Measles Cases, and Fear of Autism, on the Rise
August 22, 2008 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
Measles cases are at their highest level in a decade, and is looming dread of autism at least partially responsible for this?
There is a myth about vaccines and autism out there; the myth arose after a certain British doctor published a certain study linking the MMR vaccine to autism. A number of the authors of this study have since signed a formal retraction about the results of the study and the doctor is now accused of alleged ethical violations regarding his research and faces being struck off the registry to practice medicine in the UK. It was also found that the doctor (yes, it’s Andrew Wakefield) had been paid £400,000 by lawyers trying to prove that the vaccine was unsafe.
Vaccines don’t cause autism and are not behind the rise in autism cases. Study after study disputes a link, including this 2007 study about how thimerosal exposure declines, autism rates increase.
Nonetheless, anti-vaccination/”pro-vaccine-safety” advocates always manage to find something wrong in these studies and no surprise: While there really is no controversy about autism and vaccines (because there is no link), it’s no surprise to encounter suspicion about vaccines. Vaccines have been under suspicion since Dr. Edward Jenner pioneered the use of the smallpox vaccine in the late 1700’s – early 1800s. And, as University of Michigan professors Alexandra Minna Stern and Howard Markel note in Health Affairs:
Especially in the 1830s, after an initial generation had been vaccinated and the incidence of smallpox had declined markedly in the United States and Europe, a vociferous antivaccination movement emerged. Sometimes antivaccinationists were protesting what they considered the intrusion of their privacy and bodily integrity. Many working-class Britons, for example, viewed compulsory vaccination laws, passed in 1821, as a direct government assault on their communities by the ruling class. In addition, by the mid- eighteenth century the rise of irregular medicine and unabashed quackery encouraged antivaccinationism. For instance, irregulars generally viewed vaccination as a destructive and potentially defiling procedure of heroic medicine, akin to blood-letting. In addition, antivivisectionists, who abhorred animal experimentation, sometimes joined forces with antivaccinationists.[my emphasis]
One can find today’s antivaccinationists using identical arguments about the “intrusion of their privacy” and of their “rights” to not vaccinate a child, for religious, or philosophical, or other reasons. The CDC has become the stand-in for government intrusion on the rights of private citizens who depict themselves as not only having had their private rights trampled upon, but who believe that their children have been “injured” and “damaged” by vaccines and have therefore “become autistic.”
And it’s also no surprise that, sadly, measles cases are up while vaccinations are down, the handiwork (if you will) of the likes of (as Orac blogs) Jenny McCarthy and the aforementioned Andrew Wakefield. It does seems that fear of autism has led to a rise in measles. As a commenter on Orac’s Respectful Insolence notes, some parents think that diseases like measles are “safer” because they’re “‘more natural’” than the vaccines”; it’s also thought that “getting the diseases is better because their children’s immunity will be stronger from it.”
With this last belief—-better measles than vaccination because vaccines could cause autism—-I somehow feel that we’re coming almost full circle in the whole vaccine-autism morass, to the point that people would say they’d choose measles (which is potentially deadly, highly infectious virus) over vaccines and certainly autism. In fact, Generation Rescue founder J.B. Handley, says in today’s New York Times:
“Most parents I know will take measles over autism.”
This summer at the beach house, my son Charlie has discovered YouTube and also its endless store of Barney videos and I’ve been hearing “just use your imagination!” again and again—and I rather think that Handley is imagining quite a bit when it comes to measles, vaccines and autism.
““Most parents I know will take measles over autism.””
For a Stanford graduate, he says some of the most stupid things, no?
Measles can kill or at least do serious damage, and autism has never killed anybody. I wonder if Stanford ever wished they hadn’t admitted him on ground of the embarrassment he’s causing them: I’m not sure I’d want to work with a Stanford graduate if he represents the quality of their teaching.
Dh’s cousin’s wife (they live here on the farm) got sent home earlier this week – we live in RURAL Ontario… not a major center – b/c a child came in with the Mumps at their daycare. She’s in her first trimester with their second child.
They child in the daycare has been sent home until healthy and she’s gone back to work.
This will be the new norm.
S. – who in Oct is paying for the little one to have his Menigitus shot – eldest has his already.
All they had to do in Britain and here was to offier separate shots – seperate out the M, the M, and the R – and there most likely would not have been such a refusal to get vaccinated for measles. Seems pretty simple to me.
