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Question answered:27/09/06 Warning! this question is over two years old.
A Cochrane Systematic Review in 2005 (1) investigated the adverse effects of the MMR vaccine where they conclude:
“no credible evidence of an involvement of MMR with either autism or Crohn’s disease was found.”
The most recent evidence we found concerning MMR was the following article (2) ‘Pervasive Developmental Disorders in Montreal, Quebec, Canada: Prevalence and Links With Immunizations’ from the American Academy of Paediatrics. The objectives of this study are highlighted below:
“ The purpose of this work was to estimate the pervasive developmental disorder prevalence in Montreal, Canada, in cohorts born from 1987 to 1998 and evaluate the relationship of trends in pervasive developmental disorder rates with: (1) changes in cumulative exposure to ethylmercury (thimerosal) occurring through modifications in the immunization schedule of young children and (2) trends in measles-mumps-rubella vaccination use rates and the introduction of a 2–measles-mumps-rubella dosing schedule during the study period.”
In their conclusions they state:
“The prevalence of pervasive developmental disorder in Montreal was high, increasing in recent birth cohorts as found in most countries. Factors accounting for the increase include a broadening of diagnostic concepts and criteria, increased awareness and, therefore, better identification of children with pervasive developmental disorders in communities and epidemiologic surveys, and improved access to services. The findings ruled out an association between pervasive developmental disorder and either high levels of ethylmercury exposure comparable with those experienced in the United States in the 1990s or 1- or 2-dose measles-mumps-rubella vaccinations.”
The National Library for Health ‘Hitting the Headlines’ comment on the Canadian study which can be viewed in full at
http://www.library.nhs.uk/rss/newsAndRssArticle.aspx?uri=http://www.library.nhs.uk/resources/?id=148769
A search of Pubmed found an article (3) discussing previous links with the measles virus in autistic children which states:
“This study failed to substantiate reports of the persistence of measles virus in autistic children with development regression.”
References
- http://www.cochrane.org/reviews/en/ab004407.html
- http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/reprint/118/1/e139
- M.A. Afzal, L.C. Ozoemena, A. O’Hare, K.A. Kidger, M.L. Bentley, P.D.
Minor. Absence of detectable measles virus genome sequence in blood of autistic children who have had their MMR vaccination during the routine childhood immunization schedule of UK, Journal of Medical Virology, 2006; 78: 623-630.
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