75 studies that show no link between vaccines and autism UPDATED to 107

Edited to fix links and to add more studies for a new total of 107 on 11 March 2014

Guest blog, compiled by Allison Hagood, Luci Baldwin, Kathy McGrath and Nathan Boonstra and originally published on the "Your Baby's Best Shot" Facebook page. I am grateful for the permission to repost!

If anyone still tries to pull the "vaccines cause autism" card on you, provide them with a link to this note!

Albizzati, A., Moré, L., Di Candia, D., Saccani, M., Lenti, C.  Normal concentrations of heavy metals in autistic spectrum disorders.  Minerva Pediatrica.  2012. Feb;64(1):27-31 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22350041

Afzal, MA., Ozoemena, LC., O’Hare, A., Kidger, KA., Bentley, ML., Minor, PD. Absence of detectable measles virus genome sequence in blood of autistic children who have had their MMR vaccination during the routine childhood immunization schedule of UK.   Journal Medical Virology.  2006 May;78(5):623-30.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16555271

Ahearn WH. What Every Behavior Analyst Should Know About the "MMR Causes Autism" Hypothesis.  Archive of Behavior Analysis in Practice.  2010.   Spring;3(1):46-50. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22479671

Allan, GM., Ivers, N.  The autism-vaccine story: fiction and deception?  Canadian Family Physician.  Oct 2010; 56(10): 1013. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2954080/

Andrews, N., Miller, E., Grant, A., Stowe, J., Osborn, V., & Taylor, B. (2004).  Thimerosal exposure in infants and developmental disorders: a retrospective cohort study in the United Kingdom does not support a causal association.  Pediatrics, 114, 584-591. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15342825 

Andrews, N., Miller, E., Taylor, B., Lingam, R., Simmons, A., Stowe, J., Waight, P.  Recall bias, MMR and autism.  Archives of Disease in Childhood.  Dec 2002; 87(6): 493–494.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1755823/pdf/v087p00493.pdf

Baird, G., Pickles, A., Simonoff, E., Charman, T., Sullivan, P., Chandler, S., Loucas, T., Meldrum, D., Afzal, M., Thomas, B., Jin, L., Brown, D.  Measles vaccination and antibody response in autism spectrum disorders.  Archives of Disease in Childhood.  2008 Oct;93(10):832-7. doi: 10.1136/adc.2007.122937. Epub 2008 Feb 5.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18252754

Berger, BE., Navar-Boggan, AM., Omer, SB.  Congenital rubella syndrome and autism spectrum disorder prevented by rubella vaccination--United States, 2001-2010.   BMC Public Health.  2011 May 19;11:340. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-11-340. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21592401

Black, C., Kaye, JA.  Relation of childhood gastrointestinal disorders to autism:  nested case-control study using data from the UK General Practice Research Database.  British Medical Journal.  2002; 325(7361):419-21.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.325.7361.419

Bower, H.  New research demolishes link between MMR vaccine and autism.  British Medical Journal.  1999.  Jun 19;318(7199):1643. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1116011/

Chen, W., Landau, S., Sham, P., & Fombonne, E. (2004).  No evidence for links between autism, MMR and measles virus.  Psychological Medicine, 34(3), 543-553. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15259839

Christie, B.  Scottish expert group finds no link between MMR and autism.  British Medical Journal,  2002. May 11;324(7346):1118. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1172158/

Clements, CJ., McIntyre, PB.  When science is not enough – a risk/benefit profile of thiomersal-containing vaccines.   Expert Drug Opinion Safety.  2006. Jan;5(1):17-29. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16370953    

Dales, L., Hammer, S. J., & Smith, N. J. (2001). Time trends in autism and in MMR immunization coverage in California.   JAMA, 285(9), 1183-1185. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11231748

De Los Reyes, EC.  Autism and immunizations: separating fact from fiction.  JAMA Neurology.   2010;67(4):490-492. doi:10.1001/archneurol.2010.57. http://archneur.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=799645

DeWilde, S., Carey, IM., Richards, N., Hilton, SR., Cook, DG.  Do children who become autistic consult more often after MMR vaccination?  British Journal of General Practice.  2001 Mar;51(464):226-7.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1313956/

Demicheli, V., Jefferson, T., Rivetti, A., & Price, D. (2005).  Vaccines for measles, mumps and rubella in children. Cochrane Database Syst Rev, 4. (a review of 31 studies) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22336803

