I have been speaking to young parents in my neighborhood of Park Slope, Brooklyn lately about vaccines and autism, which science and the media have once again pronounced as completely debunked for what I believe is now the sixth or seventh time.
These are highly educated, affluent and politically progressive people -- doctors, lawyers, entrepreneurs, writers and other successful professionals. And like half of the American population in one poll, many of my neighbors (though certainly not all) say that there is, or may be, an association between autism and the current U.S. vaccine schedule.
Although some Park Slope parents refuse to vaccinate their children at all - an unwise and dangerous choice in my opinion -- the vast majority makes sure their kids get immunized; although many do so on a schedule worked out with their pediatrician.
In general, it is the most highly educated parents who are now eschewing the CDC schedule and vaccinating their children at a different pace. In one recent presentation of data, for example, mothers with masters degrees were significantly more likely to forego the Hepatitis B vaccine birth dose than mothers with an 8th grade education.
Why do so many educated, successful parents still believe that the current vaccine schedule can hurt a small percentage of susceptible kids, and that some of those injuries might result in an autism spectrum disorder (ASD)? Despite all of the population studies showing no link, high-profile court cases that went against parents, insistence of omniscience by health officials and the public mauling of Andrew Wakefield, I don't think that many people around here have changed their minds.
That's because evidence of a vaccine-autism link did not come to them via a 12-year-old study published in a British medical journal, nor from Hollywood celebrities: Not very many had heard of Wakefield until recently.
Some of these parents actually keep up with the science, including a new review of autism studies in the Journal of Immunotoxicology which concludes: "Documented causes of autism include genetic mutations and/or deletions, viral infections, and encephalitis following vaccination."
Some of their evidence also comes from life -- from friends, family and business associates whose children had an adverse vaccine reaction, got sick, stopped talking and never recovered.
It's a fact that many children with ASD regressed following normal development just as they were receiving multiple vaccines at regular doctor visits. Health officials say the timing is entirely coincidental.
Regression usually occurs between 12 and 24 months, though one study found that some children show signs of autism as early as six months, but never before that age.
By six months of age, most U.S. children have received about 18 inoculations containing 24 vaccines against nine diseases. Over the next two years or so, they will receive another nine shots containing 14 vaccines against 12 diseases.
So whether a child regresses at six months, or 18 months, the tragedy happens during a period of intensive vaccination. In many cases, parents report that the child had an abnormal reaction after being vaccinated (seizures, spiking-fevers, diarrhea, lethargy, high-pitched screaming and/or other symptoms).
The temporal association might be coincidental, but for many autism parents, now tens of thousands in number (but certainly not all parents), there is nothing to dissuade them: they are certain that vaccines harmed their kids. I have spoken with thousands of them personally. Their stories of regression are hauntingly similar, describing a childhood catastrophe that was virtually unheard of when I was growing up.
These parents, and grandparents, naturally share their stories with brothers, sisters, friends, coworkers and the media, and before long half the population is questioning authorities who insist that there is zero chance of any association whatsoever.
Every year, thousands of new parents go through the same ordeal, which is why belief in a link is probably going up, not down. Sadly, this will continue for years to come as more and more parents join the ranks of the devastated but convinced. There is nothing that anyone can do or say -- not you, not me, not any scientist on earth -- until definitive proof of all the true causes of autism is found. But that appears to be years, or decades away.
Parents who say the vaccine-autism link has not been debunked are, like me, hardly "anti-vaccine." Why on earth would anyone not want to protect children from dangerous diseases? That is the epithet hurled upon most of them anyway. And it's what people will say about me as well, even though, as I said, I think parents should vaccinate their kids.
What's curious is the selective use of the "anti-vaccine" accusation. Few people call Dr. Bernadine Healy, former head of the NIH, "anti-vaccine" for not ruling out a possible link, and calling for the study of the children who actually got sick.
I have never heard it used against Temple Grandin, who said there should be "a closer evaluation" of vaccines and autism and echoed Dr. Healy by adding that, "These children should be carefully studied to determine when and why they lost language, and if factors such as vaccines and genetic predisposition may be causes."
And I've never heard it used against the many Somali parents of children with autism living in Minneapolis who said they are convinced that vaccines played a role, and will be telling that to CDC and NIH researchers who are trying to find out why the rate among Somali children is reportedly about 1-in-28 in that city.
Most parents in Park Slope are pro-vaccine, which is why they vaccinate their kids. They know the answer to the question, "Could vaccines be involved in some autism cases?" is not "Stop vaccinating all children now."
Instead, like me, they believe that more children today are more susceptible to vaccine injury and other environmental triggers, thanks to toxins such as heavy metals, air pollution, pesticides and a universe of endocrine disruptors unleashed into the environment. Other risk factors might be at play, such as vitamin D deficiency, parental age, closely-spaced births, caesarian births or even the stress of everyday life.
Such factors, both pre- and post-natal, might harm mitochondria, damage DNA and potentially result in immune and autoimmune disorders. These problems could then, in turn, increase the risk in some genetically susceptible children for early life problems like complex febrile seizures, myelin damage, and what has been called "mitochondrial meltdown." All three have been identified in medical journals and/or the U.S. federal Vaccine Court as plausible triggers of regressive autism. And all three can occur with, or without, vaccines.
They should be studied more, in my opinion.
The answer is not to stop vaccinating -- that would lead to widespread disease and suffering. The answer is to find out which children might be particularly susceptible to which vaccines, vaccine combinations or vaccine ingredients, and devise a schedule that is individually tuned to their specific conditions. This will build parental trust and strengthen, not weaken, the national vaccine program.
Even the CDC states:
Although some may call it a "one size fits all" approach, the recommended vaccine schedule is flexible, and it does account for instances when a child should not receive a recommended vaccine or when a recommended vaccine should be delayed. Those decisions, however, are best made in consultation with the child's doctor, and parents shouldn't be reluctant to have such discussions.
Until science can tell parents which children are most genetically vulnerable to neuroimmune injuries, more people around the country will probably "go Park Slope," if you will, and devise their own selection of vaccines at their own chosen schedule.
One hopes they proceed with great caution. For example, spreading out vaccines within the same series might confer less immunity, though we don't know because this has not been thoroughly studied.
Some parents might also skip the triple live-virus MMR vaccine altogether, because the manufacturer refuses to offer separate measels, mumps and rubella shots. Offering this simple choice alone might boost immunization rates by a couple of percentage points, so why not do it?
I have never agreed with the "anti-vaccine" movement, whose size and influence has been somewhat overblown by the media. Vaccination rates remain high. A recent wave of whooping cough in California occurred largely among vaccinated individuals. In fact, unvaccinated adults may have played a role: Only 1-in-10 adults in San Diego are believed to have received a pertussis booster shot, for example. Nobody is calling the other 90 percent dangerous "anti-vaxers," even if they may have helped create an outbreak that killed several children.
