Autism and MMR:
Something is Rotten in Denmark
In 1987, the MMR vaccine was introduced in Denmark. By 1991, the number of cases of autism had begun to rise sharply in four year old children. In 2002 a report was published about a retrospective study of the largest number of children to date, over 500 thousand records were looked at.
The report is known in English as, "A Population-Based Study of Measles, Mumps, and Rubella Vaccination and Autism" by K.M. Madsen and Others and was published in The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) November 7, 2002 (Vol. 347 No. 19). The authors claimed to confirm that there was no connection between autism and MMR vaccine. Their manipulation of statistics is at best mistaken and at worst, deliberate fraud.
Fortunately, the NEJM article included some of the raw data from the study. An excerpt with out comments is included on the left below. On the right, some clarifying comments have been superimposed. Note the middle column of each table excerpt: 440,655 vaccinated children are the group that received six vaccines in the first year of life plus the seventh vaccine, the MMR, at a median age of 17 months. The right hand column, labeled 96,648 unvaccinated children actually were vaccinated with 6 vaccines in the first year of life but who did not receive the MMR.
The group of children who received 7 vaccines, had a total of 269 cases of autistic disorder. The group of children who received 6 vaccines (no MMR), had a total of 47 cases of autistic disorder. These difficult to read figures translate to: 61 cases of autistic disorder per 100,000 children in the group that received the MMR vaccine. 48.6 cases of autistic disorder per 100,000 children in the group that did NOT receive MMR vaccine. Clearly the MMR vaccine contributed to autism but of course was not the only cause. See http://www.vaclib.org/news/table1.htm for more information on this NEJM article.
All vaccines contribute to autism rates. Several news stories in 2005, by Senior Editor, Dan Olmsted of the United Press International, focused on the low, nearly zero, rates of autism among the mostly unvaccinated Amish. (1) In December of 2005 another unvaccinated population with no autism was found in 30 to 35 thousand children in the Chicago area. (2)
(1)
WashTimes.com/upi-breaking/20050321-115921-9566r.htm
The Age of Autism: The Amish anomaly (part 1)
(2)
WashingtonTines.com/upi/20051204-060313-6829r.htm
The Age of Autism: 'A pretty big secret'
The above graph is from RedFlagsWeekly web site.
“Japanese study is the strongest evidence yet for a link between MMR and autism
Commentary By Andrew J Wakefield FRCS FRCPath and Carol M Stott PhD on the study: "No effect of MMR withdrawal on the incidence of autism: a total population study" by Honda H, Shimizu Y and Rutter M. published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, February 2005
Honda and colleagues present a fascinating report on the cumulative incidence (numbers of new cases with time) of autistic spectrum disorders (ASDs) in the Kohoku Ward, Yokohama, Japan, for children born 1988 to 1996. The study seeks to examine the relationship between ASD and MMR vaccination. Japan is unique since MMR was introduced in 1989 and discontinued in April 1993. Honda et. al. see this as providing an ideal opportunity to test whether there is a causal association between MMR exposure and incidence of ASDs. They predict that, if MMR causes autism, stopping MMR should result in a subsequent decline in incidence. This was not seen. In fact, there was a striking rise in the incidence of ASDs in this population over time, with a marked rise postdating the removal of MMR. The authors state that their finding ‘implies that MMR could not cause a substantial proportion of cases of autism’. “
Now for a little realism:
Note that the graph above shows a 25 percent drop in autism between 1990 and 1991. Note also that the MMR vaccine was not simply withdrawn but the triple antigen vaccine was withdrawn from the market and three separate jabs were introduced which were given close together in time. So in fact there was a marked decline in autistic cases among those who received neither the MMR or the M and M and R triple but separate injections.
More information on the increase of autism in Japan is directly related to the number of MMR and single measles vaccines. http://homepage.ntlworld.com/clifford.g.miller/hondarutter.html
NEJM reprint of "A Population-Based Study of Measles, Mumps, and Rubella Vaccination and Autism" by K.M. Madsen and Others