Daniel J. DeNoon
Web MDWed, 06 Feb 2008 07:29 UTC
The measles vaccine doesn't cause long-lasting measles infection or raise abnormal immune responses in kids with autism, a new study confirms.
A 1998 study of 12 children suggested that their autism might be linked to measles vaccine -- given as part of the routine measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) childhood vaccine. The study's British authors suggested that some children may suffer unusually persistent infection with, or a harmful immune response to, the weakened live measles virus used in the vaccine.
In 2004, 10 of the study's 13 authors formally withdrew this hypothesis and rejected any link between MMR vaccination and autism or developmental disorders. By then, U.K. parents had become so worried by this theory that MMR vaccination rates plummeted from 94% to 80% of British children.
Two laboratories reported finding suspicious measles-virus genetic material associated with cases of autism. But two more recent studies found no such evidence; and the methods used in the earlier studies have been called into question. Now Gillian Baird, FRCPaed, of Guy's Hospital, London, and colleagues report data from a much larger study.
Baird and colleagues looked for measles virus and antibody responses to measles virus in U.K. children aged 10 to 12. The study included 98 children with autism, 52 children with special educational needs but not autism, and 90ร children without developmental problems.
"No association between measles vaccination and autism spectrum disorder was found," Baird and colleagues report in the Feb. 5 online issue of Archives of Disease in Childhood.
Some children with autism appear to be developing normally and then regress, losing communication skills they already had developed. This regression occurs at about the same time as children complete their childhood vaccinations. But in the Baird study, children with regressive autism had no unusual responses to measles vaccination.
Fortunately, the scare over MMR vaccine has not had a significant effect on U.S. children, says pediatrician Lance Rodewald, MD, director of the CDC's Immunization Services Division.
"Right now, coverage with measles vaccine and all other vaccines has never been higher," Rodewald tells WebMD. "We have not seen any decrease in measles vaccine coverage in the U.S. The coverage is 92.4% nationally in 19- to 35-month-olds."
As a result, there's been no spread of measles in the U.S. for the last decade.
"In other parts of the world, measles still rages on," Rodewald says. "That is one reason we want to maintain high coverage, because we don't want unprotected kids around when a case comes in. It is always just a plane ride away."
Comment: Again, another faulty study tries to debunk the MMR-autism link. Anyone can spot the make-believe science by simply noticing that they
never compare an unvaccinated population to a vaccinated one. This is Science 101: having a control group which does not receive the medication. It is never done with the vaccines. UPI reporter, Dan Olmsted called this
The Amish Elephant:
A specter is haunting the medical and journalism establishments of the United States: Where are the unvaccinated people with autism?
That is just about the only way to explain what now appears to be a collective resistance to considering that question. And like all unanswered questions, this raises another one: Why?
What is the problem with quickly and firmly establishing that the autism rate is about the same everywhere and for everybody in the United States, vaccinated or unvaccinated? Wouldn't that stop all the scientifically illiterate chatter by parents who believe vaccinations made their children autistic? Wouldn't it put to rest concerns that -- despite the removal of a mercury-containing preservative in most U.S. vaccines -- hundreds of millions of children in the developing world are possibly at risk if that preservative is in fact linked to autism?
Calling this issue The Amish Elephant reflects reporting earlier this year in Age of Autism that the largely unvaccinated Amish may have a relatively low rate of autism. That apparent dissimilarity is, in effect, a proverbial elephant in the living room -- studiously ignored by people who don't want to deal with it and don't believe they will have to.
And as Dr. Richard Halvorsen, author of
The Truth About Vaccines,
notes:
"One vaccine expert disclosed to me that we will probably never be able to test the safety of vaccines while we bundle so many of them together and administer them at the same time.
"This means it's almost impossible to distinguish the side effects of one from another."
One has to wonder why we need a vaccine for three mild diseases that almost never have any serious side affects and in which the CDC itself reports that outbreaks occur in 100% vaccinated populations (CDC,
Morbidity and Mortality Report, Oct 4, 1984).
Comment: Again, another faulty study tries to debunk the MMR-autism link. Anyone can spot the make-believe science by simply noticing that they never compare an unvaccinated population to a vaccinated one. This is Science 101: having a control group which does not receive the medication. It is never done with the vaccines. UPI reporter, Dan Olmsted called this The Amish Elephant: And as Dr. Richard Halvorsen, author of The Truth About Vaccines, notes: One has to wonder why we need a vaccine for three mild diseases that almost never have any serious side affects and in which the CDC itself reports that outbreaks occur in 100% vaccinated populations (CDC, Morbidity and Mortality Report, Oct 4, 1984).