Why So Much Autism?
There is clearly no single cause of autism, and we are not going to find answers looking only at genes, or for that matter, only at thimerosal or MMR. But there remain many reasons why some parents, doctors, scientists and people with autism say a vaccine connection cannot be ruled out, at least in some cases.
My motive has never been to "blame vaccines." I have no personal reason whatsoever to oppose them, and little to gain -- believe me. What I have been trying to do is find out why so many more kids today are so sick.
I do not belive that better diagnosis and wider awareness can explain away a tidal wave of suffering. Such dinosaur mentality never helped a single child, and most credible scientists are abandoning it.
"It's time to start looking for the environmental culprits responsible for the remarkable increase in the rate of autism in California," Dr. Irva Hertz-Picciotto, an epidemiology professor at the University of California, Davis MIND Institute, has said. Those culprits, she said, might lie "in the microbial world and in the chemical world."
Another good example is Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D, current Director of the NIH. "Recent increases in chronic diseases (like) autism cannot be due to major shifts in the human gene pool. They must be due to changes in the environment" and other factors, he told Congress in 2006. Collins called for more research into "environmental toxins, dietary intake and physical activity," in order to "determine an individual's biological response to those influences."
Dr. Thomas Insel, Director of the National Institute of Mental Health and Chair of the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee, concurred with his boss, Dr. Collins, when he told me, "There is no question that there has got to be an environmental component here," because "this is not something that can be explained away by methodology, by diagnosis."
In my opinion, many children with autism are toxic. Some thing or things happened to make them sick. Unfortunately, our world has become a hazardous juggernaut through which increasingly fewer infants seem to emerge unscathed. We need to identify what is blocking their way, and fix it.
I know that many people will say the vaccine issue has been thoroughly investigated and debunked. I honestly wish that were the case, but it simply is not true. All of the "vaccine-autism" studies you hear about investigated just one childhood vaccine out of 14 (MMR), or one vaccine ingredient out of dozens (thimerosal). That is like announcing that air pollution does not cause lung cancer because you looked at carbon monoxide, alone, and hydrogen sulfide, alone, and found no link.
Moreover, many of the large epidemiological studies that purport to show no association between MMR or thimerosal and autism were conducted by people with vested interests -- financial or professional -- in defending vaccines and vaccine programs. Much worse than that, the vast majority of these studies were marked by methodological flaws that limit their usefulness and legitimacy. A thorough point-by-point rebuttal of the epidemiology will soon be published by the advocacy group SafeMinds.
What we do know is that reported autism rates began to explode right around the 1987-88 birth cohorts in the United States and a few other western countries, according to an EPA study.
"The greatest increase in ASD prevalence occurred in cohorts born between 1987 and 1992 across the United States," the EPA study concluded. Rates did not begin to increase in developing countries until a number of years later.
U.S. special education data found the exact same thing: ASD among students nearly tripled between the 1988 cohort (5-per-10,000) and the 1990 cohort (14.3-per-10,000) and then tripled again by the 1992 cohort (42.1-per-10,000). After that, the rate of increase slowed down significantly. Some of this increase is clearly due to an expansion of the ASD definition, but not all of it.
That should give scientists a lot to work with. If we believe the head of the NIH, then autism might be the result of "environmental toxins" interacting with individual genes. If we believe EPA scientists and Department of Education data, ASD rates boomed between the 1988 and 1992 birth cohorts, and increased at a much slower pace after that.
It seems reasonable to suspect, then, that average U.S. exposures to the environmental toxin(s) in question increased around 1988 (though they certainly were introduced before that) and continued to rise rapidly until at least 1992, when they began to level off. These exposures would have to have increased in developing countries several years later.
That seems like it would narrow the list down considerably. Because there is no one cause of autism, we need to look at all possible exposures and other environmental factors that might have increased dramatically during those years, including plastics, flame retardants, jet fuel, pesticides, viruses and retroviruses, parental age and, yes, the vaccine program.
For example, the HiB vaccine series was introduced in 1988, a fourth vaccine was added to the DTaP series around 1990, and the HepB series was introduced in 1991, with several years of increased uptake after that before it reached its current high levels. These vaccines have not been studied in direct relation to an ASD risk, except for one HepB paper that found an association (see below).
We also know that autism rates are different in different populations. The latest CDC figures available (from the 1998 birth cohort) show an overall U.S. rate of 91-per-10,000 children (1-in-110), and nearly 2 percent of all boys. Among U.S. military families, however, the rate is reportedly 25 percent higher, at 114-per-10,000 (1-in-88) and among Somali immigrants in Minnesota, it could be as high as 357-per-10,000).
Up in Canada, things are different altogether. In Alberta, the reported rate is, at the very most, 52-per-10,000, which is on par with the rest of Canada, except for Montreal, where the reported rate is 25 percent higher, at 65-per-10,000. The only exception is among Aboriginal (Native American) children in Alberta, whose reported rate was a very low 23-per-10,000. The rate among Aboriginal children in other Canadian provinces is also reportedly low.
Inadequate access to health care and diagnosis, a rural lifestyle and/or genetic differences might explain the apparent lower risk, the authors said, noting a somewhat similar trend among Aboriginal children in Australia, "and pointing to apparent differences in risk of ASD among Aboriginal people living in industrialized countries compared to the rest of the population."
Meanwhile, children of immigrant parents in Montreal seem to have a much higher ASD rate than average.
Exposure to environmental factors most likely not only increased between 1988 and 1992, it may have been most impactful among children of Somali immigrants, followed by U.S. children of military personnel, followed by other U.S. children, followed by children of immigrants to Canada, followed by non-Indian Canadian-born children and (possibly) followed by Aboriginal children in Canada.
Of course, these exposures would have to be studied in the context of genetic make-up, which might vary significantly among some of these populations and thus affect their response to environmental triggers. There are probably differences in the way children are diagnosed and documented in different regions, as well, due to cultutral and other factors.
On the other hand, if you look at vaccination rates, you find that Canadian Aboriginal children lag behind other Canadians by about 20 percent, and "suffered from higher rates of vaccine-preventable diseases," as a result, according to Health Canada.
Meanwhile, unlike U.S. children, most Canadian kids do not receive the three-dose Hepatitis B vaccine beginning at birth, except for children of immigrants, who are concentrated in large cities like Montreal. One paper in the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health suggested that boys who received the HepB vaccine beginning at birth were three times more likely to develop an ASD than boys who did not.
In the second half of this two-part series, I will look at some of the exciting new autism science that has been developed lately, especially around seizure disorders, mitochondrial dysfunction and the destruction of myelin -- the fatty acid coating that insulates and protects the brain and the rest of the central nervous system.
