The Next Big Autism Bomb: Are 1 in 50 Kids Potentially At Risk?

On Tuesday, March 11, a conference call was held between vaccine safety officials at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, several leading experts in vaccine safety research, and executives from America's Health Insurance Plans, (the HMO trade association) to discuss childhood mitochondrial dysfunction and its potential link to autism and vaccines.

It was a sobering event for all concerned, and it could soon become known as the Conference Call heard 'round the world.

The teleconference was scheduled by a little known CDC agency called the Clinical Immunization Safety Assessment (CISA) Network, a consortium of six research centers working on "immunization-associated health risks," in conjunction with the CDC's Immunization Safety Office and the health insurance lobby -- whose companies cover some 200 million Americans.

The hot topic of the day was mitochondria - the little powerhouses within each cell that convert food and oxygen into energy for use by the body. Recent news events have implicated mitochondria in at least one case of regressive autism, following normal development.

Some researchers on the call reported that mitochondrial dysfunction is probably much more common than the current estimate of 1-in-4,000 people. The potential implications for autism, then, are staggering.

"We need to find out if there is credible evidence, theoretically, to support the idea that childhood mitochondrial dysfunction might regress into autism," one of the callers reportedly told participants.

"THE CLOCK IS TICKING"

One person on the call (those interviewed for this article asked to remain anonymous) told me that, "the CDC people were informed, in no uncertain terms, that they need to look into this issue immediately, and do something about it." The clock is ticking, they were told, and if they don't respond, the information will be made public.

Still, the doctor said, he was enormously impressed by the "seriousness" with which CDC officials treated the possibility of a link between mitochondria, autism and possibly vaccines as well.

In the recent landmark Hannah Poling case, filed in Federal "Vaccine Court," officials conceded that Hannah's underlying mitochondrial dysfunction was aggravated by her vaccines, leading to fever and an "immune stimulation that exceeded metabolic reserves."

But on March 6, CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding claimed that Hannah's case was a rare, virtually one-of-a-kind incident with little, if any relevance to the other 4,900 autism claims currently pending in the court -- or to any other case of autism for that matter.(There were conflicting accounts about whether Gerberding was on the call or not).

Since then, however, Dr. Gerberding and other CDC officials were made aware of a Portuguese study, published last October, which reported that 7.2% of children with autism had confirmed mitochondrial disorders. The authors also noted that, "a diversity of associated medical conditions was documented in 20%, with an unexpectedly high rate of mitochondrial respiratory chain disorders."

"Apparently, the Portuguese study really got their attention," one of the participants said. "It's a highly significant finding. And it's worrisome enough to definitely look into. I think the CDC people know that."

They also know that some reports estimate the rate of mitochondrial dysfunction in autism to be 20% or more. And the rate among children with the regressive sub-type of autism is likely higher still.

Vaccine safety officials on the March 11 call may have been open to discussing mitochondria and autism, but they were probably highly unprepared for what was to come next.

One doctor reported his findings from a five-year study of children with autism, who also showed clinical markers for impaired cellular energy, due to mild dysfunction of their mitochondria.

The biochemistry of 30 children was studied intensively, and in each case, the results showed the same abnormalities as those found in Hannah Poling, participants said. Each child had moderate elevations or imbalances in the exact same amino acids and liver enzymes as Hannah Poling.

All thirty children also displayed normal, healthy development until about 18-24 months of age, when they quickly regressed into clinically diagnosed autism (and not merely "features of autism"), following some type of unusual trigger, or stress, placed on their immune system.

Researchers explained on the call that some data show that mitochondrial dysfunction can convert into autism "in numbers that make it not a rare occurrence," one participant told me. They explained this as "a distinct syndrome; not a mixed bag at all. Every kid had mild mitochondria dysfunction and autistic regression."

Another surprise came when one researcher announced an "inheritance pattern" that linked each case through the genetics of the father: In families where two cousins had autism, the genetic link was always through the father.

This unexpected discovery would clearly implicate nuclear DNA inheritance, and not mitochondrial DNA, which is inherited only through the mother.

Gerberding and others had previously insisted that Hannah and her mother, Teri Poling, both had the same single point mutation in their mitochondrial DNA. CDC officials asserted that Hannah had a pre-existing disease, a rare genetic glitch in her mitochondria, that may well have manifested as "features of autism" on its own, perhaps even without an environmental trigger.

