'No link' between MMR and autism
Tuesday, 05 Feb 2008 08:18
There is no link between the MMR vaccine and autism, study says
Children given the MMR vaccine do not have an increased risk of autism, an independent virus study has concluded today.
The study, said to be the most comprehensive ever undertaken, comes ten years after controversial claims questioned the safety of the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine.
These claims have since been discredited.
Researchers from Guys hospital, the Health Protection Agency and Manchester University studied nearly 250 children aged between ten and 12 born between 1990 and 1991 in one area of southern England.
This group was composed of 98 children with an autism spectrum disorder and two comparison groups: 52 children with special educational needs, but no evidence of autism spectrum disorders; and 90 children who were developing normally.
All the children had been vaccinated against MMR but not all had been given both doses.
Researchers studied blood samples for the presence of persistent measles infection or an abnormal immune response.
Publishing the findings in the journal Archives of Disease in Childhood, they claim to have discovered no difference in circulating measles virus or antibody levels between the two groups of children.
This was not influenced by whether or not the child had received both MMR doses or whether or not they had experienced a setback early in their development.
The researchers highlight the fact that their study is the third, and largest, study that has failed to find a link between the MMR vaccine and autism.
Commenting on the study, Professor David Salisbury, director of immunisation at the Department of Health, said: "It's natural for parents to worry about the health and wellbeing of their children and I hope that this study will reassure them that there is no evidence linking the MMR vaccine to autism."
Dr David Brown from the Health Protection Agency added: "Public confidence in the MMR vaccine continues to remain high as the uptake for those receiving their first dose has stayed stable.
"However, it is also important to remember that children should complete their full course of MMR vaccine or optimum protection."