Didn’t they read the classic kids books, like “Little House on the Prairie” where the older sister was blinded by measles? Every Victorian book I read had someone in the sick chamber, often from diseases we’ve forgotten about.
I walked the gravesite of my grandfathers old farm recently. Three uncles died before age 2. This was common. Those who forgot history will make us relive this in the next few years.
I\’m sure JB\’s kid had the MMR, hence the autism. Ditto for Jenny\’s kid. They did their part. Took a hit for the herd, so to speak. Then like any consumer that was hurt by a product on the market, they reported the issue. They did nothing wrong.
PS David, when you don\’t have an argument, you do what you do – make it personal and bash the person.
Thanks for the hit, Toxic!
I believe Handley is correct in saying most parent’s would take measles over autism. It is based on their experiece. Measles is very contagious. They got it, everyone they knew got it, everyone they knew survived. Personally I had
measles and rubella simultaneously, and mumps about a week later, and while I have problems, I can guarantee that I’m not dead.
Measles is not seen as the killer it can be.
Their calculations especially in the light of herd immunity would make sense except: vaccines do not cause autism, so they are putting their child at risk for nothing, and what parent purposely puts their child’s life on the line, no matter the odds.
I am not an Autism booster. It has done my daughter absolutely no good what so ever. My daughter’s autism is severe. Dealing with her autism is difficult, but not nearly as difficult as being without her would be.
“Dealing with her autism is difficult, but not nearly as difficult as being without her would be.”
@mayfly, your last phrase says something I think we all can say.
Who is to say that autism does not kill anyone because I don” think that they naver have proved what Sids chldern die from be cause I don”t they were old enougt to be diagnosed for autism. It would fall under infant moratily, so who is to say that it was not part of some thing left over from haveing autism. So can say that autism don”t kill.
Emily takes a close look at an article in which a mother in effect says, bring on the measles, bring on the chicken pox here.
Argh. I just typed an enormous post and lost the whole thing on Submit. To sum up:
These diseases kill. If you’ve never watched someone die from one of them or learned the specifics of what such a death is like, I’d suggest you look into that for at least a fleeting touch with reality. “Natural” is not somehow necessarily better. Nature doesn’t give a sh** whether it kills you or not, to a certain extent. The bubonic plague was “natural.” I’m betting people would have liked to have had a vaccine for that.
Without vaccines, hundreds of children in our specific community would die every year (and that doesn’t count adults and in utero deaths) from these diseases. People who call to measles to “bring it on” might want to consider the following:
The only plausible etiology of vaccine-caused autistic-like symptoms might be the high fever that sometimes follows in the wake of vaccination. In susceptible individuals, so the idea goes, this fever may trigger…something. Guess what, measles lovers? With measles and these other diseases, ya get a high fever. Who’s to say that your child isn’t susceptible to this or other adverse effects of these diseases just as much as they would be to the side effects of vaccination? You can’t guarantee against that and run a far greater risk with the diseases than you do with the vaccines. But control-freak parents who think they can somehow run these aspects of their children’s lives and do just the right thing to ward off tragedy are self deluded. What is reprehensible is that they rely on the rest of us to take a risk that helps keep their child safe. And they themselves place other defenseless members of the population at risk, too. A highly ethical way to live, no?
And I bet you dollars to donuts that if there were a diphtheria outbreak, the antivaxer folks would be the first in line at the clinic. All of a sudden, that DTaP would be looking might fine. Fear knows no conviction.
Guess that was not really a summary but pretty much the enormous post all over again.
Kristina, I did blog that…but I figured you’d probably dive further into the details of it. It’s a pretty long piece with a lot of information. My favorite part is that antivax clinic in Ohio and the quote from the doctor there. I laughed out loud.
What’s stood out to me in particular in this story (which is being reported by seemingly everyone) is a certain kind of parenting style?—back to nature, granola crunchy, green everything style—”Mothering” magazine, post-hippie. Sorry to invoke stereotypes….. It’s a style I’m really familiar with from my own family (one relative in particular) and from growing up around Berkeley…..
This quote from Barbara Loe Fisher sums up the notion of parents who see their “rights” being trod open by “having” to vaccinate their children:
The measles vaccine is another way in which the debate over vaccines has been toxic to the autism community. The measles vaccine was suspected of causing because of measles virus being found in the gut flora and in the spinal fluid of autistics.