DeStefano, F.  MMR vaccine and autism: a review of the evidence for a causal association.   Molecular Psychiatry.  2002;7 Suppl 2:S51-2.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12142951

DeStefano, F., Chen, RT.  Autism and measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine: No epidemiological evidence for a causal association.  The Journal of Pediatrics.  2000 Jan;136(1):125.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10681219    

DeStefano, F., Bhasin, T. K., Thompson, W. W., Yeargin-Allsopp, M., & Boyle, C. (2004).  Age at first measles-mumps-rubella vaccination in children with autism and school-matched control subjects: a population-based study in metropolitan Atlanta.  Pediatrics, 113(2), 259-266. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14754936

DeStefano F., Price CS., Weintraub, ES.  Increasing exposure to antibody-stimulating proteins and polysaccharides in vaccines is not associated with risk of autism.   Journal of Pediatrics.  2013 Aug;163(2):561-7. doi: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2013.02.001. Epub 2013 Mar 30. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23545349

DeStefano F., Thompson, WW.  MMR vaccine and autism: an update of the scientific evidence. Expert Rev Vaccines. 2004 Feb;3(1):19-22.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14761240

DeStefano F., Thompson, WW.  MMR vaccination and autism: is there a link?  Expert Opinion on Drug Safety.  2002 Jul;1(2):115-20.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12904145

DeStefano, F.  Chen, RT.  Negative association between MMR and autism.  Lancet. 1999 Jun 12;353(9169):1987-8.  http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(99)00160-9/fulltext

DeStefano, F., Chen, RT.  Autism and measles-mumps-rubella vaccination:  controversy laid to rest?  CNS Drugs.  2001. 2001;15(11):831-7.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11700148

D’Souza J., Todd T.  Measles-mumps-rubella vaccine and the development of autism or inflammatory bowel disease: the controversy should end.  Journal of Pedatric Pharmacology and Therapeutics.   2003 Jul;8(3):187-99. doi: 10.5863/1551-6776-8.3.187. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3469143/

D’Souza, Y., Fombonne, E., Ward, BJ.  No evidence of persisting measles virus in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from children with autism spectrum disorder.  Pediatrics.  2006 Oct;118(4):1664-75.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17015560

Doja, A., & Roberts, W. (2006).  Immunizations and autism: A review of the literature.  The Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences, 33(4), 341-346. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17168158

Elliman, D., Bedford, H.   MMR: where are we now?  Archives of Disease in Childhood.   2007 Dec;92(12):1055-7. Epub 2007 Jul 11.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2066086/ 

Farrington, C., Miller, E., & Taylor, B. (2001).  MMR and autism: further evidence against a causal association.  Vaccine, 19(27), 3632-3635. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11395196

Fitzpatrick, M.  The end of the road for the campaign against MMR.  British Journal of General Practice.  2007 Aug;57(541):679.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17688775

Fombonne, E., & Chakrabarti, S. (2001).  No evidence for a new variant of measles-mumps-rubella–induced autism.  Pediatrics, 108(4), e58-e58. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11581466

Fombonne, E., Zakarian, R., Bennett, A., Meng, L., & McLean-Heywood, D. (2006).  Pervasive developmental disorders in Montreal, Quebec, Canada: Prevalence and links with immunizations.  Pediatrics 118(1) e139-e150; doi:10.1542/peds.2005-2993. http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/118/1/e139

García-Fernández, L., Hernández, AV., Suárez Moreno, V., Fiestas, F.  Addressing the controversy regarding the association between thimerosal-containing vaccines and autism.  Revista Peruana de Medicine Experimental Salud Publica. 2013 Apr;30(2):268-74. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23949514

Gentile, I., Bravaccio, C., Bonavolta, R., Zappulo, E., Scarica, S., Riccio, MP., Settimi, A., Portella, G., Pascotta, A., Borgia, G.  Response to measles-mumps-rubella vaccine in children with autism spectrum disorders.  In Vivo 2013 May-Jun;27(3):377-82. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23606694

Glasper, EA.  New evidence reaffirms the safety of the MMR vaccine.  British Journal of Nursing. 2002 Jun 27-Jul 10;11(12):794.  http://www.internurse.com/cgi-bin/go.pl/library/article.cgi?uid=10298;article=BJN_11_12_794_0