As I mentioned above, complex seizures, demyelinating disorders and mitochondrial "meltdowns" have all been implicated in autistic regression. All three can happen in nature without vaccines being involved. In fact, all three can be triggered by childhood illnesses that are prevented by vaccines.
In that sense, it's likely that some children have avoided autistic regression precisely because of their immunizations. On the other hand, if vaccines generally prevented ASD, rates would have gone way down since 1988, and not in the opposite direction.
A good example is ADEM, or acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, in which the brain's myelin sheath is severely damaged, usually only temporarily. The U.S. Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP), better known as "Vaccine Court," has ruled that HepB, MMR and other vaccines can result in ADEM and other demyelinating disorders. In one case, Bailey Banks, the VICP found that MMR-induced ADEM resulted in Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified, which is an ASD.
In another successful VICP case, the special master found that the MMR vaccine had contributed to ADEM, as well as GI distress. It was a ruling that eloquently described the paradox of vaccines that can cause the same disorders as the viral infections they were designed to prevent.
"What is striking to the court is that the most common cause of ADEM is the measles virus, and the vaccine at issue is a live (though attenuated) measles virus vaccine," the judge wrote. "That the virus is attenuated in the vaccine does not make it less likely than the natural or wild virus to be the cause of ADEM."
ADEM cases have fallen to one-third of their prior number because of measles vaccination, the ruling noted. But even the government's expert witness defending the MMR "admitted it is biologically plausible that measles vaccine causes ADEM."
Wild measles virus can cause ADEM in 1-in-1,000 children, a very powerful argument for immunization. On the other hand, a small fraction of children might be at risk for ADEM from the MMR vaccine itself, (the special master said the fact that the vaccine measels virus was attenuated made this no less likely, though I am unaware of any MMR-ADEM studies), and that particular vaccine injury might lead to an ASD.
In other cases, such as children with mitochondrial dysfunction, we may want to give some vaccines as early as possible in order to prevent the type of fever that can send these children into autistic regression (hardly the rant of a dangerous anti-vaxer). On the other hand, in one study, 12 out of 17 children with ASD and mitochondrial disease regressed after a fever greater than 101 degrees Fahrenheit. In 4 of those 12 cases (33 percent), the fever occurred after routine vaccination.
The answer in such cases may be to vaccinate earlier, but less intensively. Douglas C. Wallace, Ph.D, head of the Center of Mitochondrial and Epigenomic Medicine at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, told the National Vaccine Advisory Committee that, when it comes to mitochondrial disorders, "We advocate spreading vaccines out as much as possible. Each time you vaccinate, you're creating a challenge for the system, and if a child has an impaired system, that could in fact trigger further clinical problems."
Finally, we are going to be hearing a good deal more about vaccines, seizure disorders, and autism as a "residual sequela" of the injury. Maybe vaccines can't cause autism, as the government says, but they can cause complex seizures.
And complex seizures, "during early postnatal development may alter synaptic plasticity and contribute to learning and behavioral disorders" in certain types of children, said one recent study. "Early life seizures may produce a variety of cellular and molecular changes in hippocampus that may contribute to the enhanced risk of IDDs and ASDs in patients with early life seizures and epilepsy."
That study did not link vaccine-induced complex seizures to residual sequelae. But the federal Vaccine Injury Compensation Program has many cases of normally developing children who developed seizure disorders and "encephalopathy" (brain disease) following vaccination.
"This pattern is seen frequently in vaccine cases. An otherwise healthy petitioner receives a vaccination, the vaccine causes a fever, which in turn causes or triggers a complex febrile seizure," one VICP special master wrote in ruling that the DTaP vaccine "was the legal cause of (the child's) seizure disorder and developmental delay."
Some children who suffer from vaccine-induced complex seizures go on to suffer from "developmental delay," "behavioral problems," "affective disorders," "mild mental retardation" and other residual sequelae, VICP records show. Some of them also develop an ASD, and some now get government funds to pay for things such as applied behavioral analysis (ABA), a treatment used mostly for ASD.
Either way, the difference between a child with a seizure disorder, encephalopathy, developmental delay and behavioral problems, and a child with autism spectrum disorder, is hardly vast. Given that vaccines can sometimes cause injuries that lead to the former, why is it so outrageous -- why is it so "anti-vaccine" -- to ask if they can lead to the latter?
As one special master wrote: "It is exceedingly reasonable to conclude that where the vaccine is associated with fever and seizure and the seizure is of a complex nature, in the absence of proof of an alternative cause, it is the vaccine that is responsible for a subsequent epilepsy and residual sequelae" (Italics added).
Developmental delays including ASD are residual sequelae of some vaccine-induced adverse events, the VICP has determined. What proportion of ASD cases resulted from a vaccine injury? We may never know.
The CDC estimates that there are about 760,000 Americans under 21 with an ASD. Even if just 1 percent of those cases was linked to vaccines (though I believe it is higher), that would mean 7,600 young Americans with a vaccine-associated ASD.
In that case, their parents would be neither anti-vaccine nor lunatic fringe. They would be right.
This is part one of a two-part series.
MMR vaccine controversy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Retracted autism study an 'elaborate fraud,' British journal finds ...
Report linking vaccine to autism 'an elaborate fraud' - USATODAY.com
Autism and Vaccine Link Research by Dr. Andrew Wakefield is 'Fraud ...
Doctor defends research tying vaccine to autism - Health - Mental ...
CONCLUSIONS: The strong correlation of gastrointestinal symptoms with autism severity indicates that children with more severe autism are likely to have more severe gastrointestinal symptoms and vice versa.
***It is possible that autism symptoms are exacerbated or even partially due to the underlying gastrointestinal problems.
Simon Murch Mike Thomson John Walker-Smith
First, this mucosal abnormality has been apparent in 47/50 children within the autistic spectrum, whether or not there is any perceived link with immunisation. Thus the lymphoid hyperplasia/ microscopic colitis changes were found in over 90% of the autistic children studied. Even if there is no immunodeficiency, the lymphoid hyperplasia in many cases is remarkable, with germinal centres showing higher numbers of proliferating (Ki67 positive) cells than we have detected in any immunodeficient controls with lymphoid hyperplasia. We are very familiar with the detection of lymphoid hyperplasia in children with minor immunodeficiency, as are Lindley and Milla, and have published several reports on this topic. We were thus ideally placed to detect the exaggerated lesion found in many of these children. The colitis itself is variable, but may feature crypt abscesses, increased macrophage infiltration and unregulated class II major histocompatibility complex expression.
(1) autistic kids have more GI symptoms
(2) autistic kids do not have more GI disease.
Of course this has nothing to do with Wakefield. Wakefield's theory required finding measles vaccine virus in samples from the kids. Before the 1998 paper was published, Wakefield's own lab, using his methods, could not find measles vaccine virus RNA. Wakefield lied in the paper and pretended that the research had not been done.
