eptember 21, 2000
Second Study Links Autism To MMR Jab
[As fresh evidence over inoculations emerges and parents get ready to sue, Health
Editor Sarah-Kate Templeton of the Sep 17 2000, Sunday Herald (Scotland) finds
some experts are determined to ignore the issue.]
sundayherald.com
Leading scientists from all over the world are gathered at two major conferences this
weekend to discuss how viruses damage the immune system. One will fiercely debate
a possible link between the mumps, measles and rubella vaccine and autism. At the
other, it won't even be mentioned.
Scientists have been bitterly divided over whether the MMR vaccine can cause autism
and bowel disease in children since British paediatrician, Andrew Wakefield, raised
fears of the link in a paper in the Lancet medical journal more than two years ago.
His findings were so contentious that it divided Wakefield's own colleagues at the
Royal Free Hospital in London. But now, as Wakefield is believed to be close to
publishing more convincing evidence of the danger, another expert, on the other side
of the Atlantic, has reached the same conclusion. [see Wakefield AJ, Anthony A,
Murch SH, Thomson M, Montgomery SM, et al. Enterocolitis in Children With
Developmental Disorders. Am JGastroenterol September;95:2285-2295.]
Last weekend Dr Vijendra Singh of Utah State University told the International Public
Conference on Vaccination in Virginia that his lab oratory experiments have shown
that the MMR jab causes autism in some children. He says his work shows that the jab
triggers an immune reaction which damages a protein in the brain, causing autism.
While Singh has been concentrating on the brain and how an adverse immune
reaction can interfere with the development of the myelin sheath that surrounds the
nerves in the brain, Wakefield has studied a bowel disorder which he and his team
believe is associated with autism.
But now the two scientists are arriving at the same conclusions about how the
combined vaccine can damage the child's immune system and cause autism.
Singh said: "This is very exciting. Wakefield and I are looking at this from different
angles but we are both coming to the same conclusions.
A source close to Wakefield added: "Singh and Wakefield have started from opposite
ends but they are showing the same things.
Now, further evidence to back up Wakefield's theory is expected to be published
shortly. Last weekend Singh said blood tests taken from autistic children contained
anti bodies, specific to the MMR vaccine, while these were not present in a control
group. Wakefield's research is expected to show that biopsies taken from the gut of
autistic youngsters also contain traces of the measles virus which can only have come
from the MMR vaccine.
The source said: "We are getting close to the threshold of new scientific evidence. A
paper is in the process of being submitted although we do not have a publication date
yet. The latest tests show that the measles virus, alive in the body, is introduced by
immunisation. The reason this lingers is simply because the body cannot cope
properly. Wakefield will be able to make a more compelling case as a result of tests.
These have been done in greater detail than at any stage in the past.
Wakefield is a well-respected reader in experimental gastroenterology. He is regularly
invited to speak at international meetings with his research published in leading
journals after being submitted to expert peer review. Yet he was vilified by his own
profession after his controversial suggestion that the MMR vaccination programme
should be stopped and replaced with single vaccines given at intervals to give the
child's immune system time to recover.
His findings are set to rock the government and fellow scientists further in the next year
as they will form a central part of the evidence of legal action being taken by about
700 legally-aided British families against the manufacturers of the MMR vaccine.
Last weekend Richard Barr, from law firm Alexander Harris, was in Virginia at the
same conference as Singh and Wakefield, gathering evidence to back the case. He
said: "There is a steady movement forward. We have already had three preliminary
hearings and by the end of the year there will be progress. There is a worry about the
safety of the vaccine and it is in everyone's interest to get it resolved.
The test case is expected to reach the courts next year but already lawyers for the
families and the drugs companies have begun selecting the handful of about eight
children who take the case forward.
Angus Kyle, 8, from Inverness, is on the shortlist of around three dozen autistic
children from which the final eight will be agreed by both parties. He is also one of
Wakefield's patients and has been involved in the research on which the success of
the case may hang.
