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02 - 02 - 02
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Wakefield on BBC News, Stands bys MMR Claimes
·
Measles Outbreak Fears Grow
·
Development And Mental Illness
·
Letter to the NY Times
Wakefield on BBC News, Stands bys MMR Claimes
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/audiovideo/programmes/panorama/newsid_17950
00/1795534.stm <-- address ends here
Wakefield stands by MMR claims Controversial doctor Andrew
Wakefield is unrepentant about his conviction that the MMR vaccine may cause
autism in some children.
Panorama investigates Dr Wakefield’s claims in the face of
criticism that it is “bad science”.
Dr Wakefield first went public about his research in 1998.
Parents’ confidence in MMR was severely dented and uptake of the vaccine began
to fall.
“My concerns are that one more case of this is too many
and that we put children at no more risk if we dissociate those vaccines into
three but we may be averting the possibility of this problem,” he said.
From the moment he first voiced concerns over MMR, Andrew
Wakefield has faced intense criticism from the Department of Health and the
medical establishment. Reports from two expert committees have insisted the MMR
vaccine is safe.
The pressure on Dr Wakefield to produce the evidence
has been intense.
But it seems to have made him even more determined to carry
on.
“When you’re taking on something like the establishment on
the issue of the safety of a vaccine that has been hailed as being extremely
safe, then you are inevitably going to come up against this kind of issue,” he said.
Safety tests In January 2000 Dr Wakefield published a new
paper that questioned whether the MMR vaccine had ever been properly tested for
safety.
He claimed the tests were too short to pick up long-term
problems like autism. This highly controversial paper created another media
storm and more confusion about MMR.
Before the study had even been published, the Department
of Health went on the offensive. They launched a concerted attack on Wakefield’s
credibility.
Dr Elizabeth Miller spoke at a government press conference
in January 2001.
“There are no grounds for suspecting that MMR vaccine
causes autism,” she said.
Family decision Dr Wakefield’s concerns about MMR have had
a direct impact on his family. He and his wife, also a doctor, had to decide
whether their own children should be given the triple jab.
Dr Wakefield’s wife, Carmel, told Panorama that their
first two children were given the vaccine.
“But then as Andy’s work was unfolding and the potential
link to MMR and problems began to unfold, then we had to reappraise our policy
on vaccinating our own children, so our second two children have not had MMR vaccination,”
she said.
In March 2001, Dr Wakefield went to Washington to give
evidence before a Congressional committee investigating the potential link
between MMR and autism.
Dr Elizabeth Miller Dr Miller, the British government’s representative,
was in the audience to listen to Wakefield’s new evidence. She came to present her own new evidence to
refute his claims.
“There is no evidence that the onset of autistic symptoms
is more likely shortly after MMR vaccine than at any other time,” she said.
“Indeed new evidence which is shortly to appear from my
colleagues and myself in a vaccine journal is that there is no evidence that
MMR vaccine increases the likelihood of autism at any time after vaccination.”
Having spoken so publicly about his concerns about MMR there is growing
pressure on Andrew Wakefield to produce some proof. Panorama reporter Sarah
Barclay separates fact from fiction in the war on words in this important part
of public health policy.
Watch ‘MMR: Every Parents Choice’ at 2215GMT [2:15pm pst]
on Sunday on BBC One or via a live stream on this site.
* * *
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid_1795000/1795625.stm
<- - address ends here.
Fears of a measles outbreak in south London are growing
after series of cases, including one which left a toddler dangerously ill.
Measles has been confirmed in three children, and health
officials expect up to 22 others will also test positive for the infection.
The cluster of cases reinforces the danger of measles,
which in the most extreme cases - one in 8,000 - can prove fatal.
Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham has a very low uptake figure
for the controversial Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccine.
Toddler Clara Forbes had to be rushed to intensive care
after developing the virus.
She is now recovering, although her mother Hazel said that
her condition had been “touch and go” with initial fears that the virus could move
to her brain.
Clara, who is 16 months old, should have had her MMR, but
her mother had delayed the immunisation.
Mrs Forbes said: “She got measles pneumonia and it almost
went into her brain and it was really touch and go.” “My two elder children of
three and five had both been vaccinated and she hadn’t been vaccinated but she will
be the moment she is better.
