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MMR Vaccination Linked to Bleeding Disease
Reuters
Feb 22 2001 10:00AM
LONDON (Reuters) - The triple measles, mumps and rubella vaccine (MMR) can
cause a rash-like bleeding disease in young children but doctors say it is
not dangerous and should not deter parents from having their children
vaccinated.
The illness, idiopathic
thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), is an auto-immune disease in which the
platelets, or cells that make blood sticky, are destroyed, causing bleeding
under the skin. It occurs in about one in 10,000 people.
Doctors are keen to
dispel recent allegations of a link between the triple jab and development
of autism as well as to counter accusations that they have not been honest
about the risks of the vaccination.
Dr. Brent Taylor said
the ITP research shows that scientists are open and frank about the effects
of MMR and have nothing to hide.
"We're looking
carefully for adverse effects and we're very keen to report them to avoid
nonsense about a conspiracy of silence," he added.
The link between the MMR
vaccine and ITP has been known for more than a decade. Research conducted
at Britain's Public Health Laboratory Service (PHLS) and Royal Free
Hospital in London shows that about one in every 22,300 MMR vaccinations
could result in a child being admitted to hospital for ITP.
"The reason for
doing the study was because we could look at much bigger numbers and be
confident in terms of the risk," Taylor said in a telephone interview.
The majority of cases of
ITP in children will have nothing to do with the vaccination, according to
Dr. Elizabeth Miller, of the PHLS, who led the research team. Even in cases
linked to MMR the disease is rarely dangerous and is usually easily
treated, she said.
LESS SERIOUS THAN GERMAN
MEASLES
The scientists, whose
research is published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood, said parents
should vaccinate their children because ITP is much less serious than
German measles.
"We urge parents to
protect their children against measles, mumps and rubella with the MMR
vaccine," said Miller.
"The risks
associated with ITP are small when compared to those of the disease which
this vaccine is designed to prevent."
The link between the
triple jab, which is given to children when they are 18 months to two years
old, and ITP follows earlier fears that the MMR vaccination could cause
autism and bowel disease. Concerns about the autism link have led to a drop
in the number of children being vaccinated and fears about a resurgence of
German measles.
The researchers
established the link with ITP by analyzing hospital admissions for the
disease between October 1991 and September 1994. The data included records
of children who developed the illness within six weeks of an MMR
vaccination.
ITP is usually caused by
a viral infection and is most common in children under three years old.
RTR/SCIENCE-HEALTH-MMR-DC/
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