(no subject)

[pat]

In her blog, Respectful of Otters, rivka has passed along the news that The Lancet, the prestigious British medical journal, has renounced their publication of Andrew Wakefield's study showing a link between the MMR vaccine and autism in children. The study has been heavily criticized before now on scientific grounds, and it seems that Wakefield forgot to disclose that he was being funded by lawyers hoping to represent the parents of autistic children in liability cases against manufacturers. Oops.

Well, all I've go to say is...

Amen and hallelujah. The amount of time and resources spent dealing with this study could have been better spent elsewhere on autism research. And people have latched on to this study -- even in the face of a lot of evidence which contradicts it -- and have run around screaming and encouraging people to *not* have their children immunized.

Which is a complete load of hooey. As a parent of an autistic child, until there is a clear link between vaccines and a significant increase in the probability of a child developing autism, I will -- and have -- immunized my other children and encourage others to do likewise.

We tend to think of measles, mumps, and rubella as "childhood" diseases, and not very serious. These diseases can be quite serious -- even life-threatening. And while the link between the MMR and autism may be completely speculative, the link between a woman contracting rubella in the first trimester of pregnancy and a much higher incidence of serious birth defects is not.

There is a reason we vaccinate against these diseases, not just because they are a minor annoyance. And the only way to contain diseases like this is to vaccinate on a wide scale. There will always be people who, for one reason or another, cannot take the vaccine (as a child, I could not take the MMR because of an allergy to one of the ingredients made in its manufacture -- later they changed it so that I could). But for people to not vaccinate their children because some scientifically questionable study says there may be a link to autism is, in the absence of more compelling evidence, socially irresponsible.

Comments

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, amen.

A.
who will not unleash her rant on this today

Re:

[patgreene.livejournal.com]

I'm looking forward to reading that rant.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Pat, I really appreciate your weighing in on this. In fact, this is probably a good time to say that I've enjoyed and appreciated your comments in Respectful of Otters in general.

I think it's natural for families of children with autism to feel as though there must be something or someone to blame, and to keep searching for some sort of explanation that makes sense. And I think it's natural for other people to want to believe that autism is avoidable if you just make the "right" choices.

So it doesn't surprise me that this myth is as long-lasting as it is. But it's hard to watch it going on anyway. You make an excellent point about rubella and pregnancy. Some of these parents are likely to find that their efforts to protect their children have led to severe mental retardation in their grandchildren - if their daughters don't happen to encounter that "harmless childhood disease" rubella until they're pregnant.

Re:

[patgreene.livejournal.com]

I've really enjoyed *reading* Respectful of Otters.

I understand the need to find "solutions". I think it stems from a human need to feel that their suffering is not in vain.

And it might not drive me so nuts if what people are suggesting is something relatively benign. But to trade some hypothetical reduction in autism for a very real increase in human misery if these diseases were to become very widespread again is crazy.

When my firstborn was young, there was all this uproar over the DPT vaccine. The vaccine, in particular the pertussis component, had a few very nasty reactions. Parents opted not to get the vaccine -- trading a very small chance of a serious reaction for a much much greater chance for life-threatening illness. I even read one parent who said at the time, in effect, "well, it's not like these are common diseases anymore." It made me want to cry.

I wonder what would have happened if there was found to be link between autism and polio vaccine. I think polio is seared into the national consciousness as a Very Serious Disease (thank you, FDR), so you might have more people more reluctant to stop immunizing without solid scientific evidence.

As far as rubella goes, when my sons become sexually active, the second question I plan to ask their girlfriends (if they are straight), right behind "what form of contraception are you using?" is "have you been immunized against rubella, and if not, why not?" I personally think that any parent who would deliberately (ie., not because of lack of medical care) not immunize their daughters is too irresponsible and silly to be raising kids, but I'm a little extremist on this issue.

[anotheranon.livejournal.com]

Had a juicy, articulate response all typed up - and then my connection timed out and ate it :P

I do think that one reason for the anti-vaccination hysteria that hasn't been mentioned yet is simple ignorance. Historical epidemiology and emerging diseases is a peculiar interest of mine, and IMHO most people under the age of 50 have no idea just how painful and permanently destructive (or lethal!) these "childhood diseases" were, mostly because the existence of vaccines has made the likelihood of meeting anyone suffering/surviving these diseases almost nil.

I think most people remember polio if only because of FDR, but smallpox would leave you heavily scarred for life, assuming you survived at all. Tetanus (my grandmother had it) is extraordinarily painful and often fatal. Rubella, as mentioned earlier, can cause severe birth defects. But people never see this anymore (because of widespread vaccination, at least in the developed world), so they assume they're "safe".

[patgreene.livejournal.com]

Not to mention that measles in parts of the developing world still cause blindness. And pertussis can cause seizures and brain damage.

I guess I was just lucky to have good science teachers who taught me about these diseases and what the purpose of vaccination was. It also didn't hurt that my mother was a) a nurse and b) born before widespread immunization (she was born in the Depression, and was 38 when I was born). She used to tell us what the polio scares were like.

[anotheranon.livejournal.com]

I didn't know that measles and pertussis had these risks - I thought it just meant months of bed rest! Learn somthing new every day!

You were lucky to have a mother and teachers who explained this to you - maybe they should have a section on the history and science behind vaccination in schools now to combat the ignorance surrounding the issue.