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Why there is no link between measles virus and autism

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posted on 2023-07-26, 12:58 authored by Stephen A. Bustin
A report published in the Lancet in 1998 described the case histories of 12 previously normal children who developed symptoms of autism or inflammatory bowel disease after having received the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine. This paper formed the basis for Andrew Wakefield’s subsequent claim to have identified a new type of gastrointestinal disease, termed autistic enterocolitis. Despite never explicitly asserting a link between the MMR vaccine and this supposedly new, regressive form of autism, the paper sparked a major health scare in the United Kingdom. Conclusion: An exhaustive analysis of the experimental RT-qPCR data generated by the O’Leary laboratory demonstrates: • Lack of transparency and completeness of reporting; • Persistent and widespread contamination; • The contamination is caused by DNA; • Inept data analysis. As a result, the conclusions put forward by this paper are entirely incorrect and there is no evidence whatever for the presence either of MeV genomic RNA or mRNA in the GI tracts of any of the patients investigated during the course of the studies reported by O’Leary et al. Instead, it is clear that the data support the opposite conclusion: there is no evidence for any MeV being present in the majority of patients’ analysed. Unfortunately, the authors do not report whether any the patients had received the MMR vaccination. However, assuming that a significant proportion had done so, it is also clear that there is no link between the MMR vaccine and the presence of MeV in the intestine of autistic children.

History

Refereed

  • Yes

Page range

81-98

Number of pages

806

Publisher

InTech Open

Place of publication

Rijeka, Croatia

Title of book

Recent Advances in Autism Spectrum Disorders: Volume I

ISBN

978-953-51-1021-7

Editors

Michael Fitzgerald

File version

  • Published version

Language

  • eng

Legacy posted date

2013-04-22

Legacy creation date

2022-04-22

Legacy Faculty/School/Department

ARCHIVED Faculty of Health, Social Care & Education (until September 2018)

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