Vaccines and Autism |
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Vaccines and autism: remember the politicsThe vaccines were exceptionally good in preventing disease, but they were supposed to cause the production of immunity for very long periods. MMR vaccination was expected to work until the death of the person in old age…but this was unsure. The problem with this is that it cannot be known and safety is difficult to know for such a long period. MMR and the other vaccines appeared to be working well and safely until 1998. The possibility of the association of MMR and autism came forward generally because the parents had reported their offspring becoming autistic after an illness associated with the vaccine. No good statistics were available on this. The new report of GI inflammation suggested that the researchers should look in the gut wall for evidence of the vaccine. This created extreme pressure on Public Health groups throughout the world and political worry in that stopping vaccination (from parental anxiety) might create greater problems. It would be a good idea to look at a specific article about morbillivirus infections in humans. Vaccines
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The shot in the dark for many parents, who felt that
the potential risk of autism to their child was unacceptable. This led to a fall in vaccination in large
parts of the West. |
Evidence
came out quickly showing that it was possible to stain morbillovirus (measles
type) in the gut wall but this was an exceptionally difficult process and hence
successful attempts were made to carry out PCR to look for the RNA of the
virus. This would be expected to much
more specific and unlikely to show false positives. Measles antibodies were found to be high in
autism and cross reacting with brain tissue as an autoantibody. Attempts to look for morbillovirus RNA in the
blood was also successful in comparison with other conditions, however this
could not be found in one study. The
measles vaccine in MMR is a changed form genetically but it is alive and would
be expected to cause an infection and inflammation. It is expected to be retained in the body as
parts of its RNA and hence a single vaccine may well be effective against the
rest of the vaccine recipient’s lifespan.
Measles is widely different from other morbillovirus (e.g. distemper in
dogs) and so measles vaccine if it is given to the entire population would be
expected to cause remove it from the world.
First
article associating autism in symptomatic patients with gut inflammation:
Wakefield
AJ, Murch SH, Anthony A, Linnell J, Casson DM, Malik M, Berelowitz M, Dhillon
AP, Thomson MA, Harvey P, Valentine A, Davies SE, Walker-Smith JA.
Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and pervasive
developmental disorder in children. Lancet. 1998 Feb 28;351(9103):637-41. They found this in all 12 of the cases of
autism with chronic gut problems. (this
was the article following which it was suggested that measles might be
involved)
Lack of association between measles virus vaccine and autism with enteropathy: a case-control study. Hornig M, Briese T, Buie T, Bauman ML, Lauwers G, Siemetzki U, Hummel K, Rota PA, Bellini WJ, O'Leary JJ, Sheils O, Alden E, Pickering L, Lipkin WI. PLoS One. 2008 Sep 4;3(9):e3140
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Measles antibodies
Increased
in MMR vaccinated autistic children when compared with controls.
Singh
VK, Jensen RL.Elevated levels of measles antibodies in children with
autism. Pediatr Neurol. 2003 Apr;28(4):292-4. This antibody
specifically detected a protein of 73-75 kD of MMR. This was antibody
mmunopositive for measles hemagglutinin (HA) protein but not for measles
nucleoprotein and rubella or mumps viral proteins. Furthermore, over 90% of MMR
antibody-positive autistic sera were also positive for MBP autoantibodies,
suggesting a strong association between MMR and CNS autoimmunity in autism. .
The level of measles antibody, but not mumps or rubella antibodies, was
significantly higher in autistic children as compared with normal children (P =
0.003) or siblings of autistic children (P <or= 0.0001). Furthermore,
immunoblotting of measles vaccine virus revealed that the antibody was directed
against a protein of approximately 74 kd molecular weight. The antibody to this
antigen was found in 83% of autistic children but not in normal children or
siblings of autistic children.We suggest an inappropriate antibody response to
MMR, specifically the measles component, might be related to pathogenesis of
autism. (good science)
Singh
VK, Lin SX, Yang VC. Serological association of measles virus and human
herpesvirus-6 with brain autoantibodies in autism. Clin Immunol Immunopathol.
