The Age of Autism: Pox -- Part 7

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 24/05/2006 20:37:10 GMT Daylight Time, gail@... writes:

Can I send this on to Dr Heard? He has a theory that chickenpox is implicated in some cases of autism - we have discussed several times as T regressed after severe bout of chickenpox followed within few months by by 'measles type' virus. Dr H said he has several other Mothers who can pinpoint regression following dose of chickenpox.I think he would be really interested in this article.

>>>yeah send him anything that he might be interested in - I do

Mandi x

[Guest guest]

Sam had severe chicken pox at 5 months, on top of 3 DPT's etc

Thank god he never had the MMR

Mandi x

[Guest guest]

Sam had severe chicken pox at 5 months, on top of 3 DPT's etc

Thank god he never had the MMR

Mandi x

[Guest guest]

http://feed.insnews.org/v-cgi/feeds.cgi?feedid=150 & story_id=1857078

The Age of Autism: Pox -- Part 7

By Dan Olmsted for UPI.

When a mother in Washington state and a researcher in Washington,

D.C., offer an identical observation about autistic kids, you can't help but

notice.

That observation is simple but potentially significant: Children later

diagnosed with regressive autism often got physically sick around the time

of their live-virus vaccinations.

Here's how Rohrbeck, the mom in Olympia, Wash., put it after

collecting vaccine records and medical histories from fellow parents of

local preschoolers diagnosed with full-syndrome autism.

Most of the parents recall their child had a viral illness -- roseola,

rotavirus or an unnamed flu -- less than four months before or after those

live-virus shots.

's three-year-old son, Grant, is a case in point. A couple of

months before he got the live-virus chickenpox and measles-mumps-rubella

shots at the same office visit at age 1, Grant had a stubborn and severe

case of roseola, which like chickenpox is a herpesvirus.

Four days after the MMR and chickenpox injections he became ill with a

fever and lay limp in his mother's arms for the first time in his life.

He began having chronic diarrhea, and by his 15-month checkup he had

regressed so drastically that his pediatrician suggested he could be

autistic, Rohrbeck recalled in Part 1 of this series. The doctor agreed to

the parents' request for an immediate neurodevelopmental evaluation, which

eventually confirmed their fears. By age 2 Grant was diagnosed with

full-syndrome autism.

An even more immediate example is Boe, an Olympia child profiled

in the last installment. He got his MMR at 16 months and his chickenpox and

three other vaccines two months later. During that visit, broke out in

hives while still at the doctor's office, had a 105-degree fever by the end

of the day that lasted a week, and displayed classic signs of regressive

autism within the month.

The second source for the same observation about vaccines, illness and

autism is British researcher Shattock. In an interview in April while

attending an autism conference in Washington, Shattock said he suspects that

children who contract viral infections too close to their MMR shot may have

an increased risk for autism.

He noticed that parents who believed the MMR vaccine triggered their

child's autism tended to cite an undisclosed viral illness around the time

of the shot.

Shattock decided to test that observation. Britain doesn't give kids

chickenpox shots, meaning they still get chickenpox, so he looked for a

diagnosis of that unmistakable childhood disease around the time of the MMR

vaccination.

He studied the records of 100 children whose parents blame the MMR for

the onset of autism, compared to 100 children whose parents do not, to see

if there was more chickenpox in the three months on either side of the MMR

immunization.

Now, there was, Shattock said. It wasn't statistically significant at

the 95 percent level -- but enough to make you think that if it was a huge

study, it might be.

The implication: Too many viruses too close together from whatever

sources might overload the immune system, lead to persistent infection and,

ultimately, cause brain damage resulting in autism. To Shattock,

old-fashioned chickenpox interacting with measles, mumps and rubella

vaccines looked like a red flag.

What resonates in Olympia is not just the pattern of illness but the

families' problematic histories with chickenpox and other herpesviruses. The

specter: Live-virus chickenpox vaccine and viral infections like roseola

playing the same overload role in vulnerable children as real-live

chickenpox in Shattock's suspected British cases.

Consider, for example, Jimmy Flinton. As outlined in Part 3, his

father, , had an unusual case of shingles, the reactivated form of the

virus, at 15; his paternal grandmother, Southon, had a case at 20 and a

lifelong problem with cold sores -- a kind of herpesvirus -- that eventually

infected her eyes and may require cornea transplants.