As far as the consensus statement this was published
BMC Gastroenterology 2011, 11:22doi:10.1186/1471-230X-11-22
Published: 16 March 2011
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The BMJ should have declared competing interests in relation to this editorial by Fiona Godlee and colleagues (BMJ 2011;342:c7452, doi:10.1136/bmj.c7452). The BMJ Group receives advertising and sponsorship revenue from vaccine manufacturers, and specifically from Merck and GSK, which both manufacture MMR vaccines. For further information see the rapid response from Godlee (www.bmj.com/content/342/bmj.d1335.full/reply#bmj_el_251470). The same omission also affected two related Editor’s Choice articles (BMJ 2011;342:d22 and BMJ 2011;342:d378).
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http://www.bmj.com/content/342/bmj.d1678.full?sid=381190c7-52e0-40c9-9148-983d7ecb9c5a
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More interesting times.....
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"...we should have declared the BMJ Group's income from Merck as a competing interest to the editorial (and the two editor's choice articles) that accompanied Brian Deer's series on the Secrets of the MMR scare.[2] [3] [4]
We should also, as you say, have declared the group's income from GSK as a competing interest in relation to these articles. We will publish clarifications. "
further in her letter she explains why ?
"We didn't declare these competing interests because it didn't occur to us to do so."
What are those other sources of revenues ...
"... They consist of a combination of classified, pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical advertising, subscriptions to the journal, the sale of reprints, and sponsorship."
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Interesting times ...
=====================================
"Although Vera's claims may seem far fetched on this occasion, she is right that we should have declared the BMJ Group's income from Merck as a competing interest to the editorial (and the two editor's choice articles) that accompanied Brian Deer's series on the Secrets of the MMR scare.[2] [3] [4] We should also, as you say, have declared the group's income from GSK as a competing interest in relation to these articles. We will publish clarifications.
We didn't declare these competing interests because it didn't occur to us to do so. We saw this series not as pro-MMR vaccine or pro- vaccination in general, but as against fraud and corruption in medical research. Having said this, the last line in the editorial is indeed explicitly supportive of MMR vaccination. This is in line with the BMJ's coverage since the MMR scare began and is in line with the evidence.[5] As declared on its website (http://group.bmj.com/group/about /revenue-sources# The%20BMJ%27s%20sources%20of%20revenue).. "
What's fascinating is that JRS left out the link. My conclusion is that his intention was to mislead and confuse the reader. Shame on him.
I'll include the link.
http://www.bmj.com/content/342/bmj.d1335.full/reply
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"All authors have completed the Unified Competing Interest form at www.icmje.org/coi_disclosure.pdf "
Here's a highlight ...
"Report all sources of revenue paid (or promised to be paid) directly to you or your institution on your behalf over the 36 months prior to submission of the work.
This should include all monies from sources with relevance to the submitted work, not just monies from the entity that sponsored the research. Please note that your interactions with the work's sponsor that are outside the submitted work should also be listed here. If there is any question, it is usually better to disclose a relationship than not to do so."
and further to this ....
"Other relationships.
Use this section to report other relationships or activities that readers could perceive to have influenced, or that give the appearance of potentially influencing, what you wrote in the submitted work."
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Here's the editorial ...
http://www.bmj.com/content/342/bmj.c7452.full#ref-20
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"We saw this series not as pro-MMR vaccine or pro- vaccinatioÂn in general, but as against fraud and corruption in medical research."
'We' must have forgotten the MMR litigation and the GMC.
"We report on an ongoing outbreak of 119 cases of mumps virus infection in the Oban area of Scotland, from 29 November 2010 to 31 January 2011."
"A total of 53 cases had received two doses of measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine, in accordance with the United Kingdom vaccination schedule, while 33 had received only one dose and 30 had not been vaccinated."
*Of those 30 only 2 were under 18
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"Although the numbers in our cohort are small, they add to the growing body of evidence which suggests that immunity to mumps virus may wane over time"
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What about children ?
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There's more to the facts and figures presented ... looking specifically at children.
"MMR vaccination coverage was affected by adverse publicity some years ago and uptake rates fell to a low of 85.6% in 2003 in the Oban area."
The typical provacc 'opinion' not backed up by factual proof... but you'd expect the outbreak to be in the majority of cases unvaccinated children. Let's have a look....
Children under 18 unvaccinated followed by vaccinated MMR either 1 or 2 doses.
10 and under - 1 / 3
11 0/4
12 0/1
13 0/0
14 1/3
15 0/3
16 0/10
17 0/17
18 0/16
That's unvaccinated children = 2 (3.38 %)
Vaccinated children = 57 ( 96.6%)
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Overwhelmingly the majority of cases were in vaccinated kids.
9 (1 dose vaccinated children aged between 16 - 18)
2 (unvaccinated children 1 aged under 10 and 1 14)
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A reasonable hypothesis is that the MMR vaccine 2 dose strategy is failing to protect against mumps ... ?
The question of course would be why ?
-----------------------------
Mumps vaccine isn't as effective as measles vaccine.
But as long as enough kids got MMR, that didn't matter as much. But thanks to Andrew Wakefield, the rate of MMR dropped and so the less effective mumps vaccine now shows itself in the form of outbreaks.
Thanks Andrew Wakefield.
* Looking then at children born before the so called "Wakefield Scare" ie 13 and above returns the following results ...(we even give a one year buffer)
13 0/0
14 1/3
15 0/3
16 0/10
17 0/17
18 0/16
Children 13 and over n=50
That's unvaccinatÂed children = 1 (2.0 %)
Vaccinated children = ( 98%)
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That's worse ....
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/13065127
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/13065748
One would have to ask some serious questions if those 'interested parties' again became involved.
The other interesting thins is that evidence , documentation is actually easier to leverage from the Federal government using the raft of legislation available ie Freedom of Information acts etc.
In fact those 'interested parties' if using common sense as the rule of thumb would actually have little to no reason even being part of any of the proceedings, legally or financially....
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hmmm.... imagine that.
For those who totally chose not to vaccinate or under-vaccinate when evidence is to the contrary and your child suffers and/or, regretfully, dies from a preventable disease, are we to condemn you just like we condemn the Christian Science parents who refuse medical treatment for their child's very treatable illness?
And the statements from NIH/environmental/autism experts that it has to be environmental as it is the only thing that explains the sudden rise in incidence is rubbish. The population as a whole is having children at a later age, and maternal and paternal age has been shown to significantly increase risk of autism in NIH's own publications! And these studies have been reproduced. Moreover, there has been an increased use of anti-depressants the past several decades. Research and retroactive case studies are looking at this right now. It's been linked to higher rates of ADHD. However, EMPERICAL EVIDENCE is still needed.