This is only possible if the blood/gut and the blood/brain barrier were compromised. It can be done. Holes in the blood/gut and blood/brain barrier can be treated. That may or may not help autistic children. But we will never know. No such treatment will be developed as long as the focus is on saying that there is no relationship between autism and vaccines.
If the government and the insurance companies are forced to start taking care of the kids who are being damaged by the CDC’s vacine program, I assure you the vacine program will be reformed.
U.S. Rep. Dan Burton has sponsored bill HR6391 which provides awareness campaigns to make parents aware of their right to sue under the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, i.e., the federal “vaccine court,” and increase the statute of limitations from 3 years to 6 years.
If you have time to blog on this list, you have the time to contact your congressman by email and let him know you want him to co-sponsor this bill.
Don’t sit around while our kids are getting kicked around by a system that views them only as a statistic. Get LOUD!! and start yelling directly into the ears of your federal, state and local representatives.
What if my “congressman” is female? What if I don’t want him or her to co-sponsor this bill? What if vaccine were spelled with two Cs? What if the fact of the matter is that EVERY SINGLE MEDICAL INTERVENTION KNOWN TO HUMANKIND, from vitamin C ingestion to aspirin to chemo, has known risks and side effects and that’s not because of a conspiracy on the part of the CDC or anyone else but because that’s the nature of the idiosyncracies of the human condition.
My children are not being kicked around by anyone, but thanks for the suggestion.
On the VICP:
Legal Standards, Science, and the Cause of Autism:
And also this post: Myth, Science and a Trial.
I prefer to communicate the need for education and services throughout the lifespan of autistic individuals, when contacting congressmen etc..
You may be right:
http://tinyurl.com/c4tjh
Thought that those who think of Measles as a purely benign disease might want to see what cases of Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) look like.
This is some news from Germany, where there is currently more widespread refusal, and currently more active outbreak of measles than here in the US.
This is Micha, age 9, and Natalie, age 10 (wmv video),
who caught wild-type measles as infants from a child whose parents had decided against vaccinating him, but brought him into a doctor’s practice when he developed a fever, which turned out to be an incubating case of measles. A number of infants there that day caught wild-type measles from this unvaccinated, sick child.
That was in 2000 when Micha was 5 months old and Natalie was 11 months old.
After apparent recovery from the measles, Micha developed SSPE in 2005. Natalie in the summer of 2007.
Did the parents of the non-vaccinating family feel that their rights extended to putting these as yet unable to be immunized infants at risk by contact with a child actively ill with a case of measles, because that is a potential. The visit to the doctor’s office has the ring of familiarity to San Diego.
I have chosen not to have my two girls vaccinated against MMR for several reasons.
My own sister had the MMR when she was a baby, and 2 weeks later became seriously ill with Measles. The doctor who examined her said she had the vaccine strain of measles and this was why she was so ill.
Lets forget the MMR/Autism debate for a moment (although there is a hell of a lot of evidence to support the argument that the MMR causes autism). There have been thousands of cases where children have had the MMR and then had convulsions and seizures as a result, and have in some cases died. This has been proven by doctors, especially in one case where they removed part of the brain of a vaccine damaged child, and lo and behold discovered he had measles, and yes it was the vaccine strain. I don’t think vaccinating children who have allergies is a good idea, or who have a family history of allergies – this seems to be where most complications of vaccines occur. The US Government and UK Government have set up Vaccine Damage Units, and pay out to families affected by vaccine damage, so how can they then say vaccines are safe? If anyone’s interested take a look at http://www.jabs.org.uk
http://jabsloonies.blogspot.com/
http://unherdof.wordpress.com/2008/09/05/mmr-exonerated-not-yet/
http://www.immunize.org/catg.d/p4026.pdf
http://www.immunize.org/catg.d/p4026.pdf
w w w.immunize.org/catg.d/p4026.pdf
immunize. org/catg.d/p4026. pdf
Sorry about the multiple postings… but it kept refusing to show up, so I thought the URL was being blocked (when it goes into moderation I get a message).
Basically, there have been a two dozen studies that show that the MMR does not cause autism, and probably many more that shows it is very safe during the almost 40 years since 1971 when it was introduced in the USA. (oh, and Sarah, we keep hearing that the MMR causes death, but no evidence… though measles killing two teenagers has been publicized).
