General Medicine

» Anthony Lee - Do you believe in a connection?

Autism is a developmental disorder whose cause remains a mystery. Many hypotheses have been proposed, but one continues to be controversial: vaccines. While health experts say that vaccines are not linked to autism, do you believe that the two are indeed linked? If so, would you advise against vaccinations because of the risk of autism?

Permalink Print Discussion Email Discussion How to subscribe to feeds

» Elaine Moore - Do you believe in a connection?

In response to Do you believe in a connection? posted by anthonylee06:

Hi,
I've been researching this topic for nearly a decade, and I clearly see a connection. About 5 years ago, there was a GAO report describing the number of adverse vaccine reactions our government has compensated families for. In most instances, children who already had symptoms of respiratory illnesses or who had a family history of autoimmune disease, were at highest risk. Thimerosal is another factor and so are the multiple vaccines given at one time. This is a great topic for discussion, Elaine

Permalink Print Discussion Email Discussion How to subscribe to feeds

» Alicia Mae Prater - Do you believe in a connection?

In response to Do you believe in a connection? posted by daisyelaine:

Actually a study from California released in January showed that removing thimerosal from vaccines has had NO effect on the number autism diagnoses.

I think the preservatives in vaccines are an issue that should be looked at, but studies have repeatedly found that the MMR vaccine (the one believed to be the culprit) causes no biological mechanism that would account for the development of neurological problems.

Since we give vaccines around the same age that autism symptoms appear then there will seem to be a correlation, but I don't think there is. If anything, the new definitions of autistic spectrum disorders are so broad that they're being overdiagnosed.

The most recent decision to financially award the family of a Georgia girl from the "vaccine victim fund" was because she had a mitochondrial disorder that was aggravated by the vaccines she was given. I think pediatricians need to be better educated so they can in turn educate parents about the risks of vaccines, particularly for high risk kids. We've become complacent about our health, just expecting everything to work!

Permalink Print Discussion Email Discussion How to subscribe to feeds

» Anthony Lee - Do you believe in a connection?

In response to Do you believe in a connection? posted by aliciaprater:

It's pretty hard to do a study on causes of autism. Given how many things children are exposed to in the uterus and after birth, it takes a lot of planning to develop a study that will focus on specific possible factors without any confounders. It's the challenge of research.

Permalink Print Discussion Email Discussion How to subscribe to feeds

» Alicia Mae Prater - Do you believe in a connection?

In response to Do you believe in a connection? posted by anthonylee06:

Well the studies have gotten around that by eliminating something and seeing if it makes a difference (like the thimerosal) or determining what biological mechanisms are stimulated by the vaccine, to see if there's any way it can be indirectly (or directly if it's immune related) causing developmental or neurological problems. So far there's been no correlation found.

Permalink Print Discussion Email Discussion How to subscribe to feeds