Jimmy is one of two Olympia children with autism who were in clinical

trials of investigational, apparently high-dose chickenpox vaccines in

conjunction with the MMR shot.

In 2002, Jimmy was given ProQuad, a four-in-one chickenpox-MMR vaccine

that has about 10 times the typical dose of chickenpox virus. That is

necessary to overcome a phenomenon known as immune interference when live

viruses are combined, according to a spokesman for Merck & Co., which

developed the vaccine.

During the 42-day study window following his vaccination, Jimmy may

have had a slight, brief fever, his mother, , recalls. But she said

it was nothing notable, and she didn't record it on the adverse-event log

she was asked to keep.

But less than four months later Jimmy had an acute illness with a

fever around 102. After that, in retrospect, his development stalled, and he

eventually was diagnosed with full-syndrome autism.

The other child, Baltzley, was in a clinical trial two years

earlier. As described in Part 4, he got a Merck process upgrade chickenpox

shot that his mother, , was told had a much higher amount of

live-virus vaccine.

Again, chickenpox history seems potentially relevant: After two mild

cases as a child, had an unusually severe and late case of

chickenpox at 16, just three years before was born.

In his clinical trial, got the experimental chickenpox shot at

the same office visit as the standard MMR. says the pediatrician

told her it was part of the development of the combined chickenpox-MMR

vaccine; Merck, to the contrary, said the two trials were completely

unrelated.

Midway through the 42-day study window, had an acute illness

-- a fever of 102, vomiting and listlessness. Again the pattern: Four

live-but-weakened viruses including a big dose of chickenpox; family

susceptibility; physical illness, and autism.

Both Baltzley and Flinton are emphatic that the

pediatrician who performed the trials in Olympia, Dr. Carl Lindgren, is not

the source of their concern. (Lindgren referred our questions to Merck.)

Dr. Lindgren has been incredibly conscientious and proactive in his

dealings with us regarding Jimmy's autism -- much more so than most

pediatricians would be, said.

So, not only do we not think he did anything wrong with the clinical

trial, but we actually think he went above and beyond the call of duty after

the trial.

Other Olympia parents say similar things, concerned that broader

issues of vaccine safety and a possible link to autism will get translated

into criticism of individual doctors.

I worry about pediatricians being vilified, said Rohrbeck, the

mom who collected the vaccination records. " We vaccinated our son because we

shared their faith that vaccines were safe.

If it turns out that some vaccines are not safe for all children and

that these hazards could have been found with more rigorous testing -- or

worse, that the dangers were already known -- that's the fault of the CDC,

the FDA and the manufacturers, she said.

I'll defend doctors to the end on this point. They are a convenient

front line for those agencies to hide behind -- it's just shameful.

That puts the issue squarely in the lap of the drug companies and the

public-health authorities. They say vaccines simply don't cause autism,

period -- so the idea of susceptibility to a viral overload from live-virus

vaccines, coincident viral infections or any other source is a non-starter.

We don't see an association, Merck spokeswoman Fanelle said,

citing as confirmation a 2004 report by the widely respected Institute of

Medicine, part of the National Academies. That report rejected a link

between autism and either the MMR vaccine or the mercury-based preservative

thimerosal. The report also urged that research dollars be spent on more

promising autism research.

There will always be some people who say vaccines cause autism despite

the lack of scientific evidence, Fanelle said. She noted ProQuad

subsequently was approved by the FDA and its safety profile is the same as

the individual chickenpox and MMR shots. Merck acknowledged, however, that

it did not report the two Olympia autism cases to the FDA until this March

-- six months after ProQuad's approval -- which is when it says it became

aware of them.

The FDA did not respond to requests for comment.

That is where the matter now rests. But several researchers who remain

concerned about a link between vaccines and autism -- in particular from

combined live-virus shots -- say the Olympia cases, grounded in the parents'

concerned but careful observations, may prove hard to ignore indefinitely.

It's actually heartbreaking, listening to these parents, for more than

just the immediate reasons their child has met this fate, said British

researcher Dr. Wakefield, whose controversial theories on the MMR

vaccine and autism essentially drove him out of England. He is now doing

research in the United States and met with several of the Olympia parents

during an autism conference in Portland, Ore.