"It's not in the mitochondrial DNA, and it's not rare," one participant confirmed. In fact, he said, many people probably carry the nuclear DNA mutation that confers susceptibility to mitochondrial dysfunction, they just don't know it.

1-in-50 GENETIC RISK?

On the call, speculation on the prevalence of a genetic mutation that could confer mild mitochondrial dysfunction in the general population ranged from about 1-in-400, to a staggering 1-in-50, or 2% of all Americans.

There was talk about the urgent need to do mapping studies, and find the locus of this gene. Some of the researchers said they want to test all 30 children for the actual DNA mutation. There was some expectation that they might discover that the mutation goes back generations, so parents and grandparents might be tested as well.

One belief is that a particular mutated gene may have become prevalent over the centuries, because of selective advantage. Mild mitochondrial dysfunction reportedly has been associated with intelligence, because it can increase activity of the brain's NMDA receptors. A large number of receptors can produce increased intelligence, but it can also increase risk of brain disease, one doctor explained to me. It's possible that increased receptor activity acts in same way.

But not everyone agrees that mitochondrial dysfunction is a purely inherited affair. Some researchers believe that, while a susceptibility gene for mitochondrial problems certainly exists, some type of environmental trigger, or "adversity," as one doctor put it, is needed to turn the mutation into a dysfunction.

The medical literature is replete with studies on mitochondrial health and the adverse impact of mercury, aluminum and other toxins. Even AIDS drugs like AZT and prenatal alcohol consumption can damage mitochondria and impact cellular energy.

The mercury-containing vaccine preservative, thimerosal, for example, "can definitely kill cells in vitro through the mitochondria," one teleconference participant told me. "And some people are beginning to suspect that the dose of hepatitis B vaccine given at birth might be interfering with proper mitochondrial function in certain children."

While the cause of mitochondrial dysfunction is up for the debate, so too is its potential effect on regressive autism.

All the researchers I spoke with agreed that, in many cases, there was an underlying, asymptomatic mitochondrial dysfunction, aggravated by some other stressful event imposed on the child's immune system, resulting in autism.

Such "metabolic decomposition" occurs when a child's system simply "cannot meet the energy demand needed to fight the stress of illness," one doctor explained.

But what causes the stress? That is a very big question.

Apparently, in only two of the 30 cases, or 6%, could the regression be traced directly and temporally to immunizations, and one of them was Hannah Poling. In the other cases, there was reportedly some type of documented, fever-inducing viral infection that occurred within seven days of the onset of brain injury symptoms.

All 30 of the regressions occurred between one and two years of age, at a time when the still-developing brain is particularly vulnerable to injury.

But if a significant minority of autism cases was caused by mitochondrial dysfunction aggravated by common childhood illnesses, then shouldn't we see fewer cases today than, say, at the beginning of the 20th Century? And wouldn't developing countries likewise show far more prevalence of autism than the United States?

Not necessarily, some experts said. They noted that many viral infections are still quite prevalent in modern-day America, and many children still get these types of viral infections about once a month, on average.

If that is the case, then why doesn't every child with "mito" dysfunction regress into autism? Surely, they must encounter viral infections during their yearlong window of neurological peril.

Again, not necessarily: Some doctors said it would depend on the severity of the dysfunction, the type of virus encountered, and perhaps other factors that are still not understood.

But at least two of the 30 kids with mito deficiencies were pushed over the edge into autism by their vaccines, and some researchers feel the number is probably much higher than that in the larger population.

"Vaccines, in some cases, can cause an unusually heightened immune reaction, fever, and even mild illness," one participant said. "A normal vaccine reaction in most kids would be very different in a kid with a metabolic disorder. We know it happened to at least two kids in this study, and I'm certain there are many more Hannahs out there."

One theory currently in circulation about what happened to Hannah and other children like her, is an apparent "triple domino effect." According to this hypothesis, it takes three steps and two triggers to get to some types of autism, and it goes like this:

STEP ONE: Child is conceived and born healthy, but with an underlying nuclear DNA genetic susceptibility to mitochondrial dysfunction, inherited from dad.

TRIGGER ONE: An early environmental "adversity" occurs in the womb or during the neonatal period, perhaps caused by prenatal exposure to heavy metals, pollutants, pesticides and medicines. Or, it occurs in early infancy, through environmental toxins, thimerosal exposure, or even the Hepatitis B vaccine "birth dose." This trigger results in:

STEP TWO: Child develops mild, usually asymptomatic mitochondrial dysfunction (though I wonder if the ear infections and eczema so common in these cases might also be symptoms of mito problems).