Angus' parents, Sheila and Ian, decided to take legal action because they are
convinced the MMR vaccine is responsible for their son's autism and painful bowel
disorder. Angus received the MMR vaccine at 15 months and gradually developed
autistic symptoms until he was finally diagnosed with the condition at three years old.
Mrs Kyle said: "I think the first thing that changed about Angus was that, a couple of
months after the vaccine, he started jumping up and down and flapping his hands. This
is a feature of children who have autism. At the age of three we noticed he became
withdrawn into himself. He would sit in a corner and play with a piece of string
repetitively. He hadn't done that before. He also became extremely ritualistic. He
developed a need to follow the same routes to places, watched the same videos and
ate a narrow range of foods.
"One of the most distressing things was that, at three years old he started to distort
and corrupt his language. He knew a lot of nursery rhymes at an early age and then his
language became nonsensical with his words breaking up at the wrong place. He also
started losing a lot of language.
"Our main reason for taking this action is to try and prevent other children being
damaged in this way.
The debate is also raging in America where, earlier this year, scientists including
Wakefield and Singh were called to present their evidence to an influential Congress
committee. After a stormy meeting, leaders of the House Government Reform and
Oversight Committee urged the US Department of Health and Human Services to
launch a new study into the alleged link.
This summer the vaccine was debated at the Scottish parliament and MSPs agreed
there were too many concerns about a possible link between the MMR vaccine and an
increase in the number of children being diagnosed as autistic for the issue to be
swept aside.
They decided to gather more information from ministers and scientists before
deciding whether to undertake an inquiry later this year.
And Labour MSP, Kenneth McIntosh, has put down a parliamentary question, asking
the Executive what steps it is taking to ensure the public is inoculating against MMR.
The call comes as a report to be published this week shows growing concerns in one
health board area for the "disappointing" uptake of the vaccine against mumps,
measles and rubella.
The annual report of the director of public health for Argyll and Clyde Healthboard
says: "The uptake of the three-in-one measles, mumps and rubella vaccine has
continued to be disappointing. Large numbers of parents have not followed the
professional advice that the vaccine is deemed to be safe. Parents appear to have
forgotten that measles, mumps or rubella infection can be life-threatening or lead to
permanent disability or ill-health.
The fear of links with autism and bowel disorders has prompted more than 200
families across Scotland to travel to Edinburgh to have their children inoculated
separately by a private GP who is shipping in supplies of the single vaccines from
France.
The parents' reaction has also prompted the government to issue reassurances as to
the safety of the vaccine. Last month, Sir David Carter, outgoing chief medical officer,
warned that the failure of parents to have their children inoculated could cause
epidemics of measles, mumps and rubella.
The MMR vaccine was introduced to the UK in 1988. Thousands of families are
refusing to vaccinate against the once-common childhood illnesses of measles,
mumps and rubella because they fear it will do more harm than good.
However, the health department is refusing to budge on the issue for two reasons. If
the vaccines are separated, the child is left exposed to one or two of the diseases
until the course of three is completed.
In addition, if parents had to attend with their children three times instead of once for
vaccination, there is less likelihood of achieving complete coverage against all three
illnesses.
Bill Welsh, from Glasgow, became involved with families across Scotland who believe
their children have been damaged by the jab after his own grandson suffered a severe
reaction to the vaccination. He is calling for the Scottish parliament to re-introduce
single vaccines.
He said: "Any decision taken by the Scottish parliament to reintroduce single vaccines
as a choice will be welcomed by many parents who feel the 'MMR or nothing'
approach does not respect their concerns.
While Wakefield addresses a conference on autism this weekend in California,
experts gathered at the European Virology conference in Glasgow this weekend
refuse to even contemplate a link.
Dr Bill Carman, an expert in anti viral vaccination at Glasgow University and organiser
of the conference, said it was unlikely MMR would be discussed over the five-day
event.
He said that for research to finally prove or disprove whether there is a link between
autism and the MMR vaccine, it would require a huge study that would take about 12
years and a lot of money that could otherwise be used to fund research into cancer or
heart disease.
He said that if the public was forced to make a realistic choice they would not back the
necessary MMR research.
DAK |