I have yet to see any post any real scientific evidence that the MMR is worse than measles (1 in about 1000 die, and another 1 out of 1000 incur permanent neurological damage from deafness, blindness, paralysis and mental retardation), mumps (which also kills, but not so much, it also causes deafness and in young men sterility), and rubella (which just loves to kill and maim babies in utero).
So guys if you have real scientific evidence, that does not include links to message boards (like JABS which bans people who do not agree with them, like Becky who was banned for being sensible, so she started the jabsloonies blog), blogs, news reports and random websites…just real science done by people who know what they are doing… bring them on. Let us see what real science has to say.
@HCN, and I’m sorry about your comments ending up in moderation—-let me know if something is just not going through.
JABS is an organization with a quite clear agenda, I guess one has to say.
Thanks, Kristina… but I think the problem lies on my side. I downloaded a new version of Firefox and do not have all the plug-ins yet.
HCN,
According to scientific studies, which is worse, measles or influenza? They both have vaccines. The both are highly contagious. They both cause hospitalizations and death. They both cause long term health complications. One of the vaccines was only 40% effective last year, but that is ok because only 30% of the population used it, and yet there is no national obsession with plastering that information across news articles by the mindless media. Give me some real science and not some mindless anecdotal stories. Let’s see what real science has to say.
Chuck said “According to scientific studies, which is worse, measles or influenza?”
What have I said about you changing the subject? The post is about measles, yet someone decides to drag in influenza. Without even bothering the answer my question!
How on earth is the influenza vaccine supposed to protect against measles!!! Especially while it has to be reformulated each year, and the MMR does not. Really, is there some weird issue you have that one vaccine is supposed to protect against another disease? Do you need to take some basic biology classes?
The effectiveness of the influenza vaccine has nothing to do with the MMR vaccine, which has a 90% to 98% effectiveness. From the CDC Pink Book chapter on measles, page 10: “Measles vaccine produces an inapparent or mild, noncommunicable infection. Measles antibodies develop in approximately 95% of children vaccinated at 12 months of age and 98% of children vaccinated at 15 months of age.”… a quicky search finds the study at:
J Infect Dis. 2004 May 1;189 Suppl 1:S116-22.
Comparison of vaccination with measles-mumps-rubella vaccine at 9, 12, and 15 months of age.
(should I also mention you are cherry picking your data… according to the CDC Pink Book Chapter on Influenza, the 40% effectiveness is only on those people age 65 and older: “For practical purposes, immunity following inactivated
influenza vaccination is less than 1 year because of waning of vaccine-induced antibody and antigenic drift of circulating influenza viruses. Influenza vaccine efficacy varies by the similarity of the vaccine strain(s) to the circulating strain and the age and health status of the recipient. Vaccines are effective in protecting up to 90% of healthy vaccinees younger than 65 years of age from illness when the vaccine strain is similar to the circulating strain. However, the vaccine is only 30%–40% effective in preventing illness among persons 65 years of age and older.”)
Now about the effect of measles, when it last hit the USA the death rate was about 1 in 500:
J Infect Dis. 2004 May 1;189 Suppl 1:S69-77.
Acute measles mortality in the United States, 1987-2002.
Also, measles can cause permanent neurological damage due to encephalitis, see:
Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2006 Mar;160(3):302-9.
Impact of specific medical interventions on reducing the prevalence of mental retardation.
Some other review papers (there were too many case reports, which are essentially anecdotes):
Postgrad Med J. 2002 Feb;78(916):63-70.
Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis.
J Neurovirol. 2001 Oct;7(5):391-9.
Measles virus interactions with cellular receptors: consequences for viral pathogenesis.
… and on and on… though in the past decade the papers are mostly on subacute sclerosing panencephalitis …
To show what the difference the MMR vaccine has done in cases, check out the numbers 50 years apart (hand transcribed from the CDC Pink Book Appendix G):
Year____Cases____Deaths
1950___319124____468
1951___530118____683
1952___683077____618
1953___449146____462
1954___682720____518
1955___555156____345
1956___611936____530
Total__3831277___3624
Recent years:
Year____Cases____Deaths
2000_______86______ 1
2001______116______ 1
2002_______44______ 0
2003_______56______ 1
2004_______37______ Not available
2005_______66______ Not available
2006_______55______ Not available
Total______460______3 or more
The question I want answered is what scientific evidence is there that shows that the MMR vaccine is worse than measles, mumps or rubella?