It's that you're staring into an abyss, Wakefield said. You're

listening to stories which reflect the fundamental misconception of vaccine

manufacturers of what viruses are and what they do.

And what now?

The way forward is clearly to alert the regulatory authorities to the

fact that these children exist, Wakefield said, that their stories are

consistent with a delayed adverse reaction to the vaccine and that this

would not have been picked up in the (clinical) trials.

Meanwhile, in Washington state, a law takes effect July 1 requiring

proof of chickenpox immunization before a child can enroll in school or

daycare. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says ProQuad now is

the preferred way to administer chickenpox and MMR vaccines, ideally on a

child's first birthday or as soon thereafter as possible.

--------------------------------------------------------

Sheri Nakken, R.N., MA, Hahnemannian Homeopath

Vaccination Information & Choice Network, Nevada City CA & Wales UK

$$ Donations to help in the work - accepted by Paypal account

earthmysteriestours@... voicemail US 530-740-0561

(go to http://www.paypal.com) or by mail

Vaccines - http://www.nccn.net/~wwithin/vaccine.htm

Vaccine Dangers On-Line course - http://www.nccn.net/~wwithin/vaccineclass.htm

Reality of the Diseases & Treatment -

http://www.nccn.net/~wwithin/vaccineclass.htm

Homeopathy On-Line course - http://www.nccn.net/~wwithin/homeo.htm

[Guest guest]

Mandi

Can I send this on to Dr Heard?

He has a theory that chickenpox is implicated in some cases of

autism - we have discussed several times as T regressed after severe

bout of chickenpox followed within few months by by 'measles type'

virus. Dr H said he has several other Mothers who can pinpoint

regression following dose of chickenpox.

I think he would be really interested in this article.

Gail

>

> The Age of Autism: Pox -- Part 7

>

> By Dan Olmsted for UPI.

> http://feed.insnews.org/v-cgi/feeds.cgi?feedid=150 & story_id=1857078

>

> When a mother in Washington state and a researcher in Washington,

> D.C., offer an identical observation about autistic kids, you

can't help but

> notice.

> That observation is simple but potentially significant: Children

later

> diagnosed with regressive autism often got physically sick around

the time

> of their live-virus vaccinations.

> Here's how Rohrbeck, the mom in Olympia, Wash., put it

after

> collecting vaccine records and medical histories from fellow

parents of

> local preschoolers diagnosed with full-syndrome autism.

> Most of the parents recall their child had a viral illness --

roseola,

> rotavirus or an unnamed flu -- less than four months before or

after those

> live-virus shots.

> 's three-year-old son, Grant, is a case in point. A couple

of

> months before he got the live-virus chickenpox and measles-mumps-

rubella

> shots at the same office visit at age 1, Grant had a stubborn and

severe

> case of roseola, which like chickenpox is a herpesvirus.

> Four days after the MMR and chickenpox injections he became ill

with a

> fever and lay limp in his mother's arms for the first time in his

life.

> He began having chronic diarrhea, and by his 15-month checkup he

had

> regressed so drastically that his pediatrician suggested he could

be

> autistic, Rohrbeck recalled in Part 1 of this series. The doctor

agreed to

> the parents' request for an immediate neurodevelopmental

evaluation, which

> eventually confirmed their fears. By age 2 Grant was diagnosed

with

> full-syndrome autism.

> An even more immediate example is Boe, an Olympia child

profiled

> in the last installment. He got his MMR at 16 months and his

chickenpox and

> three other vaccines two months later. During that visit,

broke out in

> hives while still at the doctor's office, had a 105-degree fever

by the end

> of the day that lasted a week, and displayed classic signs of

regressive

> autism within the month.

> The second source for the same observation about vaccines,

illness and

> autism is British researcher Shattock. In an interview in

April while

> attending an autism conference in Washington, Shattock said he

suspects that

> children who contract viral infections too close to their MMR

shot may have

> an increased risk for autism.

> He noticed that parents who believed the MMR vaccine triggered

their

> child's autism tended to cite an undisclosed viral illness around

the time

> of the shot.

> Shattock decided to test that observation. Britain doesn't give

kids

> chickenpox shots, meaning they still get chickenpox, so he looked

for a

> diagnosis of that unmistakable childhood disease around the time

of the MMR

> vaccination.