TRIGGER TWO: Child, now with an underlying mitochondrial dysfunction, suffers over-stimulation of the immune system beyond the capacity of his or her metabolic reserves. This stress is either via a viral febrile infection, or from multiple vaccinations, as in the Poling case. This trigger results in:

STEP THREE: Acute illness, seizures, encephalopathy, developmental regression, autism.

Such a scenario might help explain why autism has increased right along with the addition of more vaccines to the national schedule.

And it might help explain why autism rates are not plummeting now that thimerosal levels have been significantly reduced in most childhood vaccines.

It's possible that exposures from the flu shot, and residual mercury left over in other vaccines -- perhaps in synergistic effect with aluminum used as an "adjuvant" to boost the immune response - might "contribute to the toxic mix that causes childhood mitochondrial dysfunction in the first place," one of the doctors said.

But like many hypotheses, this one has competition. Some researchers believe that the modern American diet is largely to blame for an increase in the number of children whose underlying mitochondrial dysfunction is "triggered" into autism by febrile infections.

The answer, they hypothesize, is corn.

The American diet has become extraordinarily dependent on corn oil and corn syrup used in processing, these experts contend. They say that corn oil and syrup are inflammatory, whereas fish oil is anti-inflammatory. Could our diet be a factor in making this mutated gene become more pathogenic? It's a biochemical defect that leads to biochemical disease, supporters of this theory say: The gene itself becomes more of a problem.

WHAT NOW?

This information raises so many questions it makes your head swim.

First and foremost among them: What to do about vaccinating children with known mitochondrial dysfunction?

In many respects, these kids should be first in line for vaccination, to prevent some illnesses that might trigger an autistic regression during the window of vulnerability. On the other hand, with multiple vaccinations, such as the case with Hannah, there is also a risk of overtaxing the immune system, and likewise triggering regression into autism.

What's needed most urgently, if possible, is a quick, affordable and efficient method of testing children for low cellular energy, perhaps before vaccination even begins.

There was some discussion on the conference call about altering the vaccine schedule in some way, to lower the risk of immune over-stimulation in susceptible children. Certainly, pressure will grow for a change in the schedule - the question is how, when, and if such changes will be made.

Some of the suggestions may not be popular among public health officials. They include:

1) Establishing a maximum number of vaccine antigens to which any child could be exposed on any given day.

2) Permitting the option of separating out the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) live virus combination vaccines into three distinct "monovalent" shots.

3) Not giving the varicella vaccine (chicken pox) on the same day as the MMR injection - the CDC recently withdrew is recommendation for the Pro-Quad MMR+Varicella vaccine because it doubled the risk of seizures.

Another option is to create new "recommendations for administering multiple vaccines to children who have fallen behind in the recommended childhood immunization schedule," according to the website of the Institute for Vaccine Safety at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Hannah had missed some shots and her doctor decided to "catch up" with the schedule by administering five shots, containing nine vaccine antigens, at once. But some autism activists have pointed out that giving five shots in one day is not that uncommon.

Moreover, they claim, many children regressed into autism following normal vaccination, when the parents religiously adhered to the official schedule.

According to the Johns Hopkins site, "Additional research is needed to determine if other children with autism, especially those with 'the regressive form' of autism, have the same or similar underlying mitochondrial dysfunction disorders."

It adds that, "the advisory groups who make recommendations regarding vaccines will undoubtedly examine this case carefully and make decisions regarding the potential need for changes."

That day may come sooner than you think. It was just announced that, on April 11 in Washington, DC, the National Vaccine Program Office at HHS will convene a meeting of the National Vaccine Advisory Committee's Vaccine Safety Working Group. The Working Group was established to go over the CDC's Immunization Safety Office draft research agenda, and to, "review the current vaccine safety system."

The meeting is open to the public, and I have my seat reserved. But I honestly don't envy the Working Group's very tricky task at hand.

It remains to be seen how all this plays out. And many important questions still lie ahead.

For example, if mitochondrial dysfunction turns out to be as common as 200-per-10,000, and autism is now at 66 per 10,000, did anything bad happen to any of the other 134-per-10,000 children, apart from autism (i.e., ADD, ADHD, speech delay, etc.)?

