Measles vs. Autism

CDC reports 102 cases of measles in the United States for January, the latest data available on their web site. To say that it has been widely covered in the media would be an understatement. It has also been widely reported that about one in four people with measles will need to be hospitalized. A number of cases have been treated in emergency rooms but if anyone has been hospitalized with measles I can't find it in the news. So far as I can tell no one yet has died. The outbreak is said to be the result of rising numbers of unvaccinated children, probably true. One commonly cited reason for not vaccinating is an unfounded fear of a link between the MMR vaccine and autism. That fear is traced to a discredited 1998 study published in Lancet and since retracted, partly true. The fear can also be traced to an obvious and unexplained correlation between a dramatic increase in the recommended vaccination schedule beginning about 1990 and an explosion in the number of children being diagnosed with autism. One in 68 children born in 2002 had autism in 2010. In 2000 the number for the 1992 cohort was 1 in 150. That's a lot of children and many of their parents point to vaccines. They tell story after story of healthy, happy children suddenly becoming sick after a well baby visit where they received multiple injections including the MMR. Public health officials insist it is coincidence. Parents aren't buying it. Their children regressed into autism after getting the shots. They want to know why. There is more. Authorities can't explain the absence of autism among the Amish, who don't vaccinate. Pediatricians who treat large numbers of unvaccinated children (there aren't many but they are out there) report that they rarely if ever see autism. The Vaccine Court once in a great while compensates a child who can demonstrate that her autism was triggered (careful, don't say "caused") by a vaccine injury. The standard of proof is very high. None of this necessarily implicates the vaccines but something is causing this epidemic, and it is an epidemic. Part of it can be explained by better diagnosis, and autism can be difficult to diagnose, but over the course of twenty years autism went from rare to common. Ask an elementary school teacher if she ever saw autism in her classroom before 1985. It wasn't there. You can't miss it today. CDC points to genes and most federal research dollars go into genetics. Genes may well make some children more susceptible but there is no such thing as a genetic epidemic. There has to be an environmental factor. Something has changed. Officials insist over and over again that the vaccines have been exonerated. More and more mothers look at the available evidence and conclude it isn't worth the risk, especially if they are well educated, and especially if they already have one child with autism. Many of them still get the shots but space them out and get fewer simultaneous injections. They may reject some shots for diseases where their child is at very low risk. The hepatitis b shot at birth is unnecessary for most babies. I suspect measles immunization rates would go up if the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines were available separately. Most children who contract measles will recover with no long term side effects save a life long immunity. Most children who have autism will suffer a life long disability, often a severe disability. Officials believe herd immunity is the most important consideration. I suspect most mothers would put her child's interest first. There is a solution to all this. Find out what's causing autism