1998 Oct;89(1):105-8. (i) 90% of measles-IgG-positive autistic sera were
also positive for anti-Myelin Basic Protein; (ii) 73% of measles-IgG-positive
autistic sera was also positive for anti-Neuro Axonal Filiament Protein; (iii)
84% of HHV-6-IgG-positive autistic sera was also positive for anti-MBP; and
(iv) 72% of HHV-6-IgG-positive autistic sera was also positive for anti-NAFP.
Singh VK, Lin SX, Newell E, Nelson C. Abnormal measles-mumps-rubella
antibodies and CNS autoimmunity in children with autism. J Biomed Sci.
2002 Jul-Aug;9(4):359-64. (a
serological study of measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) and MBP autoantibodies using
serum samples of 125 autistic children and 92 control children, antibodies were
assayed. Immunoblotting analysis revealed the presence of an unusual MMR
antibody in 75 of 125 (60%) autistic sera but not in control sera. This
antibody specifically detected a protein of 73-75 kD of MMR. This protein band,
as analyzed with monoclonal antibodies, was immunopositive for measles
hemagglutinin (HA) protein but not for measles nucleoprotein and rubella or
mumps viral proteins.)
Vijendra
K. Singh, Ph.D. Autism, Vaccines, and Immune Reactions. IOM presentation, Feb
9, 2004. Audio only: http://www.iom.edu/view.asp?id=19132
Baird
G, Pickles A, Simonoff E, Charman T, Sullivan P, Chandler S, Loucas T, Meldrum
D, Afzal M, Thomas B, Jin L, Brown D. Measles vaccination and antibody
response in autism spectrum disorders. Arch Dis Child. 2008 Feb 5. (They have found no differential antibody
response to the MMR in autistics and non-autistics)
Libbey JE, Coon HH, Kirkman NJ, Sweeten TL, Miller JN, Lainhart JE, McMahon WM, Fujinami RS. Are there altered antibody responses to measles, mumps, or rubella viruses in autism? J Neurovirol. 2007 Jun;13(3):252-9. (The authors investigated antibody titers to measles, mumps, and rubella viruses and diphtheria toxoid in children with autism, both classic onset. No significant differences in antibody titers to measles, mumps, and rubella viruses and diphtheria toxoid were found among the autistic groups and controls)
Illness following MMR
The finding is that not all children respond to the MMR vaccine in the same way. After all, it is a live vaccine, and so for the child to be infected is expected. Some children actually go down with measles, and some show no symptoms at all.
Schultz ST, Klonoff-Cohen HS, Wingard DL, Akshoomoff NA, Macera CA, Ji M. Acetaminophen (paracetamol) use, measles-mumps-rubella vaccination, and autistic disorder: the results of a parent survey. Autism. 2008 May;12(3):293-307. (this was carried out by telephoning parents and parents of controls. They found that the children with autism were more likely to have received some paracetamol and this was more clearly seen in regressive autism)
MMR: where are we now? Elliman D,
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PCR testing for Morbillovirus RNA
Uhlmann
V, Martin CM, Sheils O, Pilkington L, Silva I, Killalea A, Murch SB,
Walker-Smith J, Thomson M, Wakefield AJ, O'Leary JJ. Potential viral
pathogenic mechanism for new variant inflammatory bowel disease. Mol Pathol.
2002 Apr;55(2):84-90. (shows that a
large proportion of ASD colonic biopsies had measles virus RNA present in the
wall and this was not true for controls)
Walker
SJ, Hepner K, Segal J, Krigsman. A
persistent ileal measles virus in a large cohort of regressive autistic
children with ileocolitis and lymphonodular hyperplasia revisitation of an
earlier study. IMFAR. They replicate
Kawashima
H, Mori T, Kashiwagi Y, Takekuma K, Hoshika A, Wakefield A. Detection and
sequencing of measles virus from peripheral mononuclear cells from patients
with inflammatory bowel disease and autism. Dig Dis Sci. 2000 Apr;45(4):723-9. (clearly this and the next article disagree,
which is difficult with the methods that they use, unless the inflammatory
bowel condition is involved with the measles vaccine. Probably this would suggest that the work was
checked by both groups) (They used a nested reverse transcriptase PCR technique
and also looked in the blood of patients with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative
colitis as well as controls and autistic patients. 3 of 9 patients with ASD were positive and
none of the controls. Genetically they
were shown to be MMR vaccine strains)
Afzal
MA, Ozoemena LC, O'Hare A, Kidger KA, Bentley ML, Minor PD. Absence of
detectable measles virus genome sequence in blood of autistic children who have
had their MMR vaccination during the routine childhood immunization schedule of
UK. J Med Virol. 2006 May;78(5):623-30. (This was the
opposive of found by a Japanese group in 1999).