> He studied the records of 100 children whose parents blame the

MMR for

> the onset of autism, compared to 100 children whose parents do

not, to see

> if there was more chickenpox in the three months on either side of

the MMR

> immunization.

> Now, there was, Shattock said. It wasn't statistically

significant at

> the 95 percent level -- but enough to make you think that if it

was a huge

> study, it might be.

> The implication: Too many viruses too close together from whatever

> sources might overload the immune system, lead to persistent

infection and,

> ultimately, cause brain damage resulting in autism. To Shattock,

> old-fashioned chickenpox interacting with measles, mumps and

rubella

> vaccines looked like a red flag.

> What resonates in Olympia is not just the pattern of illness but

the

> families' problematic histories with chickenpox and other

herpesviruses. The

> specter: Live-virus chickenpox vaccine and viral infections like

roseola

> playing the same overload role in vulnerable children as real-live

> chickenpox in Shattock's suspected British cases.

> Consider, for example, Jimmy Flinton. As outlined in Part 3, his

> father, , had an unusual case of shingles, the reactivated

form of the

> virus, at 15; his paternal grandmother, Southon, had a case

at 20 and a

> lifelong problem with cold sores -- a kind of herpesvirus -- that

eventually

> infected her eyes and may require cornea transplants.

> Jimmy is one of two Olympia children with autism who were in

clinical

> trials of investigational, apparently high-dose chickenpox

vaccines in

> conjunction with the MMR shot.

> In 2002, Jimmy was given ProQuad, a four-in-one chickenpox-MMR

vaccine

> that has about 10 times the typical dose of chickenpox virus.

That is

> necessary to overcome a phenomenon known as immune interference

when live

> viruses are combined, according to a spokesman for Merck & Co.,

which

> developed the vaccine.

> During the 42-day study window following his vaccination, Jimmy

may

> have had a slight, brief fever, his mother, , recalls.

But she said

> it was nothing notable, and she didn't record it on the adverse-

event log

> she was asked to keep.

> But less than four months later Jimmy had an acute illness with a

> fever around 102. After that, in retrospect, his development

stalled, and he

> eventually was diagnosed with full-syndrome autism.

> The other child, Baltzley, was in a clinical trial two

years

> earlier. As described in Part 4, he got a Merck process upgrade

chickenpox

> shot that his mother, , was told had a much higher amount

of

> live-virus vaccine.

> Again, chickenpox history seems potentially relevant: After two

mild

> cases as a child, had an unusually severe and late case

of

> chickenpox at 16, just three years before was born.

> In his clinical trial, got the experimental chickenpox

shot at

> the same office visit as the standard MMR. says the

pediatrician

> told her it was part of the development of the combined

chickenpox-MMR

> vaccine; Merck, to the contrary, said the two trials were

completely

> unrelated.

> Midway through the 42-day study window, had an acute

illness

> -- a fever of 102, vomiting and listlessness. Again the pattern:

Four

> live-but-weakened viruses including a big dose of chickenpox;

family

> susceptibility; physical illness, and autism.

> Both Baltzley and Flinton are emphatic that the

> pediatrician who performed the trials in Olympia, Dr. Carl

Lindgren, is not

> the source of their concern. (Lindgren referred our questions to

Merck.)

> Dr. Lindgren has been incredibly conscientious and proactive in

his

> dealings with us regarding Jimmy's autism -- much more so than

most

> pediatricians would be, said.

> So, not only do we not think he did anything wrong with the

clinical

> trial, but we actually think he went above and beyond the call of

duty after

> the trial.

> Other Olympia parents say similar things, concerned that broader

> issues of vaccine safety and a possible link to autism will get

translated

> into criticism of individual doctors.

> I worry about pediatricians being vilified, said Rohrbeck,

the

> mom who collected the vaccination records. " We vaccinated our son

because we

> shared their faith that vaccines were safe.

> If it turns out that some vaccines are not safe for all children

and

> that these hazards could have been found with more rigorous

testing -- or

> worse, that the dangers were already known -- that's the fault of

the CDC,

> the FDA and the manufacturers, she said.

> I'll defend doctors to the end on this point. They are a

convenient

> front line for those agencies to hide behind -- it's just

shameful.