Moreover, if 10-20% of autism cases can actually be traced to an underlying mitochondrial dysfunction, then what about the majority of autism cases where this did not come into play?

And, if 20% of autism cases are mito related, and 6% of those cases regressed because of vaccines, that would mean that at least 1% of all autism cases were vaccine related. Some estimates of autism go as high as a million Americans - that would mean 10,000 people with vaccine-triggered autism, and billions of dollars in the cost of lifetime care.

(While we are on the subject, isn't it time to fund a study of vaccinated and unvaccinated children, to settle this debate once and for all?)

Finally, the goals of the CISA Network, (which convened the teleconference) are rather progressive and far reaching. It remains to be seen how well the Network fulfills its stated mission, which includes:

Conduct research into "the role of individual variation" on vaccine injury;

"Empower individuals to make informed immunization decisions;"

Help policy makers "in the recommendation of exclusion criteria for at-risk individuals," and;

"Enhance public confidence in sustaining immunization benefits for all populations"

Let's see how long it takes before Network members hang out the proverbial banner: "Mission Accomplished."

Comments

[tamarque]

Much research doesn't occur in a lab, but iin the body of information collected by public health agencies in outbreaks of childhood diseases where it is relatively easy to discover the rate of vaccination in the population. Vaccines often prove not to be preventative. In England when the smallpox vaccine was introduced , the incidence of smallpox increased in areas where the population was vaccinated. Removal of the vaccine saw a decreas

The American public''s health has been declining throughout the past century. Chemical exposure brings a spate of new cancers and other toxic reactions. Even polio has been linked to the exposure to toxic chemicals such as DDT. One writer above on this blog has referenced the statistical uselessness of the polio vaccine introduced into the public when the incidence of polio was already on the wane. Polio, btw, has a long history in human populations, showing up for short spurts and then disappearing, usually in conjunction with some toxic event in the population. Often its medical name changes to cover the outbreak of the disease. And most, if not all cases of acknowledged polio since the vaccine appear to be vaccine induced or related in the past 35 yrs, since the introduction of that vaccine.

This is a complicated subject and it would serve us well to remain open to new ideas that get put forth, particularly by independent researchers and those who are willing to spill the beans of what goes on behind closed doors.

.

[carolineofboston]

David, Yet again you are to be commended for such a thorough investigative approach and your consistent barrage against the harm being done to our children..­..
A question was posed to me yesterday that if this were professional men and women who went in for routine vaccinations and regressed to the point our children have, rendering them unable to function as previously, ie, pay taxes!!! would not the culprit be determined as a matter of critical urgency and henceforth vaccinations suspended until a less damaging cocktail and schedule be developed?

Sickening to think of isn't it.

Keep up your most appreciated crusade to deliver the 'Evidence of Harm'

Respectfully,
Caroline
www.autismhealingbook.com

[gerbal]

Heres a question for you statistically zero risk of autism or epidemic childhood diseases? Because by fighting against vaccines that is effectively what your advocating.

I'm sure you would be tickled pink if your child died in a mumps outbreak.

[CraigWilloughby]

Has your child been vaccinated? If so, then why are you worried about it?

[ArturoDekko]

What epidemic? Search the net for proof of the effectiveness of vaccination. You may be surprised. Look for the many omissions to establishment testing and how in some cases vaccination has been the cause of an outbreak. Over half of the vaccinated children in my daughters school came down with hooping cough! My unvaccinated daughter was one of the last to get it and was cured within hours with homeopathic remedy.
Polio was already on the decline before the introduction of the vaccine and the slope of the graph does not change, indicating no effect.
The pharmaceutical community makes much profit but do we actually benefit?
It would make more sense to boost our children's immune systems and allow them mild diseases as these protect later in life from more serious illnesses. The healthiest children are those brought up on a dairy farm.