**
D'Souza
Y, Fombonne E, Ward BJ. No evidence of persisting measles virus in
peripheral blood mononuclear cells from children with autism spectrum disorder.
Pediatrics. 2006 Oct;118(4):1664-75. Erratum in: Pediatrics. 2006 Dec;118(6):2608. (They used a nested reverse transcriptase PCR
technique and in any possible positives they checked the finding and found that
the gene that they had shown was not one of measles). **
Bradstreet
JJ, El-Dahr JM, Anthony A, Kartzinel JJ,
Rima BK, Duprex WP. Molecular mechanisms of measles virus persistence. Virus Res. 2005 Aug;111(2):132-47. (this shows in what format the genome of measles virus is retained in cells in the body and how this would lead to long term immunity)
Rima BK, Duprex WP. Morbilliviruses and human disease. J Pathol. 2006 Jan;208(2):199-214. Review
Lack of association between measles virus vaccine and autism with enteropathy: a case-control study. Hornig M, Briese T, Buie T, Bauman ML, Lauwers G, Siemetzki U, Hummel K, Rota PA, Bellini WJ, O'Leary JJ, Sheils O, Alden E, Pickering L, Lipkin WI. PLoS One. 2008 Sep 4;3(9):e3140. They found the same proportion of children (approximately 4 yr old, generally after second vaccination) that have autism and those without autism that had the virus RNA in the gut wall, when biopsies are taken because of gut wall problems.
**It is very difficult to
state that PCR-positive results are wrong.
The result by Kawashima et al may well have found the results to be
positive and the ones by Afzal et al and D’Souza et al say the opposite but an
explanation must be found for this rather than an argument as to which group
was right. By rights at this point the
second two may well be considered to be technically wrong (because it is such a
difficult technique), but the it basically means that much more work is
required.
Diagram
1. Demonstration of the way in which
the live measles vaccine virus enters the cell and is produced by it to infect
a further cell. See Nature
Reviews
Reviews and Discussions in the literature of MMR being associated with autism
Kennedy RC, Byers VS, Marchalonis JJ. Measles virus infection and vaccination: potential role in chronic illness and associated adverse events. Crit Rev Immunol. 2004;24(2):129-56. Review. Tries to discuss an indication that autism is associated with vaccine.
Madsen
KM, Vestergaard M. MMR vaccination and autism : what is the evidence for a
causal association? Drug Saf. 2004;27(12):831-40. Review. “The hypothesis has been subjected to
critical evaluation in many different ways, using techniques from molecular
biology to population-based epidemiology, and with a vast number of independent
researchers involved, none of which has been able to corroborate the
hypothesis” but note that it is from Drug Safety, a journal.
Wakefield
AJ. Enterocolitis, autism and measles virus. Mol Psychiatry. 2002;7 Suppl 2:S44-6. Review.
Wakefield
AJ, Montgomery SM. Autism, viral infection and measles-mumps-rubella
vaccination. Isr Med Assoc J. 1999 Nov;1(3):183-7. Review.
O'Leary JJ et al. Measles virus and autism. Lancet. 2000
Aug 26;356(9231):772. (explains the
finding of the measles type virus RNA in the wall of the gut of the children
with autism)
Quigley EM, Hurley D. Autism and the gastrointestinal tract. Am
J Gastroenterol. 2000 Sep;95(9):2154-6.
Landrigan
PJ, Witte JJ. Neurologic disorders following live measles-virus
vaccination. JAMA. 1973 Mar 26;223(13):1459-62.
Glismann
S.
Danish Supreme Court rules that child
with autism developed in temporal relation with MMR vaccination is not entitled
to
compensation.
