Vaccines, Influenza and Autism

     In the wake of a new study about influenza and autism, I wanted to give a brief summary of what this new report may mean.

     In 1998 a small study by a British surgeon named Wakefield was published in the British Medical Journal Lancet. The study claimed that the MMR vaccine caused autism. This spread around the world like wildfire and the rate of MMR vaccination declined. After reviewing studies of hundreds of thousands of children, in 2010 the British General Medical Council found Wakefield guilty of 4 counts of dishonesty in his study and described his research as “irresponsible”. The next year the British Medical Journal labeled Wakefield’s study as an “elaborate fraud” and gave an apology for publishing it. Dr. Wakefield is currently barred from practicing medicine in the United Kingdom.

   But the damage was done and parents still express concerns about vaccines causing autism even though there has never been a scientific study that has even suggested a connection. Many viral illnesses, however, can infect the brain and cause a disease caused encephalitis. Encephalitis can lead to permanent brain damage, blindness, deafness and other neurologic problems. The damage done by these infections is not officially autism, but the symptoms can be confusing especially when a child gets infected early in life or in the uterus. Many vaccines protect children and adults against those kinds of viral illnesses.

     A recently released study suggests that if a mother gets influenza while she is pregnant, her child may have an increased risk of autism. We know for a fact that any viral infection in the mother’s bloodstream can be transmitted to a baby in the uterus, so, if the baby’s brain were to become infected, brain damage and autism could be a possible result. It was recommended that any woman of child-bearing years should get an influenza vaccine early in the flu season and see her doctor if she develops flu symptoms. Certainly, more investigation will be done on this subject.

     Most vaccines are “killed” vaccines. That means that the vaccine contains virus particles but no live virus. The vaccine cannot cause the infection. People commonly say “I got flu from the flu shot”, but it can’t happen from a killed vaccine. Another type of vaccine called a “live” vaccine has live virus particles in it and can give the patient a very mild infection, but a more serious infection can potentially occur. This is why it was easy for some physicians to believe Wakefield’s report of the measles vaccine (in MMR) causing autism because it is a “live” vaccine. Those doctors felt that a child could get encephalitis from the vaccine and that infection could cause autism. It was only after reviewing hundreds of studies from many sources involving thousands of children that the MMR connection to autism was proven to be completely false. 

     The nasal spray vaccine for influenza is also a live vaccine. Doctors already do not recommend the nasal flu vaccine for patients with asthma for fear that they could get the disease and, until we learn more about the possible connection between influenza and autism, it might be prudent for pregnant woman to get the killed influenza injection rather than the nasal spray. However, it is definitely recommended that all women of childbearing age get an influenza vaccine.