[ccdaddy57]

"However, doctors connected with the case say the case is not a precedent setting one for those who believe vaccines can cause autism, claiming the child does not have a typical case of autism". Please understand, this massive mercury poisoning is
very embarrasing to the medical establishment. The truth is
comming out, the jeanie is out of the bottle. There will be no
putting it back in. If you check the statement " for those who believe vaccines can cause autism " you see they are right. They
the vaccines don't cause autism. But a simple Google search will
net you a wealth of research, that heavy metals and toxins
as ingrediants in the vaccines for example: just ethyl-mercury
in Parts Per Billion comming in at 37,500 PPB. liquid toxic waste
is a wopping 200 PPB it would take a fool to defend 37,500 PPB
can .;cause mitochondria dysfuntion, it would take a fool to dispute
this. You see they deplete the glutathion in the mitochondria.
we now know the mechanisim that caused the depletion of our childs glutathion it was as we thought."V­accination­s contain at least four neuro-toxins: mercury, formaldehyde, MSG and aluminum hydroxide.­All of which can and have
caused mitochondrial disorders
" my son, like thousands of others have Labs proving mercury toxicity"

[RobinN]

Perhaps also consider what this means to the Epilepsy community. There are direct links that mitochondrial disorders are an issue with seizure disorders too. Lets not limit the damage to just one community.

Mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress: cause and consequence of epileptic seizures.
Patel M.

Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, 4200 East Ninth Avenue, Denver, CO 80262, USA. [e-mail]

Mitochondrial dysfunction has been implicated as a contributing factor in diverse acute and chronic neurological disorders. However, its role in the epilepsies has only recently emerged. Animal studies show that epileptic seizures result in free radical production and oxidative damage to cellular proteins, lipids, and DNA. Mitochondria contribute to the majority of seizure-induced free radical production. Seizure-induced mitochondrial superoxide production, consequent inactivation of susceptible iron-sulfur enzymes, e.g., aconitase, and resultant iron-mediated toxicity may mediate seizure-induced neuronal death. Epileptic seizures are a common feature of mitochondrial dysfunction associated with mitochondrial encephalopathies. Recent work suggests that chronic mitochondrial oxidative stress and resultant dysfunction can render the brain more susceptible to epileptic seizures. This review focuses on the emerging role of oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction both as a consequence and as a cause of epileptic seizures.

PMID: 15544915 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

[ccdaddy57]

midwestDad pull your head out of the sand and read this, wanted to say something else
but out of respect to David I refraned.

we now know the mechanisim that caused the depletion of our childs glutathion it was as we thought."V­accination­s they contain at least four neuro-toxins: mercury, formaldehyde,
MSG and aluminum hydroxide.­All of which can and have
caused mitochondrial disorders

"Metal toxicity" creates multisystem dysfunction,
which appears to be mediated primarily through
mitochondrial damage from glutathione depletion.
Accurate screening can increase the likelihood that patients
with potential metal toxicity are identified.

This was gleaned in seconds with a simple Google
search.

Heavy-Metal Toxicity—With Emphasis on Mercury
John Neustadt, ND, and Steve Pieczenik, MD, PhD

" continued "

[S1m0n]

I read this story here last night, and I've had three more copies forwarded to me today at work; that's a lot of attention in the autism biz for a story that consists primarily of speculation & rumour.

[aynnie]

I have to wonder, if you had a possible child sex offender living in your neighborhood, traumatizing the children and changing their lives forever, how would you feel about multiple people emailing you the information? Speculation, like hypothesis, is the first step. Now that the questions have been raised, who will do the hard work of answering them....tr­uthfully?

[MidwestDad]

Possible sex offenders have the same rights as you and me, and without probable cause you can't arrest one or search his home. We're still talking about autism, right Aynnie?

[TimKasemodel]

Simon,

Due to his ongoing Pro Bono investigation into autism and vaccines, David has established a relationship and contact with researchers and physicians currently engaged in the debate. By insinuating that what he has shared is rumour would indicate you believe what he writes about the the conversations during the conference call are not true. Of course there is speculation, and rightfully so.

If you have any information to share from your own contacts within the research and medical community involved in the call that would refute any of what David has brought forward here, I am sure we all would be delighted to read it.

Otherwise your own comment "consists primarily of speculation & rumour".

Tim Kasemodel

[InTheBurbs]

Okay David and others...I am puzzled here. Your commentary seems to indicate that meeting attendees have been spurred on to immediate action by the Portugese study [identifying a potential linkage between autism and mitochondrial disroders] . While any such effort on the part of the CDC and federal government is welcomed, it does beg the question as to why research efforts going on in the states from as far back as 2002 were not of equal value to the CDC in signaling a problem. If my recollection is correct, I recall that there were several preeminent metabolic specialists at Kennedy Kreiger (Johns Hopkins), Childrens' Healthcare in Atlanta, and also in CA who not only noted the existence of unknown mitochondrial disorders in autistic kids (based on tissue biopsy) but also hypothesized a link and were attempting to treat the underlying mito issue through prescribing of nutraceuticals, etc. [Note my son was one of the kids diagnosed with autism and an underlying mito disorder and treated accordingly] I am curious as to why, post decision by the Vaccine Court, the linkage is of greater interest now versus then?

