Studies fail to disprove autism link to MMR jab
By Lorraine Fraser, Medical Correspondent
(Filed: 09/12/2001)

A REPORT commissioned by the Government has concluded that the possibility of MMR vaccination causing autism in susceptible children cannot be ruled out on the current evidence.

The review, from the Medical Research Council, will say the theory that the triple measles, mumps and rubella jab is to blame in some autistic children has not been proved scientifically.

However, it will add that epidemiological studies so far of MMR have been too imprecise to rule out the prospect of the vaccination being involved in a small number of cases.

The findings, to be made public next week, will create difficulties for Alan Milburn, the Health Secretary, who asked the MRC last March to look at all available evidence on the causes of autism and identify any gaps in present knowledge.

His officials at the Department of Health have heavily publicised studies that failed to link MMR and autism in their attempts to convince parents there is no risk.

The MRC's report comes after The Telegraph revealed how the doctor who first voiced fears about the safety of MMR, Dr Andrew Wakefield, has been forced out of his job at the Royal Free and University College Medical School in London.

Dr Wakefield claims to have identified nearly 200 children with a new combination of bowel disease and autism and has pledged to continue his efforts to find out whether their double illness has been triggered by the childhood injection. He disclosed last weekend that his university employers had asked him to leave because his research was unwelcome.

The Department of Health insists parents have no need for concern over the safety of MMR (recommended for babies and four-year-olds) and officials have accused Dr Wakefield of needlessly damaging parents' confidence in the vaccination, leaving children at risk of the illnesses.

However, the report of the MRC Review Group, headed by Eve Johnstone, professor of psychiatry at the University of Edinburgh, will raise new questions as to why the doctor has been ostracised by the medical establishment.

While it offers no support for Dr Wakefield's theory that measles virus from the MMR vaccine may colonise the gut of susceptible children and cause bowel effects which result in a chemical imbalance, leading to autism, The Telegraph understands the report will nevertheless make clear that more research is needed before the hypothesis can be either confirmed or refuted.

The document, which has been sent to the Department of Health prior to publication, is expected to argue that the cause of autism may differ between individuals, and future research must try to take account of factors such as genetics, environmental exposures before and after birth, infections, and the development of the child's immune system.

In particular, it will take issue with a Finnish study of three million children which has been widely reported as proof that MMR does not cause bowel disease or autism.

The MRC conclusions agree with a report from the Institute of Medicine in the US, which backed the use of MMR but also said research so far could not exclude the possibility that MMR may be damaging some youngsters.

Dr Timothy Buie, a specialist at Harvard General Hospital, has also announced that he found inflammation of the bowel identical to that described by Dr Wakefield in 15 of 89 autistic children seen at his Massachusetts clinic.

He said: "These children are ill, in distress and pain, and not just mentally, neurologically, dysfunctional."

Dr Wakefield's departure from the Royal Free Hospital has devastated parents of children involved in his studies, who are demanding assurances that their youngsters will continue to be looked after by the north London hospital.

Dr Wakefield agreed to stand down after a two-year struggle to stay in his post, hoping that this would relieve the "political pressure" on clinical colleagues responsible for day-to-day care of the sick children.

Paediatric gastroenterologists at the Hampstead hospital have developed considerable expertise in relieving the children's bowel pain and related symptoms, but some sick children are having to wait up to 18 months to be seen.

Last week angry families established a lobby group, Autism Research Campaign for Health (ARCH), to push for greater recognition of their children's problems.