Euro Surveill. 2005 Apr 28;10(4):E050428.3. (it was
taken that legally this could not be shown to be the cause)
Possible immunological disorders in
autism: concomitant autoimmunity and immune tolerance. Kawashti MI, Amin OR,
Rowehy NG. Egypt J
Immunol. 2006;13(1):99-104
They used simple elisa methods to measure the antibody levels against
common conditions in autistic children compared to controls. Results revealed high seropositivity
for autoantibodies to casein and gluten: 83.3% and 50% respectively in autistic
children as compared to 10% and 6.7% positivity in the control group.
Surprisingly, circulating anti-measles, anti-mumps and anti-rubella IgG were
positive in only 50%, 73.3% and 53.3% respectively as compared to 100%
positivity in the control group. Anti-CMV IgG was positive in 43.3% of the
autistic children as compared to 7% in the control group. The interesting thing about this is that many
of the Egyptian children would not have received MMR but would have caught
measles…and hence the 100% positivity in controls for antibodies.
Lett
D. Vaccine autism link
discounted, but effect of "study" is unknown. CMAJ. 2007 Oct 9;177(8):841.
Bradstreet JJ, Dahr J El, Anthony A, Kartzinel J, Wakefield AJ, Detection of meascles virus genomic RNA in Cerebrospinal fluid of children with regressive autism: a report of three cases. J Am Physicians and Surgeons 2004;9:38-45. (They looked for the measles virus genome RNA in the CSF of 3 of 3 autistic cases, only 2 of 3 had antibodies to measles in the CSF to measles. They suggest that this indicates a possibility of a virally driven cerebral immunopathology in some cases of regressive autism. None of the controls had the positive test for measles RNA)
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Consideration of the presence of Thimerosal (and
hence mercury) in MMR and autism
It is
clear that the use of thimerosal has been used for many years but the huge
increase in vaccination that has taken place and the symptomatic children gave
researchers the thought that it may be this that was associated with autism. There is clearly good evidence of the drug
being toxic (and this is not surprising) but because of its breakdown and
excretion in a particular way will cause a low amount of mercury to be present
in the body for a reasonably long time. There
is argument about the epidemiological association of thimerosal usage and
autism but the Danish work makes this seem unlikely. Geier’s work looking into the presence of
mercury for long periods and potential toxicity cannot be ignored.
Geier
DA, Geier MR. A comparative evaluation of the effects of MMR immunization
and mercury doses from thimerosal-containing childhood vaccines on the
population prevalence of autism. Med Sci Monit. 2004 Mar;10(3):PI33-9. (showing that the vaccine seemed to be
associated with autism but could not be shown to be the cause).
Geier
DA, Geier MR. An evaluation of
the effects of thimerosal on neurodevelopmental disorders reported following
DTP and Hib vaccines in comparison to DTPH vaccine in the
Baskin
DS, Ngo
H, Didenko
VV. Thimerosal induces DNA breaks, caspase-3 activation, membrane damage,
and cell death in cultured human neurons and fibroblasts. Toxicol Sci. 2003 Aug;74(2):361-8. Epub 2003
May 28. This merely shows that at
specific levels thimerosal can be found to be toxic but the levels found in the body after an MMR injection should not be
high enough to cause some of the factors mentioned in the article.
Goth
SR, Chu
RA, Gregg
JP, Cherednichenko
G, Pessah
IN. Uncoupling of ATP-mediated calcium signaling and dysregulated
interleukin-6 secretion in dendritic cells by nanomolar thimerosal. Environ Health Perspect. 2006
Jul;114(7):1083-91 (in
fact nanomolar levels are reasonable for a compound that is being injected in
millimolar levels into 10 litres of body.
As such, although thimerosal does have a known pharmacokinetics, this
type of toxicity may be significant)
Havarinasab
S, Hultman P. Organic
mercury compounds and autoimmunity. Autoimmun Rev. 2005 Jun;4(5):270-5.
Epub 2005 Jan 5 Recent studies have confirmed that organic mercurials such as
methyl mercury (MeHg) and ethyl mercury (EtHg) are much more potent immunosuppressors
than inorganic mercury (Hg). They tried
to demonstrate this with further compounds.