> That puts the issue squarely in the lap of the drug companies and

the

> public-health authorities. They say vaccines simply don't cause

autism,

> period -- so the idea of susceptibility to a viral overload from

live-virus

> vaccines, coincident viral infections or any other source is a

non-starter.

> We don't see an association, Merck spokeswoman Fanelle

said,

> citing as confirmation a 2004 report by the widely respected

Institute of

> Medicine, part of the National Academies. That report rejected a

link

> between autism and either the MMR vaccine or the mercury-based

preservative

> thimerosal. The report also urged that research dollars be spent

on more

> promising autism research.

> There will always be some people who say vaccines cause autism

despite

> the lack of scientific evidence, Fanelle said. She noted ProQuad

> subsequently was approved by the FDA and its safety profile is

the same as

> the individual chickenpox and MMR shots. Merck acknowledged,

however, that

> it did not report the two Olympia autism cases to the FDA until

this March

> -- six months after ProQuad's approval -- which is when it says

it became

> aware of them.

> The FDA did not respond to requests for comment.

> That is where the matter now rests. But several researchers who

remain

> concerned about a link between vaccines and autism -- in

particular from

> combined live-virus shots -- say the Olympia cases, grounded in

the parents'

> concerned but careful observations, may prove hard to ignore

indefinitely.

> It's actually heartbreaking, listening to these parents, for more

than

> just the immediate reasons their child has met this fate, said

British

> researcher Dr. Wakefield, whose controversial theories on

the MMR

> vaccine and autism essentially drove him out of England. He is

now doing

> research in the United States and met with several of the Olympia

parents

> during an autism conference in Portland, Ore.

> It's that you're staring into an abyss, Wakefield said. You're

> listening to stories which reflect the fundamental misconception

of vaccine

> manufacturers of what viruses are and what they do.

> And what now?

> The way forward is clearly to alert the regulatory authorities to

the

> fact that these children exist, Wakefield said, that their

stories are

> consistent with a delayed adverse reaction to the vaccine and

that this

> would not have been picked up in the (clinical) trials.

> Meanwhile, in Washington state, a law takes effect July 1

requiring

> proof of chickenpox immunization before a child can enroll in

school or

> daycare. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says

ProQuad now is

> the preferred way to administer chickenpox and MMR vaccines,

ideally on a

> child's first birthday or as soon thereafter as possible.

>

[Guest guest]

>--Same thing with us fwiw

Anne-Marie

> Mandi

> Can I send this on to Dr Heard?

> He has a theory that chickenpox is implicated in some cases of

> autism - we have discussed several times as T regressed after

severe

> bout of chickenpox followed within few months by by 'measles type'

> virus. Dr H said he has several other Mothers who can pinpoint

> regression following dose of chickenpox.

> I think he would be really interested in this article.

> Gail

>

>

> > > notice.

> > That observation is simple but potentially significant:

Children

> later

> > diagnosed with regressive autism often got physically sick

around

> the time

> > of their live-virus vaccinations.

> > Here's how Rohrbeck, the mom in Olympia, Wash., put it

> after

> > collecting vaccine records and medical histories from fellow

> parents of

> > local preschoolers diagnosed with full-syndrome autism.

> > Most of the parents recall their child had a viral illness --

> roseola,

> > rotavirus or an unnamed flu -- less than four months before or

> after those

> > live-virus shots.

> > 's three-year-old son, Grant, is a case in point. A

couple

> of

> > months before he got the live-virus chickenpox and measles-

mumps-

> rubella

> > shots at the same office visit at age 1, Grant had a stubborn

and

> severe

> > case of roseola, which like chickenpox is a herpesvirus.

> > Four days after the MMR and chickenpox injections he became ill

> with a

> > fever and lay limp in his mother's arms for the first time in

his

> life.

> > He began having chronic diarrhea, and by his 15-month checkup

he

> had

> > regressed so drastically that his pediatrician suggested he

could

> be

> > autistic, Rohrbeck recalled in Part 1 of this series. The

doctor

> agreed to

> > the parents' request for an immediate neurodevelopmental

> evaluation, which

> > eventually confirmed their fears. By age 2 Grant was diagnosed

> with

> > full-syndrome autism.

