are obvious.
Autism Following Viral Infection
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