Hot Topics in the Pediatric Community
EDITORIAL
Debunking an Autism Theory
Published: September 9, 2008
Ten years ago, a clinical research paper triggered widespread and persistent fears that a combined vaccine that prevents measles, mumps and rubella — the so-called MMR vaccine — causes autism in young children. That theory has been soundly refuted by a variety of other research over the years, and now a new study that tried to replicate the original study has provided further evidence that it was a false alarm.
The initial paper, published in The Lancet, the prestigious British medical journal, drew an inferential link between the vaccine, the gastrointestinal problems found in many autistic children and autism. In later papers, researchers theorized that the measles part of the vaccine caused inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract that allowed toxins to enter the body and damage the central nervous system, causing autism.
Now, a team of researchers from Columbia University, Massachusetts General Hospital and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has tried and failed to replicate the earlier findings.
These researchers studied a group of 38 children with gastrointestinal problems, of whom 25 were autistic and 13 were not. All had received the vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella. The scientists found no evidence that it had caused harm. Only 5 of the 25 autistic children had been vaccinated before they developed gastrointestinal problems — and subsequently autism. Genetic tests found remnants of the measles virus in only two children, one of whom was autistic, the other not.
The new study adds weight to a growing body of epidemiological studies and reviews that have debunked the notion that childhood vaccines cause autism. The Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, the C.D.C. and the World Health Organization have found no evidence of a causal link between vaccines and autism.
Meanwhile, the original paper’s publisher — The Lancet — complained in 2004 that the lead author had concealed a conflict of interest. Ten of his co-authors retracted the paper’s implication that the vaccine might be linked to autism. Three of the authors are now defending themselves before a fitness-to-practice panel in London on charges related to their autism research.
Sadly, even after all of this, many parents of autistic children still blame the vaccine. The big losers in this debate are the children who are not being vaccinated because of parental fears and are at risk of contracting serious — sometimes fatal — diseases.
FDA Issues Health Information Advisory on Infant Formula from China
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a Health Information Advisory urging U.S. consumers to avoid all infant formula from China, after several brands sold in that country may have been contaminated with a substance known as melamine, a chemical used in plastics. Although sales of infant formula from China are illegal in the U.S., FDA officials are concerned that some formula from China may be on sale at ethnic grocery stores here. The FDA stresses there is no risk of contamination to the U.S. domestic supply of infant formula.
Melamine in known to cause kidney stones and other serious kidney conditions. The FDA is encouraging physicians to report diagnoses of kidney stones in infants of Chinese ethnicity to FDA MedWatch (1-800-FDA-1088), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (1-770-488-7100), or local/state health departments.
For more information, please go to the FDA Web site.
