2 Items of interest from FEAT News

[Guest guest]

Autism Advocate and Quarterback Doug Flutie Moves to San Diego

From the Buffalo Bills in New York, Doug Flutie is hanging up his snow

shoes for beach sandles in the sub-tropical San Diego by joining the

Chargers. Flutie is active in autism advocacy through various events he

helps promote and through his Flutie Foundation.

His move puts him in the neighborhood of other noted Southern

California autism advocacy organizations: Cure Autism Now is in neighboring

Los Angeles and the Autism Research Institute is headquartered in San Diego

MMR Vaccine Suit to Go Ahead in the US

[by Mindy Hung in Medscape.]

Despite results of two new studies concluding that the

measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine is not associated with a rise in the

diagnosis of autism, parents' groups in the United States continue in their

push to launch a class-action suit against the vaccine's manufacturers.

The studies, published in the February 24 issue of the British Medical

Journal and the March 7 issue of The Journal of the American Medical

Association, are only the latest chapters in a dispute between the medical

community, which stands behind the inoculation, and a small but vocal group

of parents and researchers who contend that the vaccine, when administered

at too young an age, triggers an autoimmune reaction that leads to

development of autism. Immunizations usually begin at 15 months, and

diagnosis of autism often occurs soon after at 2-5 years.

Legal action against such industry giants as Pasteur-Merieux,

Kline Beecham, and Merck is already taking place in the United Kingdom.

Kaye, MD, MPH, lead investigator for the BMJ paper, told

Medscape that the research was conducted with the intention of addressing

the debate. " We were aware of the controversy...and we had available an

excellent data source (the General Practice Research Database [GPRD]) which

could be used to study the question. "

Kaye and colleagues' analysis of the GPRD, a database that currently

holds records on 3 million patients from general practices throughout the

United Kingdom, revealed that the number of children receiving the triple

inoculation held high and steady, with coverage at over 95% in successive

birth cohorts. Rates of autism diagnosis, however, increased nearly 4-fold

over time among 2- to 5-year-old boys born in 1988-1993.

The investigators write, " If the MMR vaccine were a major cause of the

increasing incidence of autism, then the risk of autism in successive birth

cohorts would be expected to stop rising within a few years of the vaccine

being in full use. "

Since the numbers of children found to have autism continued to

increase regardless of how many received immunizations, Kaye and colleagues

conclude that there is little evidence to indicate an association between

vaccine and diagnosis. They speculate that the marked growth in reported

incidence may come as a result of changes in diagnostic criteria, increased

awareness of the condition among parents and general practitioners, or

environmental factors not yet identified.

The JAMA study, conducted by Loring Dales, MD, of the immunization

branch of the California Department of Health Services in Berkeley, posted

similar results in children surveyed from 1980 through 1994.

The investigations also attempted to answer criticisms raised by

Wakefield, FRCS, a researcher at Royal Free Hospital, University

College London, whose studies, published in The Lancet in 1998, were the

first to link the disorder with the timing of the vaccine. In a later

editorial comment in The Lancet, Wakefield questioned the results of a

smaller-scale time-trend analysis by and colleagues, published in The

Lancet in 1999, contending that the sample was too modest.

Wakefield has continued to be vocal on the subject, writing a highly

publicized editorial in the December issue of the Journal of Adverse Drug

and Toxicological Reviews that alleged that early studies of MMR vaccine

indicated safety problems and that the licensure was premature.

The United Kingdom, where the controversy has played out more

prominently thanks, in part, to the lawsuit, has seen MMR immunizations drop

to 88% overall, and down to 75% in some areas. The results of the latest BMJ

and JAMA studies serve as vindication for government organizations, such as

the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Britain's National

Health Service, which have long held that the vaccine is safe.

Government health officials, however, are still reminding the public

that the success of vaccinations depends on higher coverage -- about 95% of

the population needs to be inoculated in order to forestall spread of the

diseases. The officials caution that preventing children from receiving

inoculation constitutes a dangerous and needless threat to public health.

The last measles outbreak in the United Kingdom, in 1980, killed 17 people.

Despite these warnings, it is likely that controversy will continue to

surround the MMR vaccine. An article in the March issue of Archives of

Disease in Childhood cites a connection between the triple inoculation and

idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura. Moreover, plans to launch a

class-action suit in the United States against vaccine manufacturers are

still under way, according to Ray Gallup, whose son is autistic, a

condition which Gallup attributes to a reaction to the MMR vaccine. Gallup

has collected the names of more than 400 US parents who can relate similar

experiences.

Gallup, who is also president and founder of the New Jersey-based

Autism Autoimmunity Project, which funds research on the subject, noted that

he would like to see immune tests performed on children before they receive

vaccinations.

Immunization against measles, mumps, and rubella can also be

administered individually at annual intervals; however, because no studies

exist on the efficacy or timing of monovalent vaccines compared with the

triple inoculation, it should not be considered a safer alternative to the

MMR vaccine.

BMJ 2001;322(7284):460-463

Tina M. Hendrix

Cure2000@...

President, Coalition, Northern California

Neuro-Immune Dysfunction Syndromes

Autism Spectrum Disorder, ADD/ADHD, Learning Disorders, Hyperactivity, CFS,

etc.