Autism and the MMR Vaccine:Was Wakefield Confirmed by Wake Forest University School of Medicine Study?

UPDATE: The question in my comment title was answered, to some extent, by information passed to me that this study was reported in 2007. I have no idea why it shows up on the Daily Mail online with today's date at the top of the page and with no internal story dates to indicate it is not current. It also shows up in Google News.  


I did a web search by the author's name and found the same article published in different places on the web on different dates. What I haven't found is what happened to the Wake Forest study?  If anyone knows feel free to offer your information. HLD


According to a report in the UK Daily Mail, Scientists fear MMR link to autism,  a study led by Dr. Stephen Walker of  the Wake Forest University School of Medicine in North Carolina appears to confirm findings in the much maligned 1998 study by Dr. Andrew Wakefield. The research team are examining 275 children with regressive autism and bowel disease and,  of 82 tested so far,  70 prove positive for the vaccine strain, not the wild strain, of the measles virus. The report also indicates that the this is the second study including the O'Leary 2001 study to confirm the Wakefield findings:

"Last night the team's leader, Dr Stephen Walker, said: 'Of the handful of results we have in so far, all are vaccine strain and none are wild measles.

'This research proves that in the gastrointestinal tract of a number of children who have been diagnosed with regressive autism, there is evidence of measles virus.

'What it means is that the study done earlier by Dr Wakefield and published in 1998 is correct. That study didn’t draw any conclusions about specifically what it means to find measles virus in the gut, but the implication is it may be coming from the MMR vaccine. If that’s the case, and this live virus is residing in the gastrointestinal tract of some children, and then they have GI inflammation and other problems, it may be related to the MMR.'

The 1998 study by Dr Wakefield, then a reader in gastroenterology at the Royal Free Hospital in North London, and 12 other doctors claimed to have found a new bowel disease, autism enterocolitis.

At the time, Dr Wakefield said that although they had not proved a link between MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) and autism, there was cause for concern and the Government should offer the option single vaccines - instead of only MMRs - until more research had been done.

The paper - and the confused interpretation of its findings - caused uproar and led to many parents withdrawing their co-operation for the triple jab. Ten of the paper's authors also signed retractions on the interpretation but stood by the science.

This is the second independent study to back up Dr Wakefield. In 2001 John O'Leary, Professor of Pathology at St James's Hospital and Trinity College, Dublin, replicated his findings.

Last night Dr Wakefield said: 'This new study confirms what we found in British children and again with Professor O'Leary. The only exposure these children have had to measles is through the MMR vaccine.

'They were developing normally until they regressed. They now suffer autism and bowel disease."'The Department of Health and some of the media wanted to dismiss our research as insignificant. The excuse was that no one else had the same findings as us. What they didn't say is that no one else had looked."

This study will be subjected to very close scrutiny.  Not just because it might implicate vaccines in some instances of autism, and should be examined closely as part of the scientific method,  but also because a war has been waged on Dr. Andrew Wakefield.  Those who have waged that war have much to lose if the information reported by the Daily Mail is confirmed.  Their own reputations are now on the line. They  can not,  and will not,  accept any study or information which calls into question their efforts to discredit Wakefield and his study. 

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Autism Awareness Beyond Temple Grandin: Who Will Care for Our Children When We Are Gone?

April 30 is fast approaching and Autism Awareness Month has been marked by the usual stories about the remarkable accomplishments of author, public speaker, very well educated and extremely successful entrepreneur and innovator Dr. Temple Grandin arguably the most accomplished and well-known adult with autism in the world.  Beyond the Temple Grandin stories there is also the usual  speculation that Einstein, and various other historical geniuses,  were autistic.  The identification of autism with historical genius is  led by academic Michael Fitzgerald of the Department of Child Psychiatry at Trinity College, Dublin, who "has speculated about historical figures with autism in numerous journal papers and at least three books".  

Seldom do autism awareness efforts feature the harsher realities faced by many with autism disorders, particularly those with Autistic Disorder   who can not and, unlike Temple Grandin, do not,  become able to speak or otherwise communicate.  Not much is said about autistic children who are seriously self injurious , who drown in neighborhood schools or wander into deadly snow storms or  automobile traffic.  One of the most glaring omissions is the failure to make any, mention of the 75-80% of persons with Autistic Disorder who are also cognitively impaired or intellectually disabled.  Temple Grandin is one thing but it would be much more difficult to hire a talented and beautiful actress like Claire Danes to put a pretty face on autism if the person she was portraying was  intellectually disabled and destined to spend her life in a  psychiatric hospital. 

Parents of children with autism disorders, at least those whose children are severely affected by autism disorders,  do not have the luxury of pretending that autism is a blessing.  Many of us  are haunted by the Ultimate Autism Reality  and wonder who will care for our children after we die. We   have to live every day haunted by the reality that our children will be unable to care for themselves and will live dependent on the care of strangers. 

Virginia Bovell writes about the ultimate autism reality in the Daily Mail in Who'll be there to care for our autistic son when we're gone?: 

"Danny was diagnosed with autism when he was three years old. He is now 16 and, alongside his severe learning difficulties, this year he has been in and out of hospital with chronic gastrointestinal problems.

He is often in intense pain and is on a fair bit of medication. We keep daily charts, we observe changes in minute detail, we adjust dosages - it is like a meticulously calibrated battle plan.

When he is well, it is as if he doesn't have a care in the world. He is cheerfully non-verbal - he has only a few words, such as 'momma', and 'diddle' for daddy. He is also happily and unresentfully dependent on others for most of his waking life.

On a good day I am optimistic for Danny, but if I'm honest, worry often keeps me awake at night. Because he doesn't speak, and understanding him requires close observation, I wonder who will love him enough to give him the levels of meticulous attention that a parent would."

Ms Bovell, and the Daily Mail, are helping create some real autism awareness as April draws to a close.  It may not make for a feel good movie but what they describe is the Ultimate Autism Reality.

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