MMR-row doctor hits back at experts/Manchester Evening News

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MMR-row doctor hits back at experts

> http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/health/s/216/216832_mmrrow_docto

> r_hits_back_at_experts.html

>

> MMR-row doctor hits back at experts

>

> THE doctor who first sparked the MMR controversy hit back today at a call

> to

> draw a line under any supposed link between the vaccine and autism.

>

> Thirty leading experts, including Elliman, of Great Ormond Street

> Children's Hospital in London, published an open letter yesterday saying

> that parents had been " confused and dangerously misled " over the risks

> associated with the triple jab.

>

> But Dr Wakefield, who is now director of a research centre in

> Texas,

> said the call was irresponsible.

>

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>

> The doctor published a paper linking the measles, mumps and rubella jab

> with

> autism in children in the medical journal The Lancet in 1998 but resigned

> from his post at London's Royal Free and University College Medical School

> amid controversy in 2001.

>

> Recent weeks have seen a flurry of media reports reigniting concerns about

> the safety of MMR.

>

> One report concerned a US study that found measles virus in the guts of

> children with autism (Telegraph article).

>

> A statement from the principle researcher that the research did not prove

> a

> link with the MMR vaccine was largely ignored.

>

> 'Perplexing'

>

> In a joint letter with psychologist Dr Carol Stott, Dr Wakefield said: " It

> is perplexing to us why, in the face of replication by US scientists of

> the

> earlier detection of measles virus in the diseased intestine of UK

> children

> with regressive autism, Elliman and colleagues should want to 'draw a

> line'

> under this clearly unresolved issue.

>

> " This flies directly in the face of scientific logic and professional

> responsibility. "

>

> Referring to the recent research, the letter added: " The vaccine-strain

> gene

> sequences obtained from the diseased intestine of some of these US

> children

> is deeply worrying and runs counter to the prevailing belief that the

> vaccine virus should be cleared from the body in a matter of weeks.

>

> " Further research will determine whether or not this association is

> causal. "

>

> Defending the original research, Dr Wakefield continued: " Every aspect of

> the original 1998 report of the first 12 children with this disorder has

> been endorsed by independent research. "

>

> LEARN more about the MMR jab, from NHS Direct.

>

>

>