Really? We're still on this?
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If JRS can do it, so can I with infinitely more reason.
This comment is not ad hominem. I don't know the man. I just know the comments he writes.
I am not a doctor. I don't have any university science course. I am careful to leave discussion of primary sources such as research papers to those who have the background and skills to understand them such as Dyson, cable1977, bikecommuter and other whose name's don't spring to mind.
But what I do have is the time and the skills and the common sense to read the materials and report them accurately. Arguing with JRS is truly disheartening, because here is a man who, unlike most anti-vaxxers, reads some of the needed information. Sadly, he doesn't understand most of the issues involved, but has this amazing sense of certainty. He certainly has more certainty of the accuracy of what he writes of anyone else. Please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
"Fantastic JRS.
But notice the symptom that is left out -- constipatiÂÂon. Most of the kids had constipatiÂÂon .
That's why the eminent Professor Booth could state that the eminent Professor Walker-SmiÂÂth had colonoscopÂÂy done on children that were not clinically indicated. "
and here's some of my reply ...(actually I presented 8 different studies)
Symptoms and stool patterns in patients with ulcerative colitis.
Twenty seven per cent of patients with active colitis voided hard stools indicative of constipatiÂon, however, and this was more common in active, than quiescent colitis (p less than 0.05). This feature is probably secondary to faecal stasis in the proximal colon, and an apt descriptioÂn of the bowel disturbancÂe in ulcerative colitis, irrespectiÂve of the extent of disease is that the colon suffers from proximal constipatiÂon and distal irritabiliÂty.
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Patients with irritable bowel syndrome or constipatiÂon have an increased risk for ischaemic colitis (IC)
This study found that patients with a diagnosis of IBS or constipatiÂon had a two- to threefold greater risk for IC than patients without these diagnoses.
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That would be the long goodbye to eminent key prosecution witness Messr Booth.
I don't know using factual evidence seems to be the better option than you using opinion. Every one of your arguments , GMC transcripts, Key Witness testimony has been refuted.
It is really bad practice to use words like every one.
Lately, I've been writing about the virology. Wakefield's theory required finding measles RNA in the guts of the children. Properly tested, the results were negative for all the Royal Free children (over a 100) and the US Omnibus Proceeding children. As to Walkers results, we can only conclude they were negative or the samples contaminated.
So the virology alone proves Wakefield false. Yet JRS has ignored the issue.
If that is not what you mean, then stop suggesting it, and supporting the Royal Free team for doing it in autistic kids with no bowel problems other than constipation, and no abnormal markers of inflammation.
BTW, I never did hear about why your own son didn't have MRI brain scans and LPs done as part of his initial neurological evaluation, seeing as how you feel these are necessary. Perhaps you can also get him referred for colonoscopy if he ever gets constipated.
His colonoscopy comments are a classical example. With the entire internet at one's fingertips, one can easily find an article somewhere suggesting colonoscopy might be an investigation for some bowel disorder or other.
The fact that most of the Lancet 12 kids had no clinical indication to undergo colonoscopy completely evades him. He doesn't see patients in context, but as "conditions" which could be hunted down on an internet search.
Walker-Smith and Murch co-authored a paper themselves indicating that kids without hematological abnormalities were unlikely to have IBD and didn't need colonoscopy.
They then went against their own published advice, and subjected at least 7 of the Lancet kids to colonoscopy. Wakefield persuaded WS to change his mind in at least one case according to the evidence in the GMC transcripts (and I have only read about one case, there may be more).
It is apparent from the rest of the evidence in the GMC transcripts that colonoscopy was not clinically indicated and the authoritative GMC panel which had deliberated on this case for months has concluded that the investigations were done for research reasons and not clinical reasons.
But JRS knows better, because he has found a paper where a kid with constipation was found to have ischemic colitis (not IBD).
He is truly an example of Dunning Kruger par excellence.
"But JRS knows better, because he has found a paper where a kid with constipatiÂon was found to have ischemic colitis (not IBD)."
The main forms of IBD are Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis (UC).
Accounting for far fewer cases are other forms of IBD, which are not always classified as typical IBD:
* Collagenous colitis
* Lymphocytic colitis
* Ischaemic colitis
* Diversion colitis
* Behçet's disease
* Indeterminate colitis
WIKI
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
or
Ischemic colitis involves an area of inflammation caused by interference with
the blood flow to the colon. Most of the classifications of intestinal ischemia
in the literature are based on the major causative factors. This is a
potentially serious condition and requires care from your doctor. Patients may
present with colicky abdominal pain, which becomes continuous. The extent of IBD
can range from mild to severe based on the amount of damage from lack of
oxygenated blood. The sooner IBD is treated, the more favorable the outcome.
IBDUK
--------------------------------------------------
Oooops.
For interested readers there's more to sheldons original quote re this quote...
"But notice the symptom that is left out -- constipatiÂÂÂon. Most of the kids had constipatiÂÂÂon .That's why the eminent Professor Booth could state that the eminent Professor Walker-SmiÂÂÂth had colonoscopÂÂÂy done on children that were not clinically indicated. "
Here at huffpost forum ...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jenny-mccarthy/vaccine-autism-debate_b_806857.html
My father is a Gastroenterologist, he's been practicing for 47 years. He does colonoscopies on pt's that have/had the same symptoms as the Wakefield 12. In some cases the pt hx is weaker than the Wakefield 12.
I'm not saying that every exam ordered is credible, there is a lot of CYA studies ordered because of legal liability issues. Those children benefited from the studies. There was a bowel disease that was discovered during the colonoscopy. That lends credibility to the ordering MDs.
Vaccines work they save lives they do incredible good but so do a vast array of other medications and unfortunately, because we are dealing with the human condition some harm.
This is a simple truth that is often overlooked by both sides.
Parents and others are rightly concerned and using common sense when they say - Some vaccines may be causing harm to a group of children. Because there is beginning to emerge evidence that there are groups of vulnerable children that have an underlying condition be it mitochondrial disorder, immune system vulnerability or some other genetic susceptibility to an environmental trigger.
Particularly in the case of autism that environmental trigger has yet to be identified.
There has been presented on this forum clear evidence that some children particularly ASD children have -
immune system dysfunction
bowel difficulties related to immune function
inflammation of the brain
changes to core brain structures
critical windows of change around 12 - 24 months where children's development changes.
genetic predispositions ie mitochondrial disorder that may lead to ASD
associative evidence from other neurology conditions such as epilepsy and schizophrenia studies show a commonality
Is it a trigger or a cascade of events and interactions.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What role does vaccines play if any ?
That question remains unanswered.
Vaccine adverse events are real though and science and medicine have a clear duty of care to all children , not just the 'herd'.
This has been subverted.
