MMR links to autism dismissed by huge study (The Guardian)

[Anarcho-Socialist]

There is no evidence to link the MMR vaccination to autism in children, according to a substantial new study published today.

In the biggest review conducted to date, scientists from Guy's Hospital in London, Manchester University and the Health Protection Agency, analysed the blood from 250 children and concluded that the vaccine could not be responsible.

The study, which was funded by the Department of Health and is published in the journal Archives of Disease in Childhood, was initiated five years ago and comes a decade after a scare about the vaccination - which protects against mumps, measles and rubella - led to a big drop in the number of children given the jab. The theory put forward by Dr Andrew Wakefield and colleagues was that the measles virus in the MMR caused bowel disorder and subsequently autism.

However, the blood samples taken from all the children in today's study did not support that analysis. The research specifically looked for traces of measles virus in the blood of 250 children who had been given the MMR vaccination, 98 of whom had an autistic spectrum disorder. The scientists found no difference in levels of measles virus or antibodies between those who had been diagnosed with autism and those who had not. The tests also showed no signs of bowel disorders developing either.

More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/feb/05/health.children?gusrc=rss&feed=11

[Anarcho-Socialist]

1. From science to conscience (The Guardian)

From science to conscience

Leader
Tuesday February 5, 2008
The Guardian

As the philosopher Karl Popper argued, the hallmark of scientific theorising is that it can be falsified by new evidence. After all, understanding only advances when people learn from their mistakes. Even before today, it was abundantly clear that the once-postulated link between the combined vaccination for mumps, measles and rubella (the MMR jab) on one hand, and autism on the other, could not be sustained. Paper after paper had concluded that the jab was safe. Few scientists needed any more persuasion, but for any who still harboured lingering doubts, the publication this morning of the largest ever study on the subject should finally lay these to rest.

Article continues
If MMR really was causing autism in some children, this unlucky minority might have been expected to have fallen victim to some peculiar reaction. But the authors followed more than 200 children who had been given the jab and found no sign of difference in the levels of viruses or antibodies between autistic children and others. So the evidence is now clearer than ever that the causal link does not exist. The reality, however, is that this may not alter the views of some who still insist MMR is a threat, for their thinking was never scientific and so is not amenable to the developing facts.

There are those who are instinctively hostile to technology, who always want to believe that modern medicine will do harm. Then there are those who want to believe that the state is a pernicious conspiracy, bent on endangering children. Last, but not least, are those with a vested interest in continuing to spread the mistrust. Dr Andrew Wakefield led the original research postulating the link, and he is currently before the General Medical Council on various charges, some relating to whether his work has been financed in ways that could have compromised his objectivity. Whether that charge is upheld or not, it is already clear that much of the media has stoked up unfounded fears on the irresponsibly selfish grounds that sensationalism sells.

Humans have always harboured irrational beliefs, often harmlessly enough. No one would suggest banning horoscopes. Sometimes, however, groundless fears, in particular, can do real damage. The decade-long panic over MMR has had this effect. The needless anxiety was bad enough, entangling even Tony Blair when he was hounded to say whether his son had been given the jab. But more serious than the fear was its practical consequence - one child in five was denied vaccinations they needed, some of whom became ill. The MMR-autism debate is no longer a live question of science. Those still arguing otherwise must understand that it has become a question of conscience instead.

Link:http://www.guardian.co.uk/leaders/story/0,,2252472,00.html

[sam sarrha]

3. well... then we had better start looking for a Mutagen.. a chemical that effects certain genes and

is passed on to offspring.

this study is not a license to do nothing.. Autism is getting totally out of hand, we must do everything to stop it, now.

does anybody remember the chemical that when a woman was contaminated it gave her female offspring cancer at a young age..?? mutagens

i believe something similar is happening.. just check the statistics.. something is terribly wrong, and not much is being done

[LiberalEsto]

5. It was DES nt

[varkam]

8. It is not likely that the actual incidence of autism has been increasing.

Rather, due to an increase in education, awareness, surveilance, training of primary care physicians, as well as an expansion of diagnostic criteria of ASDs the more likely explanation is that the "rise" in autism is due to an increase in diagnoses - not in actual incidence.