Havarinasab has done further work on immunosuppression and organic
mercury.
Blaxill MF, Redwood L, Bernard S. Thimerosal and autism? A plausible hypothesis that should not be dismissed. Med Hypotheses. 2004;62(5):788-94. (this simply suggests that the mechanism of toxicity of mercury could be involved).
James
SJ, Slikker
W 3rd, Melnyk
S, New
E, Pogribna
M, Jernigan
S. Thimerosal neurotoxicity is
associated with glutathione depletion: protection with glutathione
precursors. Neurotoxicology.
2005 Jan;26(1):1-8. (Thimerosol
is an antiseptic containing 49.5% ethyl mercury that has been used for years as
a preservative in many infant vaccines and in flu vaccines. Environmental
methyl mercury has been shown to be highly neurotoxic, especially to the
developing brain. Because mercury has a high affinity for thiol (sulfhydryl
(-SH)) groups, the thiol-containing antioxidant, glutathione (GSH), provides
the major intracellular defense against mercury-induced neurotoxicity. Cultured
neuroblastoma cells were found to have lower levels of GSH and increased
sensitivity to thimerosol toxicity compared to glioblastoma cells that have
higher basal levels of intracellular GSH.
This is well explained but its action is in vitro at this time)
Kaur P, Aschner M, Syversen T. Glutathione modulation influences methyl mercury induced neurotoxicity in primary cell cultures of neurons and astrocytes. Neurotoxicology. 2006 Jul;27(4):492-500. Epub 2006 Mar 2 (Investigated the role of glutathione (GSH) and reactive oxygen species (ROS) in MeHg-induced neurotoxicity, using primary cell cultures of cerebellar neurons and astrocytes. The intracellular GSH content was modified by pretreatment with N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) or di-ethyl maleate (DEM) for 12 h. Treatment with 5 microM MeHg for 30 min led to significant (p<0.05) increase in ROS and reduction (p<0.001) in GSH content.)
Wu X, Liang H, O'Hara KA, Yalowich JC, Hasinoff BB. Thiol-modulated mechanisms of the cytotoxicity of thimerosal and inhibition of DNA topoisomerase II alpha. Chem Res Toxicol. 2008 Feb;21(2):483-93. Epub 2008 Jan 16. (Thimerosal-induced single and double strand breaks in K562 cells were consistent with a rapid induction of apoptosis)
Madsen
KM, Lauritsen MB, Pedersen CB, Thorsen P, Plesner AM, Andersen PH, Mortensen
PB. Thimerosal and the
occurrence of autism: negative ecological evidence from Danish population-based
data. Pediatrics. 2003 Sep;112(3 Pt 1):604-6. (The discontinuation
of thimerosal-containing vaccines in
Magos L. Neurotoxic character of thimerosal and the allometric extrapolation of
adult clearance half-time to infants.
J Appl Toxicol. 2003 Jul-Aug;23(4):263-9. Review (The decomposition rate of organomercurials and the potency of the blood-brain barrier increase with the size of the organic radical. Thus methylmercury damages the brain more than thimerosal does, and when intake limits set for methylmercury are applied to thimerosal the safety margin is increased even if the clearances were the same. However, the clearance half-time of ethylmercury in adults is about one-third of the 50 days' clearance half-time of methylmercury given for 60 kg body weight. Moreover, because metabolic rates (e.g. basal metabolism, daily loss of mercury in per cent of body burden) in different weight groups are related to the fractional power of body weight (rule of allometry), mercury clears from the infant body faster than from the adult body. Blood mercury concentrations observed after vaccination showed agreement with allometrically extrapolated concentrations. This is a very useful article in that it goes through the pharmacokinetics of thimerosal and its breakdown products) see also: Magos L. Review on the toxicity of ethylmercury, including its presence as a preservative in biological and pharmaceutical products. J Appl Toxicol. 2001 Jan-Feb;21(1):1-5. Review.
Pichichero ME, Gentile
A, Giglio
N, Umido
V, Clarkson
T, Cernichiari
E, Zareba
G, Gotelli
C, Gotelli
M, Yan
L, Treanor
J. Mercury levels in newborns and infants after receipt of
thimerosal-containing vaccines.
