Fresh research rule out MMR-autism link

Despite a growing amount of evidence that MMR vaccine is safe, many parents are still concerned that MMR causes autism. A few newspapers reported a new study that replicates the methods of the original study conducted in 1998 by Dr Andrew Wakefield that sparked the controversy of a link between autism and the MMR vaccine.

The new study compared children with gastrointestinal disturbances who also had autism with a control group without autism to see if there was evidence of meales virus RNA in the bowel of children with autism who also have gastrointestinal disturbances. The reserachers said their results did not support the association of autism with persistent measles in the bowel or with MMR vaccination.

Critics say that although this is a stronger study than the Wakefield's with a control group and more cases, it is still small and the findings may still be due to chance. However, this study provides evidence that disproves the MMR-autism link.

Source: " Lack of Association between Measles Virus Vaccine and Autism with Enteropathy: A Case-Control Study." PLoS ONE 2008; 3(9):e3140

Evidence against leaky gut theory in autism

According to the "leaky gut" theory, vaccines such as MMR can damage the wall of the intestine. causing the production of more peptides which can damage the brain and possibly cause autism.
Advocates of the leaky gut theory have advised autistic children to exclude gluten and casein in their diet.

A new study into the leaky gut theroy examined 65 boys with autism and 158 boys without and found that children with autism did not have more peptides in their urine than the control group. Researchers concluded that peptide urine tests are not helful in the diagnosis or treatment of autism and that further work is needed. They have published their findings in the Archives of Diseases in Childhood.


Source : "Absence of urinary opioid peptides in children with Autism" Arch Dis Child. Published Online First: 12 March 2008

Study said no link between MMR and autism

The Daily Mail and other news source reported a large research, partly funded by the Department of Health and published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood, studying the blood samples of about 250 children aged 10 to 12 to see if the MMR vaccination had caused an abnormal immune response that could have triggered autism.

The sample included three groups of children : those with autism, those without and those with special educational needs. The researchers said that they found no difference in meales virus or antibody levels between the two comparison groups and no evidence of bowel symptoms among the autistic children.

The authors concluded there is no evidence for a link between MMR vaccination and autism. But critics said the study had selected the wrong children.

Source :"Measles vaccination and antibody response in autism spectrum disorders". Arch Dis Child. Published Online First: 5 February 2008 doi:10.1136/adc.2007.122937 (full text via Athens)