> > An even more immediate example is Boe, an Olympia child

> profiled

> > in the last installment. He got his MMR at 16 months and his

> chickenpox and

> > three other vaccines two months later. During that visit,

> broke out in

> > hives while still at the doctor's office, had a 105-degree

fever

> by the end

> > of the day that lasted a week, and displayed classic signs of

> regressive

> > autism within the month.

> > The second source for the same observation about vaccines,

> illness and

> > autism is British researcher Shattock. In an interview in

> April while

> > attending an autism conference in Washington, Shattock said he

> suspects that

> > children who contract viral infections too close to their MMR

> shot may have

> > an increased risk for autism.

> > He noticed that parents who believed the MMR vaccine triggered

> their

> > child's autism tended to cite an undisclosed viral illness

around

> the time

> > of the shot.

> > Shattock decided to test that observation. Britain doesn't give

> kids

> > chickenpox shots, meaning they still get chickenpox, so he

looked

> for a

> > diagnosis of that unmistakable childhood disease around the

time

> of the MMR

> > vaccination.

> > He studied the records of 100 children whose parents blame the

> MMR for

> > the onset of autism, compared to 100 children whose parents do

> not, to see

> > if there was more chickenpox in the three months on either side

of

> the MMR

> > immunization.

> > Now, there was, Shattock said. It wasn't statistically

> significant at

> > the 95 percent level -- but enough to make you think that if it

> was a huge

> > study, it might be.

> > The implication: Too many viruses too close together from

whatever

> > sources might overload the immune system, lead to persistent

> infection and,

> > ultimately, cause brain damage resulting in autism. To Shattock,

> > old-fashioned chickenpox interacting with measles, mumps and

> rubella

> > vaccines looked like a red flag.

> > What resonates in Olympia is not just the pattern of illness

but

> the

> > families' problematic histories with chickenpox and other

> herpesviruses. The

> > specter: Live-virus chickenpox vaccine and viral infections

like

> roseola

> > playing the same overload role in vulnerable children as real-

live

> > chickenpox in Shattock's suspected British cases.

> > Consider, for example, Jimmy Flinton. As outlined in Part 3, his

> > father, , had an unusual case of shingles, the reactivated

> form of the

> > virus, at 15; his paternal grandmother, Southon, had a

case

> at 20 and a

> > lifelong problem with cold sores -- a kind of herpesvirus --

that

> eventually

> > infected her eyes and may require cornea transplants.

> > Jimmy is one of two Olympia children with autism who were in

> clinical

> > trials of investigational, apparently high-dose chickenpox

> vaccines in

> > conjunction with the MMR shot.

> > In 2002, Jimmy was given ProQuad, a four-in-one chickenpox-MMR

> vaccine

> > that has about 10 times the typical dose of chickenpox virus.

> That is

> > necessary to overcome a phenomenon known as immune interference

> when live

> > viruses are combined, according to a spokesman for Merck & Co.,

> which

> > developed the vaccine.

> > During the 42-day study window following his vaccination, Jimmy

> may

> > have had a slight, brief fever, his mother, , recalls.

> But she said

> > it was nothing notable, and she didn't record it on the adverse-

> event log

> > she was asked to keep.

> > But less than four months later Jimmy had an acute illness with

a

> > fever around 102. After that, in retrospect, his development

> stalled, and he

> > eventually was diagnosed with full-syndrome autism.

> > The other child, Baltzley, was in a clinical trial two

> years

> > earlier. As described in Part 4, he got a Merck process upgrade

> chickenpox

> > shot that his mother, , was told had a much higher

amount

> of

> > live-virus vaccine.

> > Again, chickenpox history seems potentially relevant: After two

> mild

> > cases as a child, had an unusually severe and late

case

> of

> > chickenpox at 16, just three years before was born.

> > In his clinical trial, got the experimental chickenpox

> shot at

> > the same office visit as the standard MMR. says the

> pediatrician

> > told her it was part of the development of the combined

> chickenpox-MMR

> > vaccine; Merck, to the contrary, said the two trials were

> completely

> > unrelated.

> > Midway through the 42-day study window, had an acute

> illness

> > -- a fever of 102, vomiting and listlessness. Again the

pattern:

> Four

> > live-but-weakened viruses including a big dose of chickenpox;

> family

> > susceptibility; physical illness, and autism.