Pediatrics. 2008 Feb;121(2):e208-14 (unlike the findings of Magos,
above, they found a relatively slow halflife: the blood half-life of intramuscular ethyl mercury from thimerosal in
vaccines in infants is substantially shorter than that of oral methyl mercury
in adults. This also is a useful article that goes
through pharmacokinetics. )
Stajich
GV, Lopez
GP, Harry
SW, Sexson
WR Iatrogenic exposure to mercury after hepatitis B vaccination in preterm
infants. J Pediatr. 2000 May;136(5):679-81. (Comparison
of pre- and post-vaccination mercury levels showed a significant increase in
both preterm and term infants after vaccination. Additionally, post-vaccination
mercury levels were significantly higher in preterm infants as compared with
term infants.)
Ueha-Ishibashi
T, Oyama Y, Nakao H, Umebayashi C, Nishizaki Y, Tatsuishi T, Iwase K, Murao K,
Seo H. Effect of
thimerosal, a preservative in vaccines, on intracellular Ca2+ concentration of
rat cerebellar neurons. Toxicology. 2004 Jan 15;195(1):77-84. (in vitro demonstration
of relatively high concentrations of thimerosal on neurones)
Ueha-Ishibashi T, Tatsuishi T, Iwase K, Nakao H, Umebayashi C, Nishizaki Y, Nishimura Y, Oyama Y, Hirama S, Okano Y. Property of thimerosal-induced decrease in cellular content of glutathione in rat thymocytes: a flow cytometric study with 5-chloromethylfluorescein diacetate. Toxicol In Vitro. 2004 Oct;18(5):563-9. (similar to the gut endothelial work in vitro, these cells also show a decrease in glutathione presumably because of –SH and interactions with mercury).
Verstraeten T, Davis RL, DeStefano F, Lieu TA, Rhodes PH, Black SB, Shinefield H, Chen RT; Vaccine Safety Datalink Team. Safety of thimerosal-containing vaccines: a two-phased study of computerized health maintenance organization databases. Pediatrics. 2003 Nov;112(5):1039-48. Erratum in: Pediatrics. 2004 Jan;113(1):184. (No consistent significant associations were found between thiomersal containing vaccines and neurodevelopmental outcomes.)
Andrews
N, Miller
E, Grant
A, Stowe
J, Osborne
V, Taylor
B. Thimerosal exposure in infants and developmental disorders: a
retrospective cohort study in the
Westphal GA, Asgari S, Schulz TG, Bünger J, Müller M, Hallier E. Thimerosal induces micronuclei in the cytochalasin B block micronucleus test with human lymphocytes. Arch Toxicol. 2003 Jan;77(1):50-5. Epub 2002 Nov 6.
Induction of metallothionein in mouse cerebellum and cerebrum with low-dose thimerosal injection. Minami T, Miyata E, Sakamoto Y, Yamazaki H, Ichida S. Cell Biol Toxicol. 2009 Apr 9. This is in fact a model to some degree in vitro.
Thimerosal-containing vaccines: evidence versus public
apprehension. DeStefano F. Expert Opin Drug Saf. 2009 Jan;8(1):1-4
See Fombonne et al below
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MMR withdrawal and Autism in
This
is the best evidence that MMR does not cause the increase in autism cases that
has been seen over the past 15 years.
Honda
H, Shimizu Y, Rutter M. No effect of
MMR withdrawal on the incidence of autism: a total population study. J Child
Psychol Psychiatry. 2005 Jun;46(6):572-9. (this is one of the most effective pieces of evidence
that MMR was not involved in the increase in autism seen in the 1990s).
