Study Shows ‘No Connection’ Between Measles Vaccine, Autism
Posted by Sarah Rubenstein
September 3, 2008, 8:53 pm
More people have been becoming infected with measles lately, at the same time as more parents are refusing to vaccinate their kids. A concern among such parents is their belief that the vaccine is linked to autism.
Researchers at Columbia University and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sought to allay some of their fears today, releasing study results they said showed “no connection” between the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine and autism in kids.
The researchers were dealing with a hypothesis out there that, as they explained it in a call with reporters, goes something like this: The measles virus from the vaccine could reproduce in the intestinal tract, leading to inflammation and bowel permeability. That leaky bowel could permit the release of chemicals that would make their way to the nervous system, causing trouble.
The researchers compared bowel tissues from two groups of kids, one with gastrointestinal problems and autism, and the other with gastrointestinal problems alone. But they didn’t find any differences between the two groups that suggested the vaccine could be to blame.
“Our results are inconsistent with a causal role for MMR vaccine as a trigger or exacerbator of either G.I. difficulties or autism,” said Mady Hornig, an epidemiologist at Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health and a co-author of the study published online in PLoS ONE by the Public Library of Science.
plosone.org
“The work reported here eliminates the remaining support for the hypothesis that autism with G.I. complaints is related to MMR vaccine exposure.”
In addition to Columbia and the CDC, researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital and Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, were involved. The study was funded by the CDC and the National Institutes of Health.
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