Scientists: No Link Between Autism, MMR Vaccine

'Imperfect' Vaccines Risk Worse Disease: Study

World's aging population challenges societies


Thursday December 13, 2001 



Scientists: No Link Between Autism, MMR Vaccine



http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20011213/hl/vaccine_4.html



By Richard Woodman



LONDON (Reuters Health) - Autism now affects as many as 6 in 
every 1,000 children but there is no evidence linking the rising 
number of cases seen to measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccination, 
British experts said on Thursday.



Concern that the triple childhood vaccination might trigger autism 
has led to some parents refusing to have their children vaccinated. 
Others have taken their children to the few UK doctors still offering 
the three vaccines individually, or even taken them abroad.



However, a new report by the Medical Research Council (MRC) 
reaffirms the findings of previous expert groups that ``current 
evidence does not support the proposed link of MMR.''



The MRC report states, ``It seems most likely that autism spectrum 
disorders result from a range of causes but the strongest evidence 
to date is for a major genetic component.''



The report suggests that several genes interact to create 
susceptibility to the disorder. The interplay between genetic and 
environmental factors was also likely to play a key role, although 
the nature of these interactions was not yet known.....

http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2001/1
2/02/nmmr02.xml

Sunday 2 December 2001



 "What matters most of all is what happens to these children."

                                                            -Andrew Wakefield, M.D.

Anti-MMR doctor is forced out

By Lorraine Fraser, Medical Correspondent

(Filed: 02/12/2001)



THE specialist who first raised concerns about the safety of MMR

vaccinations has been forced out of his job, The Telegraph can 
reveal.



Andrew Wakefield, a consultant gastroenterologist whose research 
has linked

the vaccine to autism and bowel disease in children, said last night 
that he

had been asked to resign because of his work.



"I have been asked to go because my research results are 
unpopular," said Dr

Wakefield, an academic at the Royal Free Hospital Medical School 
in London

whose research into the triple measles, mumps and rubella 
vaccination has

caused controversy.



"I did not wish to leave but I have agreed to stand down in the hope 
that my

going will take the political pressure off my colleagues and allow 
them to

get on with the job of looking after the many sick children we have 
seen.



"They have not sacked me. They cannot; I have not done anything 
wrong. I

have no intention of stopping my investigations."



He has been testing the theory that measles virus from MMR 
vaccine can

colonise the bowel of susceptible children, producing inflammatory 
bowel

disease, which then, via a disruption of the chemical balance in the 
body

and the brain, leads to autism.



Although the specialist admits he has not published proof, he has 
infuriated

ministers by suggesting that the three component vaccines should 
be given

separately.



Dr Wakefield's departure comes a month after he was made a 
Fellow of the

Royal College of Pathologists in recognition of his research work...



****



Wednesday December 12 5:20 PM ET 



'Imperfect' Vaccines Risk Worse Disease: Study



http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20011212/hl/vaccines_2.html



By Amy Norton



NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Experimental vaccines that would 
provide only some protection against disease could potentially make 
the public health situation worse, according to UK researchers.



They urge caution in going ahead with any ``imperfect'' vaccines, 
such as those being developed for malaria.



Imperfect vaccines are those that do not completely prevent people 
from being infected with a pathogen. For instance, a number of 
candidate vaccines for malaria seek to stop the disease parasite 
from proliferating in the blood of an infected person, as opposed to 
blocking infection altogether.



The concern, according to Professor Andrew F. Read of the 
University of Edinburgh, is that such vaccines could encourage the 
evolution of ``nastier'' pathogens that would be even more deadly to 
unvaccinated people.



He and his colleagues used a mathematical model to look at how, 
over the years, imperfect vaccines could aid in the emergence of 
more virulent pathogens. They report the findings in the December 
13th issue of Nature.



Read cautioned, however, that their report is not meant to create 
concern about standard vaccines.......