When one looks at this issue we are unable to come to a clear conclusion on the safety of vaccine be it 'good or bad' the statistics , the clinical trials , the surveillance systems , the longitudinal studies , the 'Gold Standard' studies are just not evident in the public domain.
The general public have a right to transparency ...and that transparency has been subverted by that all to common phrase 'right to know'.
We know the history of big business the unrelenting scandals that are reported each day ...we know the politics that are played out everyday in our newspapers, we know the competing interests that try to distort the 'truth'. That seek to take us in their direction.
These are forces that interact with the issues around vaccines they are complex and virtually unsolvable because they are big players in the 'Great Game'. In pragmatic words they don't care about you or me or your children. They are essentially narcissistic and egocentric.
----------------------------------------------------------
What do you do ?
You act with dignity for all children and for some that may mean ensuring that their own particular message is fair , balanced and reasonable.
That it is ethical, moral and seeks to move medical knowledge and thus human advancement forward.
You put your message assertively but without anger
Look over those posts and see the arguments I have put forward. They are clear and balanced and without prejudice.
Why would I think that ...
I haven't sourced from "anti vaccs" websites in fact I have made a clear effort to avoid them if at all possible.
My children are both vaccinated on time and on schedule
I am unprejudiced by the history of the 'vaccine wars'. I hadn't heard about them until I read an article in the Washington Post sometime in early January. At that time my main concern wasn't vaccines but the objectivity of press coverage in scientific and medical journals as well as the general press.
I can clearly advocate the positive side of vaccines and as I said the real benefits to us all. But not if we throw out good medicine, good healthcare and pretend that vaccines are the only route to fighting disease. It is in fact a lazy answer at times.
My fundamental issues are about rights and ethics for parents and the 'underdog'.
That's why I particularly advocate and work directly, everyday with disability and indigenuous groups.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Use those arguments and evidence to balance those prejudiced opinions, to change peoples moral and ethical stances .... to make people think.
Balance , Critical thinking and positive interaction.
Cheers to everyone including protagonists.
In addition, every injection carries a risk of reactions - fever, or allergic reaction.
So wouldn't the news that medical science has managed to safely combine several vaccines into a single injection be a cause for celebration? It means fewer injections (which are painful), fewer allergic reactions, fewer swollen arms, fewer of the "toxic" ingredients, and so on).
Well, no.
Somewhow and for some reason, giving a combined vaccine is still evil, and is somewhere up there along with gen0cide in their book.
I just do not understand.
"there are no stats presented with this study, so extrapolatÂion is ridiculousÂ."
Oh dear ... looks like you'll have to make some sort of choice ...
Wakefield was right in saying there wasn't any robustness in regards to oversight of vaccines and MMR
or
Wakefield was right and the combinations of vaccinations could worsen outcomes.
-----------------------------------------------------
Hope your catching up with Joseph Heller...and Catch 22
The recorded adverse events were not presented in the paper with any stats (presumably because of the tiny numbers). Just eyeballing them you can tell there would be huge 95% confidence intervals that preclude any sensible conclusion being drawn. I did a chisquare on the numbers nevertheless and guess what? - absolutely no statistical significant difference between the groups. Not that this fact stops you disseminating misinformation about the safety studies though - what you can't comprehend you make up.
Re Wakefield - not absolutely everything he says is stupid or fraudulent.
-----------------------------------------
Certain people here fail to understand what an adverse event is with respect to a drug or vaccine trial.
An event is ANY occurrence that takes place during the trial period or post trial surveillance.
So if a child who was on a study falls down and breaks their arm 2 weeks after getting vaccinated, this is recorded as a "serious adverse event".
There is no implied causality, but the events are strictly recorded and documented in order for subsequent statistical analysis to see if there is anything unusual going on that could feasibly be due to the vaccine.
If one looks at the SAEs for this study, one sees recorded things like trauma (broken arms, subdural bleed, burns, animal bites) accidental overdose and so on.
As events that might be caused by the vaccine I am distinctly underwhelmed.
If we take the criticisms raised by Dyson and Sheldon as correct. Then what does that say about the surveillance programs that are supposed to protect the general public from harm.
Is the collection of data , the way the clinical studies are run so inept that no true extrapolations on health can be made ....then surely the general public is being 'conned' when government and pharmaceutical companies say we have a robust system of checks and balances...
Then Wakefield was right ... he laid criticism directly at the inadequacy of the clinical trials undertaken.
The lobby groups are correct when they say the same thing.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sheldon and Dyson prove Wakefield right .... there's a certain irony that doesn't go
unnoticed.
JRS wants us to believe that because I say the number of events are small and not statistically significant between groups that this implies the study is somehow inadequate to demonstrate safety. On the contrary, it quite elegantly demonstrates good vaccine safety, because the number of potential vaccine-related events is shown to be so tiny.
--------------------------------
Hypothetical analogy:
United Airlines had 1 safety alert in 1500 flights, and American Airlines had 2 safety alerts per 1500 flights.
JRS: "American Airlines is much more unsafe, and if it were the only global airline we would have 1263 more alerts each year than if United Airlines was the only Global carrier!"
Me: "That's ridiculous, you can't extrapolate with such tiny numbers, and the tiny numbers points to a good safety record"
JRS: "If they are tiny numbers that means the surveillance for safety alerts is not adequate!"
Me: "Sigh...."
DR MARY RAMSAY: All the scientific and medical fraternity believes that giving the vaccines together is a better way to ensure an effective vaccinatioÂn programme.
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Immunogenicity & Safety of Hepatitis A Vaccine Co-admin With a Measles/Mumps/Rubella & a Varicella Vaccine in Children
***Vaccine given to average age 15 yr old
Serious Adverse Events
*Serious Adverse Events include adverse events that result in death, require either inpatient hospitalization or the prolongation of hospitalization, are life-threatening, result in a persistent or significant disability/incapacity or result in a congenital anomaly/birth defect.
CAUTION - Most events are relatively minor in my view ie require inpatient hospitalisation but some were more serious.
HAV Group 7/324 (2.16%)
MMR+V→HAV Group 12/455 (2.64%)
HAV+MMR+V Group 16/462 (3.46%) 1.3% Rise
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For instance -
Infections and infestations 3/7 9/16
In a child population of some 700,000 UK would mean an extra 9100 children hospitalised per annum to treat infections.
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http://www.clinicaltrial.gov/ct2/show/results/NCT00197015?cond=%22Measles-Mumps-Rubella+Vaccine%22&rank=11§=X3015#evnt
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.... we must remember that the particular group of children we are discussing have a much greater risk of an immune system dysfunction.
9100 children would be hospitalised for a variety of adverse events including infections and more serious illnesses and events.
Which pragmatically means the situation is actually worse than described above.
------------------------------------------------
...and I located the exclusion criteria ...