> > Both Baltzley and Flinton are emphatic that

the

> > pediatrician who performed the trials in Olympia, Dr. Carl

> Lindgren, is not

> > the source of their concern. (Lindgren referred our questions

to

> Merck.)

> > Dr. Lindgren has been incredibly conscientious and proactive in

> his

> > dealings with us regarding Jimmy's autism -- much more so than

> most

> > pediatricians would be, said.

> > So, not only do we not think he did anything wrong with the

> clinical

> > trial, but we actually think he went above and beyond the call

of

> duty after

> > the trial.

> > Other Olympia parents say similar things, concerned that broader

> > issues of vaccine safety and a possible link to autism will get

> translated

> > into criticism of individual doctors.

> > I worry about pediatricians being vilified, said

Rohrbeck,

> the

> > mom who collected the vaccination records. " We vaccinated our

son

> because we

> > shared their faith that vaccines were safe.

> > If it turns out that some vaccines are not safe for all

children

> and

> > that these hazards could have been found with more rigorous

> testing -- or

> > worse, that the dangers were already known -- that's the fault

of

> the CDC,

> > the FDA and the manufacturers, she said.

> > I'll defend doctors to the end on this point. They are a

> convenient

> > front line for those agencies to hide behind -- it's just

> shameful.

> > That puts the issue squarely in the lap of the drug companies

and

> the

> > public-health authorities. They say vaccines simply don't cause

> autism,

> > period -- so the idea of susceptibility to a viral overload

from

> live-virus

> > vaccines, coincident viral infections or any other source is a

> non-starter.

> > We don't see an association, Merck spokeswoman

Fanelle

> said,

> > citing as confirmation a 2004 report by the widely respected

> Institute of

> > Medicine, part of the National Academies. That report rejected

a

> link

> > between autism and either the MMR vaccine or the mercury-based

> preservative

> > thimerosal. The report also urged that research dollars be

spent

> on more

> > promising autism research.

> > There will always be some people who say vaccines cause autism

> despite

> > the lack of scientific evidence, Fanelle said. She noted ProQuad

> > subsequently was approved by the FDA and its safety profile is

> the same as

> > the individual chickenpox and MMR shots. Merck acknowledged,

> however, that

> > it did not report the two Olympia autism cases to the FDA until

> this March

> > -- six months after ProQuad's approval -- which is when it says

> it became

> > aware of them.

> > The FDA did not respond to requests for comment.

> > That is where the matter now rests. But several researchers who

> remain

> > concerned about a link between vaccines and autism -- in

> particular from

> > combined live-virus shots -- say the Olympia cases, grounded in

> the parents'

> > concerned but careful observations, may prove hard to ignore

> indefinitely.

> > It's actually heartbreaking, listening to these parents, for

more

> than

> > just the immediate reasons their child has met this fate, said

> British

> > researcher Dr. Wakefield, whose controversial theories

on

> the MMR

> > vaccine and autism essentially drove him out of England. He is

> now doing

> > research in the United States and met with several of the

Olympia

> parents

> > during an autism conference in Portland, Ore.

> > It's that you're staring into an abyss, Wakefield said. You're

> > listening to stories which reflect the fundamental

misconception

> of vaccine

> > manufacturers of what viruses are and what they do.

> > And what now?

> > The way forward is clearly to alert the regulatory authorities

to

> the

> > fact that these children exist, Wakefield said, that their

> stories are

> > consistent with a delayed adverse reaction to the vaccine and

> that this

> > would not have been picked up in the (clinical) trials.

> > Meanwhile, in Washington state, a law takes effect July 1

> requiring

> > proof of chickenpox immunization before a child can enroll in

> school or

> > daycare. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says

> ProQuad now is

> > the preferred way to administer chickenpox and MMR vaccines,

> ideally on a

> > child's first birthday or as soon thereafter as possible.

> >

>

[Guest guest]

Luke had chicken pox last year and had a terrible regression which lasted 3 months.

Nicola

Re: Re: The Age of Autism: Pox -- Part 7

Sam had severe chicken pox at 5 months, on top of 3 DPT's etc

Thank god he never had the MMR

Mandi x

[Guest guest]

Luke had chicken pox last year and had a terrible regression which lasted 3 months.

