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Thursday, March 04, 2004Ten of the 13 scientists who produced a 1998 study linking a childhood vaccine to several cases of autism Wednesday retracted their conclusion. In a statement that will be published in Friday's issue of the Lancet, a London-based medical journal, the researchers said they did not have enough evidence at the time to tie the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, known as MMR, to the autism cases. The study has been blamed for a sharp drop in the number of vaccinations among British children and for outbreaks of measles. So why did they feel so confident about giving their imprimatur to the article in the first place? What's even more astonishing, when you look at the abstract of the paper, is that The Lancet ever saw fit to print it. It was, at best, a very very weak case. The study looked at twelve children who already had developmental problems and chronic gastrointestinal disease. There were no control subjects. The only link to autism and the MMR vaccine was the parents' perception of a link: Onset of behavioural symptoms was associated, by the parents, with measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination in eight of the 12 children, with measles infection in one child, and otitis media in another. All 12 children had intestinal abnormalities, ranging from lymphoid nodular hyperplasia to aphthoid ulceration. Histology showed patchy chronic inflammation in the colon in 11 children and reactive ileal lymphoid hyperplasia in seven, but no granulomas. Behavioural disorders included autism (nine), disintegrative psychosis (one), and possible postviral or vaccinal encephalitis (two). Autism is a disorder that can only be diagnosed by observing problems in social interaction and language development. By definition, these problems can only begin to be recognized between the ages of 12 and 15 months. The MMR vaccine is given between the ages of 12 and 15 months. Saying that the MMR vaccine causes autism is like saying that learning to walk causes it. Autism and the MMR vaccine (and learning to walk) all happen at about the same time in a child's life. It's time to put this issue to rest. The editors of The Lancet and the authors of the study should have had the clarity of thinking to realize that, even in 1998. The fact that they didn't speaks volumes about the state of science in medicine. posted by Sydney on 3/04/2004 10:27:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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