# Any confirmed or suspected immunosuppressive or immunodeficient condition, including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection
# A family history of congenital, hereditary or infectious immunodeficiency or parental risk factors for HIV infection,
-------------------------------------------------
Thanks to people like the University of California Davis MIND Institute and Johns Hopkins medical research is taking place about the interaction of the immune system , brain function and inflammation.
Science is about exploring hypotheses.
"Evidence to date has shown that control of the efficacy, safety and stability of combination vaccines cannot be based on information already available on the individual components or existing licensed formulations."
Safety - That would be a problem ...that needs to be addressed.
"Several examples of immunological interference between components of a combination vaccine have been observed both in clinical trials and in laboratory tests. Examples of these for D, T and Hib components in DTP and DTaP combinations have been investigated."
...and that's a problem for those vaccinated. Efficacy.
The adverse events are broken down into groups. Where do they differ? I kid in the MMR + V+ HAV group died.
But the small difference in percentages mostly comes from the Injury, poisoning and procedural complications group which includes burns, animal bites a fracture and an overdose.
JRS invented the hospitalizations number.
** If you have a problem on how the National Institute of Health US Clinical Trials reports Severe Adverse Events then perhaps you'd better complain to them directly.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Let's have a look again then specifically at those numbers
Infections and infestations
HAV - 3 adverse reactions out of 324 = .92%
HAV+MMR+V Group - 9 adverse reaction out of 462 = 1.94%
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
More than doubled ....
UK population (live births) 700,000
HAV - 6481 infections
with the introduction of combination vaccine
MMR + V+ HAV -= 13,636
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Where have we seen that extrapolation by me of UK live births ... well mitochondrial disorder. Did I make it up ...yes of course I did ...it's an example of extrapolating those figures to a cohort of children.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Of course you and Dyson could show us that clinical trial data on MMR.
Autism has long been thought to stem from abnormal Âneurodevelopment. Surprisingly, microarray-based genome-wide expression studies, involving either postmortem brain tissue or lymphoblastoid cell lines, provide converging Âevidence supporting prominent roles for the immune system in the pathogenesis of autism-spectrum disorders (ASDs).
In particular, bioinformatic analyses, employing biological databases and gene network prediction software, point toward the involvement of multiple genes interconnected in immune-related pathways.
Taken together, these findings suggest that a dysreactive immune process could derange neurodevelopment during critical periods in a large subset of children with autism.
These conclusions are also supported by neuropathological and immunological studies, which are briefly summarized.
Advances in Neurobiology, 2011
----------------------------------------------------------------
Molecular mechanisms of cognitive and behavioral comorbidities of epilepsy in children
In a recent study, animals that experienced prolonged febrile seizures (PFS) in early life underwent MRI imaging after seizures and then testing of spatial learning and memory in adulthood
Early life seizures may produce a variety of cellular and molecular changes in hippocampus that may contribute to the enhanced risk of IDDs and ASDs in patients with early life seizures and epilepsy.
Abnormalities of synaptic plasticity resulting in imbalances of excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmission resulting either from genetic mutations or effects of early life seizures may provide a common mechanism of epilepsy, IDDs, and ASDs, and may provide a basis for understanding of the frequent co-occurrence of these disorders.
* Note IDD Intellectual and developmental disabilities
1. Why has this study been championed and touted globally by the antivaxers as "proof" that MMR causes autism, and
2. Why did Wakefield decide on the basis of this "insufficiÂent evidence" tadvise peple not to give MMR and to use a schedule of single measles vaccines given in a delayed schedule?
"My questions remain unansweredÂ. Wakefield'Âs cryptic evasive comments won't do."
------------------------------------------------------------------
I have already given a quite reasonable response using Andrew Wakefield's reply in the Lancet.
Apparently that was cryptic and evasive. Wakefield and parents had concerns over MMR and that there may be an association with Autism.
The MMR and the relationship between autism was a perfectly reasonable hypothesis at the time drawn from this small cohort case review.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Why would we think that and how is that independently verified ?
1. The paper obviously garnered some publicity not only from the newspapers but from medical authorities.
In fact on the 23rd March an ad hoc (very special) meeting of the Medical Research Council was held.
There were many famous and eminent medical professionals involved either as full partcipants or observers including the UK's Cheif Medical Officer Sir Kenneth Calman , Sir Michael Rutter , Sir John Pattison, Sir David Hull , Sir Leslie Turnberg ...
Some 60 highly qualified medical professionals.
---------------------------------------
Did those 60 odd medical shut the research down ... proclaim it a fraud, berate it as being 'unscientific' .... no.
They let the research continue. Science in action.
1. Can you show me the various clinical trials and safety regimes undertaken around the MMR VaccinatioÂn.
2. Can you show me the evidence from animal model experimentÂs that show the safety of MMR vaccine over time ie a longitudinÂal study.
3. Can you corroborate this evidence of safety from independent sources outside of the manufacturers and bosdies responsible for their distribution to the general public.
JRS your comments are written as if Wakefield is the leader of some religion and that whatever he says is the final word as if "using Andrew Wakefield'Âs reply in the Lancet." is enough.
That may be good enough for you, JRS, but not for those who don't worship Dr. Wakefield. So please let us all know the basis for Wakefield's theory on MMR and autism. You do know that a few years earlier had argued that MMR caused Crohn's with equally little evidence. But do tell us all.
In particular, explain why if the measles virus in MMR could lead to autism why a separate measles vaccine was safer.
Here's what an expert said:
BRIAN DEER: At that press conference, one of the authors, Dr Andrew Wakefield, went a step further and advocated breaking up the MMR into its separate components, so that the measles, mumps and rubella vaccines were given individually to children, separated by intervals of a year. Can you think of anything that you’ve seen that could substantiate such a proposal?
DR MARY RAMSAY: Not at all. I mean, even the work that Dr Wakefield’s done himself, and a substantial body of his preliminary work was looking at measles vaccine in relation to bowel disease, not MMR vaccine - measles as a single vaccine.
BRIAN DEER: So he was saying it was the measles component that...
continued...
1.JRS your comments are written as if Wakefield is the leader of some religion and that whatever he says is the final word as if "using Andrew Wakefield'ÂÂs reply in the Lancet." is enough.
I believe quoting from primary source material ie The Lancet March 1998 is quite balanced and objective.
2. That may be good enough for you, JRS ...
It is and it is what objective historians do.
3. So please let us all know the basis for Wakefield'Âs theory on MMR and autism.
That would be for Wakefield to expound but I could take a reasonable guess.
4. In particularÂ, explain why if the measles virus in MMR could lead to autism why a separate measles vaccine was safer.
Quite reasonably the reports coming from parents were directly related to the MMR vaccination and not the MR vaccination.
