MMR vaccination and autism 1998

BMJ 1998;316:715-716 ( 7 March )

Editorials

MMR vaccination and autism 1998

Déjà vu $---$ pertussis and brain damage 1974?

News p 724

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The media excitement and public concern after a Lancet report linking measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine with autism¹kindles a sense of déjà vu. It is highly reminiscent of similarscares over pertussis in the 1970s,² which resulted in muchsuffering and many deaths from pertussis both in Britain and internationally. ² ³

Britain's vaccination programme has hugely reduced the incidence of diphtheria, haemophilus meningitis, measles, polio, pertussis,congenital rubella, and tetanus.⁴ As the incidence of thesediseases has fallen vaccine safety has assumed greater importance,especially in parents' minds. Any safety issue requires cool scientificconsideration.³ Here the hypothesis is that MMR leads to anon-specific gut condition permitting the absorption of non-permeablepeptides, which in turn cause serious developmental disorders.¹Supportive evidence consists of cases referred to a gastroenterologygroup. The data published comprises 11 boys and one girl, eachwith bowel abnormalities and serious developmental regression(nine had autism). . . . [Full text of this article]

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Relevant Article

MMR vaccination and autism 1998: R Roberts, M R Kiln, and J Selway
BMJ 1998 316: 1824. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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