Nicola

Re: Re: The Age of Autism: Pox -- Part 7

Sam had severe chicken pox at 5 months, on top of 3 DPT's etc

Thank god he never had the MMR

Mandi x

[Guest guest]

Mandi,

My son also had chickenpox following 3 DTPs, and thankfully never had MMR.

Ann

Re: Re: The Age of Autism: Pox -- Part 7

Sam had severe chicken pox at 5 months, on top of 3 DPT's etc

Thank god he never had the MMR

Mandi x

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 25/05/2006 15:42:36 GMT Daylight Time, ann.hansen@... writes:

My son also had chickenpox following 3 DTPs, and thankfully never had MMR.

>>>Well in the space of 20 minutes on Sauturday Andy Wakefield blew the ''thank god my kid didn;t have the MMR' (my mantra) totally outta the water - watch for my A1 posts, still picking our jaws up off the floor, feels like I left mine in Chicago anyways right now LOL

Mandi x

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 25/05/2006 15:42:36 GMT Daylight Time, ann.hansen@... writes:

My son also had chickenpox following 3 DTPs, and thankfully never had MMR.

>>>Well in the space of 20 minutes on Sauturday Andy Wakefield blew the ''thank god my kid didn;t have the MMR' (my mantra) totally outta the water - watch for my A1 posts, still picking our jaws up off the floor, feels like I left mine in Chicago anyways right now LOL

Mandi x

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 25/05/2006 15:42:36 GMT Daylight Time, ann.hansen@... writes:

My son also had chickenpox following 3 DTPs, and thankfully never had MMR.

>>>Well in the space of 20 minutes on Sauturday Andy Wakefield blew the ''thank god my kid didn;t have the MMR' (my mantra) totally outta the water - watch for my A1 posts, still picking our jaws up off the floor, feels like I left mine in Chicago anyways right now LOL

Mandi x

[Guest guest]

I'm very interested in this....... Can't wait to hear more.......

On 29 May 2006, at 12:22, Mum231ASD@... wrote:

> In a message dated 25/05/2006 15:42:36 GMT Daylight Time,

> ann.hansen@... writes:

>>

>> My son also had chickenpox following 3 DTPs, and

>> thankfully never had MMR.>>>Well in the space of 20 minutes on

>> Sauturday Andy Wakefield blew the ''thank god my kid didn;t have the

>> MMR' (my mantra) totally outta the water - watch for my A1 posts,

>> still picking our jaws up off the floor, feels like I left mine in

>> Chicago anyways right now LOL

>  

> Mandi x

>

>

> DISCLAIMER

> No information contained in this post is to be construed as medical

> advice. If you need medical advice, please seek it from a suitably

> qualified practitioner.

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

I'm very interested in this....... Can't wait to hear more.......

On 29 May 2006, at 12:22, Mum231ASD@... wrote:

> In a message dated 25/05/2006 15:42:36 GMT Daylight Time,

> ann.hansen@... writes:

>>

>> My son also had chickenpox following 3 DTPs, and

>> thankfully never had MMR.>>>Well in the space of 20 minutes on

>> Sauturday Andy Wakefield blew the ''thank god my kid didn;t have the

>> MMR' (my mantra) totally outta the water - watch for my A1 posts,

>> still picking our jaws up off the floor, feels like I left mine in

>> Chicago anyways right now LOL

>  

> Mandi x

>

>

> DISCLAIMER

> No information contained in this post is to be construed as medical

> advice. If you need medical advice, please seek it from a suitably

> qualified practitioner.

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

I'm very interested in this....... Can't wait to hear more.......

On 29 May 2006, at 12:22, Mum231ASD@... wrote:

> In a message dated 25/05/2006 15:42:36 GMT Daylight Time,

> ann.hansen@... writes:

>>

>> My son also had chickenpox following 3 DTPs, and

>> thankfully never had MMR.>>>Well in the space of 20 minutes on

>> Sauturday Andy Wakefield blew the ''thank god my kid didn;t have the

>> MMR' (my mantra) totally outta the water - watch for my A1 posts,

>> still picking our jaws up off the floor, feels like I left mine in

>> Chicago anyways right now LOL

>  

> Mandi x

>

>

> DISCLAIMER

> No information contained in this post is to be construed as medical

> advice. If you need medical advice, please seek it from a suitably

> qualified practitioner.

>

>

>

>

>