MMR and children regressing in development was what was being reported.
Apparently Wakefield was of the opinion based on those reports that the MR vaccination was 'safe' particularly in comparison to the MMR vaccine.
5. "advocated breaking up the MMR "
Seems quite a reasonable proposition to me .... unless there was some burdensome cost associated with it ?
Or something about the efficacy / safety of the MR vaccine that was not known to the general public ?
"DR MARY RAMSAY: I have no idea where he got the idea that by combining the vaccine this could be contributing to the problem, to a problem. And I think it’s been a very unfortunate thing because it’s something that’s confused parents even more. And it’s not necessarily safe to separate vaccines by a prolonged period of time, because you leave children unprotected for that much longer.
[snip]
DR MARY RAMSAY: Not at all. I mean, I’m not aware of any other country where people are asking for separate vaccines, the way, you know, the way here. All the scientific and medical fraternity believes that giving the vaccines together is a better way to ensure an effective vaccination programme. And the only countries that don’t use MMR are because they can’t afford to use it and are probably only offering protection against measles.
BRIAN DEER: Are you aware of credible scientists or doctors publishing research pointing to a risk in combining these vaccines?
DR MARY RAMSAY: No. Not at all. I’m not aware of anything that shows any scientific evidence that there was a problem by combining the vaccines together.
BRIAN DEER: So from your point of view, this research, and this proposal from the Royal Free group, and Dr Wakefield in particular, that the vaccine should be broken up, just came out of the blue?
DR MARY RAMSAY: Absolutely.
It has a (low) incidence of complications, true, but is unpleasant and heavy sedation is required. It is also demonstrably unsafe - one of the 125 kids investigated under the protocol had multiple bowel perforations from the procedure, nearly died, ended up in ITU for weeks and suffered permanent damage.
That sounds like a procedure that potentially has a relatively high complication rate to me.
--------------------
Contrast this with the antivaccine view of the potential for complications from vaccination. The rhetoric goes "Vaccines are unsafe, they can kill, they are evil and should not be given!".
Well, how often does this happen? In one case in 100,000 to 1 million, there is a risk of severe reaction that might kill a child. There is a higher incidence of things like febrile reactions, arm pain, occasional dizziness or syncope. In the antivaxer's eyes, these are catastrophic and devastating complications that render vaccination unsafe.
Vaccination consists of an injection into the arm muscle, that's all.
Colonoscopy consists of:
3 days bowel purging, admission to hospital, insertion of a plastic cannula into an arm vein, so that toxic chemicals can be "injected directly into the blood stream!". Child is held down on a table, given oxygen, a flexible pipe 1 meter long is fed through the anus to its hilt, and around 10 bites of bowel are taken en route. This takes 30 minutes.
Does that sound very "safe" compared to the risks from
"We conclude that colonoscopy performed under general anesthesia in children is a very safe procedure. It is superior to the use of sedation because the child is not placed at risk of respiratory compromise. Furthermore, the procedure is less worrisome for children when performed under a general anesthetic."
"Colonoscopy is a safe procedure in our Chinese children. The increasing diagnosis of IBD in recent decades may reflect a rising incidence of the disease in our children."
...rising incidence of IBD in children ?
No. ohbrother. straw man. no. we say risks/benefits OF EACH ONE should be weighed HONESTLY.
"Well, how often does this happen? In one case in 100,000 to 1 million, there is a risk of severe reaction that might kill a child. There is a higher incidence of things like febrile reactions, arm pain, occasional dizziness or syncope. In the antivaxer'Âs eyes, these are catastrophÂic and devastatinÂg complicatiÂons that render vaccinatioÂn unsafe. VaccinatioÂn consists of an injection into the arm muscle, that's all." B.S.most kids spike a fever, some scream, go to ER told they'll be fine. give tylenol or motrin "that's normal" we're told when we call dr. the shot in the arm is the least of it. and actually "killing the child" may be more merciful than killing the child's brain/soul. good bye. you're so clueless, i can't even engage any more. colonoscopies are dangerous too , but that doesn't mean giving "catch up" vaccines of 9 agents isn't more so: ask Hannah Polin's father...a doctor. and go get a life and give up this cause to disparage concerned parents as "antivaxers". why do you care so much?
But as you can see, most of the authors were involved because of their specialty.
RETRACTED: Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, non-specific
colitis, and pervasive developmental disorder in children
A J Wakefield, S H Murch, A Anthony, J Linnell, D M Casson, M Malik, M Berelowitz, A P Dhillon,
M A Thomson, P Harvey, A Valentine, S E Davies, J A Walker-Smith
The Lancet, Volume 351, Number 9103 28 February 1998
Inflammatory Bowel Disease Study Group, University Departments of Medicine and Histopathology (A J Wakefield FRCS, A Anthony MB, J Linnell PhD, A P Dhillon MRCPath, S E Davies MRCPath) and the University Departments of Paediatric Gastroenterology (S H Murch MB, D M Casson MRCP, M Malik MRCP, M A Thomson FRCP, J A Walker-Smith FRCP,), Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (M Berelowitz FRCPsych), Neurology (P Harvey FRCP), and Radiology (A Valentine FRCR), Royal Free Hospital and School of Medicine, London NW3 2QG, UK
"We wish to make it clear that in this paper no causal link was established between MMR vaccine and autism as the data were insufficient," write the 10 authors in their retraction. "However, the possibility of such a link was raised and consequent events have had major implications for public health." New Scientist
---------------------------------------------------
...and guess what not all authors did ...
Andrew Wakefield of course.
John Walker-Smith eminent paediatric gastroenterologist
and
Neurology (P Harvey FRCP)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Probably because Neurologist Harvey keeps up with say Johns Hopkins Medical ...
"What type of immune reactions are present in the brain of autistic patients?
In our study, we have demonstrated a marked increase in neuroglial responses, characterized by activation of microglia and astroglia, in the brains of autistic patients.
These increased neuroglial responses are likely part of neuroinflammatory reactions associated with the central nervous system's (CNS) innate immune system. In innate immune reactions of the CNS, microglial activation is the main cellular response to CNS dysfunction. "
---------------------------------------------------------
Perhaps you could show us clearly and directly where those authors are supporting your claims of dishonesty and research fraud.
Particularly the Gastroenterology team....
University DepartmentÂs of Paediatric GastroenteÂrology (S H Murch MB, D M Casson MRCP, M Malik MRCP, M A Thomson FRCP, J A Walker-SmiÂth FRCP,)
and the Histopathology team ....
A Anthony MB, J Linnell PhD, A P Dhillon MRCPath, S E Davies MRCPath
"We wish to make it clear that in this paper no causal link was establisheÂd between MMR vaccine and autism as the data were insufficieÂnt,"
"as the data was insufficient."
Seems as though some people are not closing the door just yet.......