Chen
W, Landau S, Sham P, Fombonne E. No evidence for links between autism, MMR
and measles virus. Psychol Med. 2004 Apr;34(3):543-53. No increased risk of AD
following exposures to wild measles and vaccinations with monovalent measles,
and Urabe or Jeryl-Lynn variants of MMR was detected. (This seems to have been
agreed to some degree since the results from
Takahashi
H, Suzumura S, Shirakizawa F, Wada N, Tanaka-Taya K, Arai S, Okabe N, Ichikawa
H, Sato T. An epidemiological study on Japanese autism concerning routine
childhood immunization history. Jpn J Infect Dis. 2003 Jun;56(3):114-7 (the Japanese had problems
with their MMR vaccination early in the 1990s partly due to aseptic
meningitis. They decided to bring back
the MMR much later. What they could see
from the results was that the cases of autism rose with no interaction with MMR
usage)
Sugiyama
T, Abe T. The
prevalence of autism in
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See large amounts or argument concerning the involvement of thimerosal
Fombonne
E, Zakarian R, Bennett A, Meng L, McLean-Heywood D. Pervasive developmental
disorders in Montreal, Quebec, Canada: prevalence and links with immunizations.
Pediatrics. 2006 Jul;118(1):e139-50 “The prevalence of pervasive developmental disorder
in
Jick
H, Kaye JA. Autism and
DPT vaccination in the
Rümke HC, Visser HK. Childhood vaccinations anno 2004. II. The real and presumed side effects of vaccination Ned Tijdschr Geneeskd. 2004 Feb 21;148(8):364-71. (in Dutch)
The history of vaccinations in the light of the autism
epidemic. Cave SF. Altern Ther Health Med.
2008 Nov-Dec;14(6):54-7. Autism
has been characterized as a behavioral disorder since it was first described by
Leo Kanner in 1943. The number of autistic children has increased over the last
decade. The incidence of autism was 1 in 10000 before the 1970s and has
steadily increased to 1 in 150 in 2008 with a male:female predominance of 4:1.
The cause of this epidemic has remained unknown, but several hypotheses have
been studied. Many of these suggest an environmental trigger, such as the ethyl
mercury contained in the preservative thimerosal, which has been used in
vaccines since 1931. Other possible triggers associated with vaccinations are
chemical toxins and live viruses. James has published studies suggesting a
genetic predisposition in the families of autistic children, exposing them to a
deficiency in glutathione and an inability to detoxify heavy metals. Vargas has
shown autism to encompass ongoing inflammation in the brains of autistic
children. The Hannah Poling vaccine decision was a landmark case. Poling's
family was awarded funds for ongoing medical care of an autistic child who was
found to have mitochondrial dysfunction exacerbated by vaccines that left her
with autistic behavior and seizures. Several studies have emerged supporting
the fact that a significant number of autistic children do have mitochondrial
dysfunction.
Autism and vaccination-the current evidence. Miller L, Reynolds J. J Spec Pediatr Nurs. 2009 Jul;14(3):166-72
Scientific community. Resignations highlight disagreement
on vaccines in autism group. Stokstad E. Science.
2009 Jul 10;325(5937):135.
Vaccine disputes. Coombes R. BMJ. 2009 Jun 22;338:b2435. doi: 10.1136/bmj.b2435.
A broken trust: lessons from the vaccine--autism wars.
Gross L. PLoS Biol. 2009 May 26;7(5):e1000114.
Court finds no link between vaccines and autism.
[No authors listed] Child
Health Alert. 2009 Mar;27:4.
(this was the report when the American court decided that the scientific
findings were inadequate to allow the vaccination to be put down as the
cause. However they did say that they
could also not say that the vaccines were not the cause. As such no link could be decided.
Autism and vaccinations: is there a correlation?
Hovde J, Kutscher EC. S D Med. 2008 Dec;61(12):456-7.
Autism spectrum disorders: prevalence and vaccines.
Peacock G, Yeargin-Allsopp M. Pediatr Ann. 2009
Jan;38(1):22-5.
The history of vaccinations in the light of the autism
epidemic. Cave SF. Altern Ther Health Med.
2008 Nov-Dec;14(6):54-7.
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Serum Replacement
This is simply the
changing of the serum that the child has with the serum from a donor. It has been carried out in many conditions where
autoimmunity may have taken a have part in the pathogenesis of the
disease. However, in autism this is
simply not true, and so the procedure has not taken place. There is some research that may suggest that
the serum of the child does in fact cause the damage that is taking place. Also see the data concerning autoimmunity
conditions.