“I had put it off in December because she had had a cold
and I said I’ll do it in January or when she is better.”
The health authority is taking this opportunity to
remind parents of
the need to protect their children from these potentially
dangerous
childhood diseases
Lambeth Southwark & Lewisham HA A spokeswoman for White
House School in Clapham, which takes children aged two to nine, confirmed to
BBC News Online there had been one case of measles at the school.
She added: “We have been giving the parents information
which is coming from the health authority.” Public health experts said a
cluster of three cases in an area with low MMR uptake was to be expected.
However, there will be concern if the number of confirmed cases rise.
On average, there are fewer than 100 cases of measles
nationally each year.
Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham Health Authority say the
22 children who are being investigated have symptoms which could be early signs
of measles, but which could also be signs of other conditions.
Some in this group are also believed not to have the
MMR jab.
children to test for measles. Results are due early next
week.
Low uptake Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham Health
Authority said the latest uptake figure for MMR in the three months up to
September 2001 in the area is 65%.
The latest figures from the Public Health Laboratory
Service for the year from April 2000 to March 2001 show 73% of children in that
area had been vaccinated before their second birthday.
The figure for 1990 to 2000 was 76%.
In contrast, the latest national figures, released on
Friday, showed
an average uptake of 90.9%.
MMR can protect 90% of all children who have had the first vaccination,
a second dose raises the level of protection from measles to 99%.
Alert GPs and A&E doctors in Lambeth, Southwark and
Lewisham have been alerted to the local situation and parents in affected
schools have also received letters from the health authority.
It recently emerged that doctors in north Cheshire were
concerned because uptake of the MMR vaccine there had fallen to 77%.
This is well below the national average - and about the
same level as in Dublin last year when there was a serious measles outbreak.
There have been fears over a link between the MMR vaccine
and autism which have deterred some parents from having their children
vaccinated.
Lambeth Southwark and Lewisham Health Authority said
in a statement:
“The health authority is taking this opportunity to remind
parents of the need to protect their children from these potentially dangerous
childhood diseases and is strongly recommending that all children should have
their MMR vaccine which is safe and effective.” The prime minister’s official spokesman
earlier reinforced Mr Blair’s support for the vaccine.
Dr Liam Fox MP, Shadow Health Secretary, said: “The
government’s immunisation policy is a public health disaster.
“Labour health ministers have simply failed to grasp the
importance of establishing public confidence in the MMR vaccine.” Liberal
Democrat health spokesman Evan Harris said: “All the evidence is that MMR is
safe and effective, while history tells us that measles in unvaccinated populations
can be serious and sometimes disabling or even fatal.”
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* * *
Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 2002, 12:1:115-118 [Not
available on PubMed.]
Direct viral infection of the developing brain can have
disastrous consequences for the fetus. More subtle and perhaps more insidious
are viral infections of the pregnant mother, which can have long-lasting
effects such as an increased risk of schizophrenia in the offspring.
A recent mouse model has shown that respiratory infection
in the pregnant mother leads to marked behavioral and pharmacological
abnormalities in the offspring, some of which are relevant for schizophrenia
and autism. This effect on fetal brain
development might be caused by the maternal antiviral immune response, possibly
mediated by cytokines.
* * *
January 22, 2002
An Artist’s Success at 14, Despite Autism (January 16,
2002)
To the Editor:
It was delightful to read an article about the “lighter”
side of autism, a very debilitating disorder that is on the rise around the
country (“Success at 14, Despite Autism,” Arts pages, Jan. 16).
It is known that autistic children have difficulty with
object permanence, and therefore it has been deemed that autistics do not “see faces.”
Clearly Jonathan Lerman, the artist profiled in the article, sees faces.
It is also important to note that while his I.Q. was
measured at 53, the low number can likely be in part attributed to his
inability to be tested. A common mistake in regard to autistic children is to
consider them mentally retarded when they are actually speech, motor and
developmentally disabled.
Let us not relegate autistic children to the ranks of the
mentally retarded. Yeah for Jonathan! I hope to buy one of his drawings for my office.
Joan Fallon
[The writer is a pediatric chiropractor who works with
autistic children.
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