[Celebration]

6. end points

It is important to look at the end points in these studies. Here it measures the measles virus and the antibodies. But it seems to me that other immunological factors would be much more useful-- an example might be interleukin 6 and other Th1 cytokines in plasma, for example.

http://content.karger.com/produktedb/produkte.asp?typ=fulltext&file=nps45001

Background/Aim: There is now some evidence that autism may be accompanied by abnormalities in the inflammatory response system (IRS). Products of the IRS, such as proinflammatory cytokines, may induce some of the behavioral symptoms of autism, such as social withdrawal, resistance to novelty and sleep disturbances. The main aim of the present study was to examine whether autism is accompanied by an activation of the IRS. Methods: We measured the production of interleukin (IL)-6, IL-10, the IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1RA), interferon (IFN)- and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)- by whole blood and the serum concentrations of IL-6, the IL-2 receptor (IL-2R) and IL-1RA. Results: This study showed a significantly increased production of IFN- and IL-1RA and a trend toward a significantly increased production of IL-6 and TNF- by whole blood of autistic children. There were no significant differences in the serum concentrations of IL-6, IL-2R and IL-1RA between autistic and normal children. Conclusions: These results suggest that autism may be accompanied by an activation of the monocytic (increased IL-1RA) and Th-1-like (increased IFN-) arm of the IRS. It is hypothesized that increased production of proinflammatory cytokines could play a role in the pathophysiology of autism.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12922130

However, plasma levels of Th1 cytokines (IFN-gamma, sIL-2R and TNF-alpha) were preferentially activated by measles virus after the first dose of measles vaccination. Median IFN-gamma plasma levels were 1.73 pg/ml for infants compared to 0.63 pg/ml for older children (P = 0.003). These data suggest that after the first and the second dose of measles virus immunization, there is a predominant Th1-type directed immune response, but the Th1 cytokine pattern seems to be stronger in previously unvaccinated children. There was no correlation between cytokine production by PBMC supernatants after PHA stimulation and circulating levels of plasma cytokines. No relationship was found between any specific cytokine level and measles antibody level.

A study that checked plasma cytokine levels, and particularly Th1 cytokines, would be much more helpful than testing measles antibody levels, in those who eventually developed autism and those that didn't.

Furthermore, I suggest that the authors of the study know that.

[Anarcho-Socialist]

2. How a crisis in confidence in MMR led the return of a disease doctors hoped was a thing of the past

How a crisis in confidence in MMR led to the return of a disease doctors hoped was a thing of the past

· Claimed link to autism led to slump in vaccinations
· Britain rejoins countries with indigenous measles

* Sarah Boseley, health editor
* The Guardian,
* Tuesday February 5 2008

Measles is one of the most infectious diseases on earth, spread through coughs and sneezes. Ten years ago there were 56 cases in England and Wales. But now, according to David Brown, a virologist at the Health Protection Agency, Britain has rejoined an unenviable club - the relatively small number of countries that have indigenous measles.

Last year there were 739 cases of a disease doctors and public health experts once thought was on the way out. Because of reluctance by some parents to allow their children to have the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine there is now a pool of several hundred thousand unvaccinated children - all of them highly vulnerable to measles. The disease causes fever then a rash. Children do not usually die from measles - they are damaged by or die from complications, which include blindness, inflammation of the brain and pneumonia.

Measles vaccination began in 1968 and brought cases and deaths down dramatically. In 1940 there were more than 400,000 cases and 857 children died. By 1987, the year before mumps and rubella were added to the measles vaccine to produce the MMR jab, there were just over 42,000 cases and only six deaths. In 1994 for the first time nobody died of measles.

(snip)

Wakefield and two other authors of the Lancet paper, Dr John Walker-Smith and Professor Simon Murch, are now defending their conduct during the study in front of the GMC. It emerged, as the controversy burned on, that Wakefield had not declared to the Lancet a potential conflict of interest - that he had been paid £55,000 by the Legal Aid Board to investigate the children whose parents were considering litigation against the vaccine manufacturers.Other charges relate to the ethical basis for the tests carried out on the children. Following these revelations in 2004, 10 of the paper's 13 authors partially retracted the study, saying they wanted to clarify that there was no data to establish a causal link between MMR and autism. Wakefield was among those who did not retract.

More:http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/feb/05/health

[HelenWheels]

4. mercury

Have they tested the level of thiomersal in each MMR vaccine that was given to the children? It's not the level of measles virus or antibodies that should be tested. It is the level of mercury involved.

[trotsky]

7. MMR does not, and never did contain thimerosal.

It's a common misconception that it did.
http://www.immunizenc.com/Thimerosal_FAQ.htm#mmr