Autism And Vaccines

     Since the early 1980’s, there has been an increase in the number of cases of autism diagnosed each year and the CDC recently announced a more rapid increase in the last 10 years. These increases may reflect an actual increase in autism or it may be related to the improved recognition and diagnosis of autism, but, because this increase in autism has been during a time when the number of recommended vaccines for children has increased, many parents and some physicians have suspected a connection between vaccines and autism.   

      In 1989, an English gastroenterologist named Wakefield sent a letter to the British medical journal Lancet in which he reported 12 children with autism whom he felt had changes in their intestines that were related to the measles vaccine. This one, small report set off a firestorm around the world causing people to believe that the measles vaccine caused autism. On investigation, Wakefield was found to have financial ties with an anti-measles vaccine organization that was launching a suit against the vaccine manufacturers. In 2011, Lancet stated that Wakefield’s evidence had been faked and his report was a lie.

     Research in the last decade has suggested that autism may be caused by genetic problems in the development of the brain while the infant is still in the uterus. In the latest edition of The New England Journal of Medicine, a small but scientifically well-done study showed abnormalities in the brains of autistic children who had died from other causes. The researchers found abnormal groups of cells in the areas of the brain that control social functioning, emotions and communication. They felt that these abnormal cells may have developed in the second or third trimesters of pregnancy. The damage to the brain cells may have been due to something like an infection during pregnancy or it could be due to a basic genetic defect that was present from conception (studies have suggested that having an older father may increase the risk of a child having autism).

     Over the past 20 years, there have been hundreds of studies done on hundreds of thousands of children which have proven without question that there is no relationship between measles vaccine (or the combined measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine) and autism.  And, even though the number of vaccines that children receive has increased, there is also no evidence that the number of vaccines that a child receives or the order in which the vaccines are given is related to autism. Parents of children with autism are understandably desperate to know what caused their child’s problem and are sometimes willing to listen to anyone who offers an explanation. Much more research on autism is needed, but one thing is certain: it is time for people to stop claiming that vaccines are the cause of autism.