(please do not bring up other diseases or vaccines, keep on topic with only measles, mumps and rubella)
36,000 vs 618 56 years ago. What is the point of the discussion.
You are still comparing apples (36000 influenza deaths of mostly elderly, it is a disease that is carried by other animals) with oranges (measles deaths of mostly young children, and is only carried by humans, so there is a chance to eradicate it forever). The influenza vaccine will not do anything for measles.
Also, the influenza vaccine coverage numbers does not in anyway explain what the risks are from the MMR vaccine are compared to measles, mumps and rubella. A question you have yet to answer.
What were the statistics for influenza 50 years ago? According to this timeline:
http://www.nature.com/nature/focus/avianflu/timeline.html … in 1957 “Asian flu pandemic kills 100,000 people, due to the H2N2 influenza virus.”
and in 1968 “Hong Kong flu pandemic kills 700,000 people, due to the H3N2 virus.”
Those are worldwide numbers, at that time measles was still killing millions per year. Just a decade ago measles killed over a million people per year, that has been reduced to a fraction of that due to this:
http://www.measlesinitiative.org/index3.asp … “Since 2001, the Measles Initiative has supported the vaccination of more than 500 million children in over 50 countries.
During this time, we’ve helped reduce measles deaths by 68% worldwide and 91% in Africa.”
Fifty years measles killed several million children per year, while influenza was just a blip even during a pandemic. Since measles is a human only disease, there is a chance to make it disappear from this planet forever, just like what happened to smallpox (unlike influenza).
But I am glad you are reminding me to get our flu shots as soon as possible. I assume you are working to reduce the impact of influenza in your family by getting everyone vaccinated this season.
“But I am glad you are reminding me to get our flu shots as soon as possible. I assume you are working to reduce the impact of influenza in your family by getting everyone vaccinated this season.”
Why get something that doesn’t work. No one in my house has had a need for it since 1999 because there are more effective ways then the vaccine. Same approach works for measels as well.
113 cases, no reported deaths on the CDC web site. All case zeros for each outbreak are imports. Vaccination rates are at an all time high. The number of cases in the USA compared to the population is statistically insignificant. So what exactly are you complaining about?
“89% were imported from or associated with importations from other countries”. The problem isn’t here, move along.
Chuck said “Why get something that doesn’t work.”
This is your troll behavior. The flu vaccine works at over 90% effectiveness if you are UNDER age 65. You selectively quoted the part that was only about those folks over 65.
“No one in my house has had a need for it since 1999 because there are more effective ways then the vaccine. Same approach works for measels as well.”
Is this your close yourself in the house and avoid all human contact method? You make all these statements, yet you do not back them up.
You also selectively post information. There is another outbreak of measles starting in my state. So far no one knows where she got it. It may not take long for measles to become endemic in the USA like it is now in the UK.
Still waiting for you to post some real science. Though all I can expect from you are troll comments about influenza, and more “La la la la, I can’t hear you” when it comes to actual evidence and science goes counter to your beliefs.
“The flu vaccine works at over 90% effectiveness if you are UNDER age 65.”
My family’s approach has worked 100% of the time for us.
If you enjoy being a fear monger and spreading unconfirmed medical outbreaks, knock yourself out. I will stick to the CDC because THAT IS WHAT THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO DO.
Evidence pleases that the effectiveness for influenza is 90%( for what year/s?) for the entire population given that only 25 percent of the population under 65 were vaccinated (given percentages from CDC):
<18 25%
18-45 19%
45-64 34%
Anecdotal:
The last time anyone in our family received the flu shot it worked 0% for all individuals under 65. It was also the last time anyone caught the flu as well.
If you were to actually listen to your doctor for the recommendation of what to do to remain in good health and avoid the flu, guess what, THEY WORK!
Just roll up your sleeve, hope for the best, and tell your doctor to stick his opinion somewhere.
Every person, except me, in my home is routinely exposed to populations under 18 and over 65 and we are all doing great this millennium. Working in a cube farm makes it easy to limit exposure to less then healthy individuals in the workplace. How many times has someone in your household caught the vaccine preventable bug?
Where is the study for the effectiveness of not getting the flu vaccines if you are UNDER age 65?