Sera from children with autism alter proliferation of human neuronal progenitor cells exposed to oxidation. Mazur-Kolecka B, Cohen IL, Jenkins EC, Flory M, Merz G, Ted Brown W, Frackowiak J. Neurotox Res. 2009 Jul;16(1):87-95. Recently, they showed that sera from children with autism alter the maturation of human neuronal progenitor cells (NPCs) in culture. Results suggest that pre-programmed neurogenesis, i.e., neuronal proliferation, migration, differentiation, growth, and circuit organization, can be affected differently by factors present in autistic sera. In this report, we tested the effect of autistic sera on the vulnerability of NPCs to oxidative stress-a recognized risk factor of autism. We found that mild oxidative stress reduced proliferation of differentiating NPCs but not immature NPCs.
Has the Incidence of autism increased
anyway?
Overall
it does seem that the incidence and prevalence has increased but the reason for
this is still unclear according to many of the epidemiologists. Some seem to have changed their mind during
the period of argument (e.g. Fombonne) but this is not under great argument at
this point.
Yes
it has
a.
Bertrand
J, Mars
A, Boyle
C, Bove
F, Yeargin-Allsopp
M, Decoufle
P. Prevalence of autism in a
b.
Chakrabarti
S, Fombonne E. Pervasive developmental disorders in preschool children:
confirmation of high prevalence. Am J Psychiatry. 2005 Jun;162(6):1133-41. (Higher than 15 yrs ago
but relatively stable currently)
c.
Baird
G, Simonoff E, Pickles A, Chandler S, Loucas T, Meldrum D, Charman T.
Prevalence of disorders of the autism spectrum in a population cohort of
children in
d. Jick
H, Beach
KJ, Kaye
JA. Incidence of autism over time. Epidemiology.
2006 Jan;17(1):120-1.
e. Jick
H, Kaye JA. Epidemiology and possible causes of autism. Pharmacotherapy.
2003 Dec;23(12):1524-30. Erratum in: Pharmacotherapy. 2004;24(4):following
table of contents. (Goes over the
reports and indicates the increases since the early 1980s)
f.
Lauritsen
MB, Pedersen CB, Mortensen PB. The incidence and prevalence of pervasive
developmental disorders: a Danish population-based study. Psychol Med. 2004
Oct;34(7):1339-46. (although the numbers were increasing
throughout the 1990s, it was not clear that this was due to an increase in the
prevalence of the disease and not just a diagnostic change)
g.
Powell
JE, Edwards A, Edwards M, Pandit BS, Sungum-Paliwal SR, Whitehouse W.
Changes in the incidence of childhood autism and other autistic spectrum
disorders in preschool children from two areas of the West Midlands, UK. Dev
Med Child Neurol. 2000 Sep;42(9):624-8. (Children diagnosed before the age of 5 years and
residing within the study areas at diagnosis were detected from the records of
four child development centres. The incidence rate per 10,000 children per year
for the combined areas was 8.3 for all children with ASDs, 3.5 for classical
childhood autism (CA), and 4.8 for other ASDs. Rates were similar in both
areas, despite differences in social deprivation and proportions of ethnic
minorities. While rates for classical CA increased by 18% per year, a much
larger increase (55% per year) was seen for 'other ASDs', suggesting that
clinicians are becoming increasingly able)
They clearly attempted to avoid problems of clinicians and the tendency
to diagnose more than they should.
h.
Fombonne
E, Zakarian R, Bennett A, Meng L, McLean-Heywood D. Pervasive developmental
disorders in Montreal, Quebec, Canada: prevalence and links with immunizations.
Pediatrics. 2006 Jul;118(1):e139-50 (The prevalence of pervasive developmental disorder
in
No
it probably has not
i.
Coo
H, Ouellette-Kuntz H, Lloyd JE, Kasmara L, Holden JJ, Lewis ME. Trends in
Autism Prevalence: Diagnostic Substitution Revisited. J Autism Dev Disord. 2007
Nov 2. (They did a retrospective survey
and showed that of the very large increase in diagnostic cases that appeared in
j.
Croen LA, Grether JK, Hoogstrate J, Selvin S.
The changing prevalence of autism in
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