[TimKasemodel]

Here is a great video to help understand what mitochondria are and the processes they require to work effectively.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=LfDYGanMi6Q

Interesting to see how important ATP (adenosine triphosphate) is in getting protiens into the mitochondria. Seems like many things would have to be working correctly to make it work.

Thimerosal has been shown to affect ATP mediated processes in immune function (Uncoupling of ATP-Mediated Calcium Signaling and Disregulated Interleuken-6 Secretion in Dendridit Cells by Nanomolar Thimerosal - Issac Pessah) I wonder if some of these docs are concerned about the unknown (unresearched) effects thimerosal may have in the process of ATP mediated mitochondria function..­........ Just food for thought.


Antibiotics have been shown to affect ATP and mitochondria as well - just google it. Many children with autism with major health issues have a history of heavy infant antibiotic use. Oh yeah, and antibiotics affects the rate of mercury detoxification (interesting how it all could tie together, like a Tapestry..­.... if someone were to investigate)

Those who are quick to criticize David Kirby for continuing the conversation about thimerosal, vaccines and autism should realize there is so much the medical community does NOT know about mitochondria yet. Mito dysfunction is but one factor in all of this, but if evidence and research points to a place where some kids can become healthier and happier, what bad can come from that?

Tim Kasemodel

[linwessels]

P. S. Thanks, David!! Wondering if there might be more you could share with me privately ? I'd really like to send something onto D.C.
Sam's MAMA

[Olerist]

So if the CDC is "aware" and continues not to do anything about this...

when do criminal charges start?

[maxwell105]

They better be glad I'm not in charge of deciding their fate. Because if I were in charge those involved would spend the rest of their miserable lives behind bars. I have absolutely no mercy on anyone who would harm a child.

[terramuggus]

"(While we are on the subject, isn't it time to fund a study of vaccinated and unvaccinated children, to settle this debate once and for all?)"
David,
As is perfectly obvious to everyone, even to the vicious vaccinators and governmental criminals who've deliberately allowed millions to be damaged these past several decades, the only way to get to the bottom of this fiasco is to do the only study that will prove once and for all the true cause. However, I think it's important for those of us demanding this that we properly phrase our request: Vaccinated versus Never Vaccinated study. Asking for unvaccinated leaves the door open for some vaccines to be allowed in the control group. We need a pure group of kids that have never, ever been vaccined in order to properly test the most moral hypothesis, that vaccines cause autism. What will be interesting is what else this properly structured study will show, that vaccinated kids have been condemned to a lessening of cognitive and intellectual capacity, as well.
The message of the green vaccine group (those of us who recognize the importance of safe vaccines & schedules) has to be a demand for a study between Vaccninated versus Never Vaccinated. Thanks again David for the work you do for previously, wished-to-forget hordes of damaged Americans.
An afterthought: Wonder if our criminal government employees can be investigated under our RICO statutes, and subsequently prosecuted under HomeLand Security laws?
T

[sabrinastone]

There is a very large group of children not yet immunized in the Amish community. They have very low, very nearly 0% autism.

That might make a very nice control group.

[MidwestDad]

Which Amish community are you talking about, Sabrina?

[KevLeitch]

The Portuguese study is here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17880640?ordinalpos=4&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

[KevLeitch]

Also a link to this Portuguese study would be nice - I can find no reference to a paper from Portugal when searching PubMed for 'mitochondria autism'. Thanks.

[KevLeitch]

Would it be possible to have a link provided as to where this five year study of 30 children was published? And a link to the paper itself?

[KevLeitch]

Does anybody at all have any idea as to where this paper can be found, who the authors are and what the paper itself says?

It seems to me that this entire post - and therefore all the main points made - stands or falls on the veracity and accuracy of this one study that no one seems to know anything about. For a paper described as a 'the next big bomb' I think it needs to be made public ASAP.

