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Study Dispels Link Between Autism and Measles Vaccine
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Page: << Prev | 1 | 2 The researchers used techniques similar to those used by the British scientists a decade ago. But advances in technology since then make molecular analysis more sensitive now, the study authors said.
The researchers analyzed the bowel tissue to look for the presence of measles virus RNA. One theory held that the measles RNA could grow in the intestinal tract and cause inflammation that would make the bowel more permeable. Once the bowel was more permeable, the virus could enter the circulation system and then travel to the central nervous system, where it might play a role in the development of autism, some theorized.
However, only one child out of the 25 children with autism and one in the control group of 13 children in the new study showed slight levels of measles RNA. According to one of the study's authors, Dr. Mady Hornig, director of translational research at the Mailman School of Public Health Center for Infection and Immunity, the levels of measles RNA was just above the threshold levels.
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The new findings were published online Thursday in the Public Library of Science journal.
"This was a rigorous analysis. We did this in a blinded fashion, and we are persuaded that there is no link," Lipkin said.
He added that these findings don't mean that the occasional child won't have an "idiosyncratic response" to the vaccine. "Nothing is without risk," he said.
Rollens, however, remains steadfast in his belief that immunization played some role in his son's autism. "I'm totally convinced the vaccines caused the autism of my son, and we need to have more biological studies on this vaccine and others," he said.
More information
To learn more about research on vaccines and autism, visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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Copyright © 2008 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.
Last updated 9/4/2008
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SOURCES: W. Ian Lipkin, M.D., John Snow professor of epidemiology, professor, neurology and pathology, and director, Mailman School of Public Health Center for Infection and Immunity, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York City; Mady Hornig, M.D., associate professor, epidemiology, and director, translational research, Mailman School of Public Health Center for Infection and Immunity, New York City; Rick Rollens, parent advocate, co-founder, University of California, Davis M.I.N.D. Institute; Sept. 4, 2008, Public Library of Science
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