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By
F. Edward Yazbak, MD, FAAP
Although 2001 was filled with news of
the MMR vaccine controversy, discussion of the enormity of
the autism explosion and its impact has been minimal.
A National
Autistic Society survey had found that 1 in 110 children under
11 has autism.
The vaccine authorities still assert that
the reported increase is unrelated to the use of the MMR vaccine
but offer no other reasonable cause. The toll in human suffering
is immense, and the actual financial cost per child for a
lifetime of care and support services is a staggering 2 million
plus British pounds.
In the United States, the atrocities of
September 11, the Anthrax letters and the present war in Afghanistan
have certainly touched every one. But life goes on.
For the parents of children with autism,
each day's battle is overwhelming and their
lives have changed forever. There is no final victory
they can look forward to and no end to their war in sight.
Each morning brings new problems, new
challenges and more concerns about funding cuts and decreased
services. Every night, the same awful dream recurs "What
will happen to my child when I am gone?"
According to the Department of Education
annual reports to the US Congress, autism cases in children
aged 6-21 in US schools increase yearly by approximately 25%
In the last three months of 2001, it is
more than likely that between 600 and 700 new cases of autism
were diagnosed and accepted into the system in California
alone. If the average incidence of new cases of autism in
the remaining 49 states averages only 1/8th of the California
rate -- a very conservative estimate, indeed -- we should
expect that approximately 4000 new cases of autism have been
diagnosed nationwide in the last 3
months.
In the United States, the cost per child
over a lifetime is soon to surpass 2 million dollars.
One can only imagine the outcry if there
was an outbreak of 4000 cases of any other pediatric illness
in the same 3-month period. The CDC specialists would be clamoring
for a cure and seriously looking for clues to the epidemic.
Why aren't they?
We witnessed the reaction that followed
15 cases of anthrax on the East Coast. Before anyone without
personal experience with autism rushes to criticize this statement,
I respectfully submit that 10 out of the 15 cases of anthrax
went on to complete recovery.
As for the five deaths from anthrax, they
are certainly sad and most unfortunate but children with severe
autism have brain damage, and "die" every day even
if they are still breathing and moving. Every day, their parents
and grand parents die a little too.
Research into the causes of autism is
being carried out nationwide. Many studies dealing with biochemical
and genetic causes are published and only receive transient
interest. It is likely that many studies concerning genetics
now in progress will go similarly unnoticed, as it is impossible
to have an epidemic of genetic diseases.
The impressive mercury study undertaken
by a group of dedicated parents in New Jersey is different.
It deserves our attention and gratitude, and supports the
original Redwood theory of mercury damage. It now appears
that the CDC also carried out a study, which suggested some
relationship between mercury in vaccines and neuro-developmental
disorders in infants.
A special committee of the Institute of
Medicine (IOM) held hearings on the subject of mercury and
autism, and recommended
removing thiomerosal from all pediatric vaccine formulations.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)
and the CDC had also recommended an all mercury-free vaccine
schedule. All three organizations believe that mercury-containing
vaccines have not actually caused damage to children.
Concern over mercury has attracted the
attention of the manufacturers of adult vaccines. On November
21, 2001 the FDA announced that a single-dose influenza vaccine
for adult use, with only a "trace" of thiomerosal,
is now available.
Our own research seems to indicate that,
certain children have reacted unfavorably and were "set-up"
by mercury-containing vaccines in year one and then have regressed
into autism following another antigenic insult in their second
year of life.
The auto-immune theory of autism and the
possible relationship
between autism and MMR vaccination have
captivated many minds since they were formulated in 1998.
Although
no one has proved conclusively that MMR vaccination has contributed
to the increase in autism in the western world, no one has
convincingly proved that it has not.
While the vaccine lobby and authorities
have adamantly and viciously condemned Andrew Wakefield and
his findings, hundreds of parents are totally convinced he
is right.
These parents have no doubt that their
previously normal children became symptomatic after their
first MMR vaccination and then regressed into autism, and
many have videos, pictures and doctors' notes to prove it.
A further regression after the second MMR, at age 5, seems
to have convinced some of those parents even more.
The identification of measles by intricate
PCR testing in the British pathological specimens and the
later revelation that these measles strains were of vaccine
origin, by independent Japanese researchers, do offer more
support to the hypothesis. The likelihood that any investigator
would try duplicating these findings after witnessing Dr.
Wakefield's public lynching is remote.
In London, many children with autism have
been investigated carefully and found to have abnormal pathology
in the colon, the terminal ileum and the esophagus. A group
of children in the US have also been found to have identical
pathological findings.
In March 2001, an IOM committee looking
at autism and MMR, reported that, "evidence favors rejection
of a causal relationship at the population level between MMR
vaccine and autistic spectrum disorders."
A little later in the report, the committee
conceded that it could not "exclude the possibility that
MMR vaccine could contribute to ASD in a small number of children,"
and went on to recommend further research on the subject.
The media propaganda asserted that the
committee took the MMR "off the hook" but failed
to highlight the similarity between the committee's conclusions
and Wakefield's own: that the MMR vaccine could contribute
to autism in a small group of genetically predisposed children,
and that good research is urgently needed.
It is tragic
that while all this discussion about administering three live
viruses at the same time is going on, the authorities in both
the US and the UK have decided to add the chicken pox vaccine
to the present MMR formulation.
Not too long ago, health care providers
had to wait a month between the administration of MMR and
the chicken pox vaccine. Now they are assured that giving
them together in the same syringe does not affect their safety
and efficacy.
Other vaccines to treat less serious illnesses
are being developed at a frantic pace and will be certainly
added to the present "routine" schedule.
Mega-combinations are promised and well
known infectious disease specialists and immunologists have
no difficulty stating that a child's immune system can comfortably
deal with all these simultaneous antigenic assaults, even
if he is very young, febrile, and on antibiotics.
Empathic and qualified pediatricians and
pediatric nurse practitioners are urgently needed to control
the present autism epidemic. A high index of suspicion, an
early work up, and a firm diagnosis are imperative to assure
timely initiation of therapy and limitation of brain damage.
The above is my personal opinion and may
not reflect that of organizations to which I belong.
F.
Edward Yazbak, MD, FAAP December 13, 2001
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