[MidwestDad]

That's typical of a David Kirby exposé. The anti-vaccine activists get all excited over a study, then the study falls apart, and it's on to another study. This reminds me of Whack-a-Mole. As soon as you put down one ridiculous, flawed assertion, another one pops up. Among serious, bona-fide researchers, the vaccine-autism link is dead and buried.

[MaryWebster]

On March 6, 2008 ― just 5 short days before the March 11th conference call ― Dr. Julie Gerberding, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated that the case of Hannah Poling was not representative of other children with autism and insisted, “…we need to disassociate the issue of autism with the very important public health and health protection intervention of immunizations for children.”
http://www.cdc.gov/od/oc/media/transcripts/2008/t080307.htm
Later that same evening (courtesy of ABC’s Nightline), the American people also heard Dr. Paul Offit, oft-quoted immunologist and chief of infectious diseases at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, emphatically state once again that “Vaccines don’t cause autism.”
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=4405846
Officials at the CDC had ample time to consider the possible link between mitochondrial dysfunction and autism. The initial study out of Portugal on this issue was published in 2005:
"Mitochondrial dysfunction in autism spectrum disorders: a population-based study" Dev Med Child Neurol. 2005 Mar;47(3):185-9.
Our public health officials no longer have the luxury of claiming "they didn't know." We must not continue to allow those in whose hands our children's health and well-being rest to seek refuge beneath the cloak of self-imposed ignorance. That time has already been extended far too long.
Thank you, David.

[MaryWebster]

The Portuguese study to which I am referring:

Mitochondrial dysfunction in autism spectrum disorders: a population-based study
Oliveira et al
Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology
Volume 47 Issue 3 Page 185-189, March 2005

Abstract
A minority of cases of autism has been associated with several different organic conditions, including bioenergetic metabolism deficiency. In a population-based study, we screened associated medical conditions in a group of 120 children with autism (current age range 11y 5mo to 14y 4mo, mean age 12y 11mo [SD 9.6mo], male:female ratio 2.9:1). Children were diagnosed using Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders criteria, the Autism Diagnostic Interview - Revised, and the Childhood Autism Rating Scale; 76% were diagnosed with typical autism and 24% with atypical autism. Cognitive functional level was assessed with the Griffiths scale and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children and was in the normal range in 17%. Epilepsy was present in 19 patients. Plasma lactate levels were measured in 69 patients, and in 14 we found hyperlactacidemia. Five of 11 patients studied were classified with definite mitochondrial respiratory chain disorder, suggesting that this might be one of the most common disorders associated with autism (5 of 69; 7.2%) and warranting further investigation.

http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1469-8749.2005.tb01113.x

[nhokkanen]

Interesting that marketing forces rather than morality finally convinced our country's intractable public health bureaucracy to take a first honest look at reports of vaccine adverse events.

So the insurance companies finally figured out it's cheaper to spread out shots instead of forking over $100,000 a year for behavioral therapy to the 1 in 150 children on the autism spectrum. Maybe now our HMOs can afford to pay for DMSA and nutritional supplements, which address some of the biochemical causes of the "autistic" behaviors.

How tragic that for decades, parents' reports have been denied and dismissed by the very agencies charged with protecting their families' health. How pathetic that the pejorative "anti-vaccination" canard has been used to divert attention away from injured children in dire need of medical testing and treatment.

We who trustingly vaccinated our children want little more than to heal them, and prevent injury from happening to other children. Any other accusations are creative fiction from guilty consciences and vested interests.

Our nation has a huge task ahead. However I hesitate to place confidence in public health administrators who have spread falsehoods so readily, for so long. Time to fumigate Baltimore and Atlanta, and start fresh with untainted, altruistic minds.

[sandygottstein]

Hi Nancy, The insurance companies have long seemed a natural to me since they are paying for the costs of any vaccine injury that may be occurring, whether they know it or not. So it would behoove them, in my opinion, to investigate it. I wrote about it a number of years ago in my column, "Look Who's Paying" at http://www.vaccinationnews.com/Scandals/Aug_23_02/Scandal30.htm, All the best, Sandy http://www.vaccinationnews.orgg)

[CraigWilloughby]

Insurance companies are paying for autism treatment? Who's yours? Mine claims that my son's condition is pre-existing, so they won't cover it. The Gov'ment claims I make to much money to receive their assistence (yeah, right!), so I don't get help from them either. I'm going in the hole, so please tell me where I can get some help for my son!