MMR & Outisme

Ons het al almal van die studie gehoor, maar wat is werklik bevind? Hier is die feite.

Soos geneem vanaf: PlanetParent

February 1998 – A group led by Andrew Wakefield publishes a controversial paper in The Lancet, a respected Medical publication.

The study uses only 12 children with development disorders; 8 of these children's parents linked the MMR vaccination as the start of these developmental disorders, even prior to the start of the evaluation. The papers actual finding was as follows: "Interpretation We identified associated gastrointestinal disease and developmental regression in a group of previously normal children, which was generally associated in time with possible environmental triggers."

The paper suggested a connection between autism and gastrointestinal pathologies, but could NOT prove an association between MMR vaccine and autism.

Wakefield made a number of additional statements regarding the MMR vaccines, "I can't support the continued use of these three vaccines given in combination until this issue has been resolved." In a video news release issued by the hospital to broadcasters in advance of the press conference, he called for MMR to be "suspended in favour of the single vaccines."

Wakefield's mentor, Ray Pounder, who was not part of the research added: "In hindsight it may be a better solution to give the vaccinations separately, although administratively it is a wonderful idea. When the vaccinations were given individually there was no problem." Neither of these suggestions were supported by any scientific evidence, and was not part of the findings of the Wakefield paper.

The aftermath of this report:
The Wakefield paper left a legacy of doubt which to this day still enshrouds the MMR vaccine, this persist although there is no scientific proof for link MMR to autism. This legacy is part and parcel of a decline in vaccination rates in the UK, as well as to modern day parents preferring not to make use of the combined vaccination.

February 2004 Brian de Beer a reported from Sunday Times reports on three specific points which makes the Wakefield report ever more questionable. Wakefield firstly received £55,000 funding from Legal Aid Board solicitors seeking evidence to use against vaccine manufacturers. Several of the parents quoted as saying that MMR had damaged their children were also litigants. As a final point Wakefield did not inform colleagues or medical authorities of the conflict of interest.

March 2004 Ten of the twelve Wakefield report's co-authors retracted the interpretation as outlined above, following the conflict of interest allegations.

October 2006 Dr Brian Ward from McGill University Health Centre (MUHC), blamed an outbreak of measles which likely contributed to the death of several infants to the reluctance of parents to vaccinate. The MUHC study, as all well-conducted epidemiological studies, have found no association between the MMR vaccine and autism at the population level. Their new data now demonstrate that the putative MMR-ASD link can no longer be argued even at the level of the individual child with autism. 

October 2007 The General Medical Councils investigation into the Wakefield report, a number of Wakefield's Colleagues have also been charged with serious professional misconduct over their role in the affair, was postponed to January 2008 after the prosecution completed the presentation of their case in August and October 2007.

Sources:
The Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia. MMR vaccine controversy. Retrieved 7 May 2008 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MMR_vaccine_controversy

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (2008, April 7). Parents Follow Paediatrician Advice On Administering MMR Vaccinations. ScienceDaily. Retrieved May 7, 2008, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2008/04/080407074538.htm

McGill University Health Centre. "More Evidence To Clear Measles Mumps Rubella Vaccine As A Risk Factor For Autism." ScienceDaily 22 October 2006. Retrieved 7 May 2008,   from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2006/10/061018094228.htm