US scientists back autism link to MMR

June 3, 2006

By Beezy Marsh and Sally Beck

(Filed: 28/05/2006)

The measles virus has been found in the guts of children with a form

of autism, renewing fears over the safety of the MMR jab.

American researchers have revealed that 85 per cent of samples taken

from autistic children with bowel disorders contain the virus. The

strain is the same as the one used in the measles, mumps and rubella

triple vaccine.

The findings will spark fresh concern about MMR, because they back

theories of a causal link between the jab, autism and painful gut

disorders suffered by a number of autistic children.

The study replicates findings made by the gastroenterologist Dr Andrew

Wakefield in 1998 and Prof John O'Leary, a pathologist, in 2002.

Parents say their children were developing normally until they had the

MMR jab, given when a child is between 12- and 18-months-old. The

children now suffer from regressive autism.

One theory is that the virus passes through the gut, causing damage,

and into the bloodstream, from where it is able to attack the brain.

More than 2,000 families claim that their children have suffered

damage but the Department of Health reiterated last night that MMR is

safe, a stance supported by the British Medical Association and all

the Royal Colleges. Last year Government scientists failed to

reproduce research results by Dr Wakefield.

Research to be presented this week in Montreal, Canada, provides fresh

evidence that the measles virus is present in the guts of autistic

children. Dr Stephen Walker, of the Wake Forest University School of

Medicine, North Carolina, studied children with regressive autism and

bowel disease. " Of the handful of results we have in so far, all are

vaccine strain, " he said.

13 February 2006[Health]: Secret report reveals 18 child deaths

following vaccinations

16 June 2002: Revealed: more evidence to challenge the safety of MMR

health.telegraph

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