Halsey, NA., Hyman, SL.  Measles-mumps-rubella vaccine and autistic spectrum disorder: report from the New Challenges in Childhood Immunizations Conference convened in Oak Brook, Illinois.   June 12-13, 2000.   Pediatrics.  2001 May;107(5):E84.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11331734

Hayney MS.  Vaccine Safety:  no link between thimerosal and autism.  Journal of American Pharmacists Association.  2003. 2004 Nov-Dec;44(6):725-6. http://japha.org/article.aspx?articleid=1039011   

Hertz-Picciotto, I., Green, P., Delwiche, L., Hansen, R., Walker, C., & Pessah, I. (2010).  Blood mercury concentrations in CHARGE Study children with and without autism. Environmental Health Perspectives, 118(1), 161-166. doi:10.1289/ehp.0900736 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20056569

Hensley, E. Briars, L.  Closer look at autism and the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine.  Journal of American Pharmacist’s Association.  2003.  2010 Nov-Dec;50(6):736-41. doi: 10.1331/JAPhA.2010.10004.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21071320 

Heron, J., Golding, J., ALSPAC Study Team.  Thimerosal exposure in infants and developmental disorders: a prospective cohort study in the United Kingdom does not support a causal association.  Pediatrics.  2004 Sep;114(3):577-83. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15342824

Hessel, L.  Mercury in vaccines.  Bulletin of the National Academy of Medicine. 2003;187(8):1501-10.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15146581

Hiroshi, T., Suzumura, S., Shirakizawa, F., Wada, N., Tanaka-Taya, K., Arai, S., Okabe, N., Ichikawa, H., Sato, T.  An epidemiological study on Japanese Autism concerning Routine Childhood Immunization History.  Japanese Journal of Infectious Diseases.  56, 114-117, 2003. http://www0.nih.go.jp/JJID/56/114.pdf

Honda, H., Shimizu, Y., & Rutter, M. (2005).  No effect of MMR withdrawal on the incidence of autism: a total population study.  Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.  46(6), doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2005.01425.x.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15877763

Hornig, M., Briese, T., Bule, T., Bauman, M.L., Lauwers, G., Siemetzki, U., Hummel, K., Rota, PA., Bellini, WJ., O’Leary, JJ., Sheils, O., Alden, E., Pickering, L., Lipkin, W.I.  Lack of association between measles virus vaccine and autism with enteropathy: a case-control study.  2008.  PLoS One, 3(9), e3140. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0003140. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18769550  

Hurley, A., Tadrous, M., Miller, ES.  Thimerosal-containing vaccines and autism: a review of recent epidemiological studies.  Journal of Pediatric Pharmacology and Therapeutics.  2010 Jul-Sep; 15(3): 173-181.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3018252/

Hviid A., Stellfeld, M., Wohlfahrt, J., Melbye, M.   Association between thimerosal-containing vaccine and autism - No causal relationship found.  JAMA. 2003 Oct 1;290(13):1763-6. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14519711

Insitute  of Medicine (US) Immunization Safety Review Committee.  Immunization Safety Review:  Vaccines and Autisms.  Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 2004. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20669467

Iqbal, S., Barile, JP., Thompson, WW., DeStefano, F.  Number of antigens in early childhood vaccines and neuropsychological outcomes at age 7–10 years.  Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety.  2013 Dec;22(12):1263-70. doi: 10.1002/pds.3482.  Epub 2013 Jul 12. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23847024

Jefferson, T., Price, D., Demicheli, V., Bianco, E., European Research Program for Improved Safety Surveillance (EUSAFEVAC) Project.  Unintended events following immunization with MMR: a systematic review.  Vaccine.  2003 Sep 8;21(25-26):3954-60. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12922131

Jick, H., Kaye, JA.  Epidemiology and possible causes of autism.  Pharmacotherapy. 2003 Dec;23(12):1524-30.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14695031

Kaye, J. A., del Mar Melero-Montes, M., & Jick, H.  Mumps, measles, and rubella vaccine and the incidence of autism recorded by general practitioners: a time trend analysis.  2001.  British Medical Journal, 322(7284), 460-463.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1071423/

Klein, K. C., & Diehl, E. B.  Relationship between MMR vaccine and autism.   2004.  Annals of Pharmacotherapy, 38(7-8), 1297-1300.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15173555

Kuwaik, GA., Roberts, W., Zwaigenbaum, L., Bryson, S., Smith, IM., Szatmari, P., Modi, BM., Tanel, N., Brian, J.  Immunization uptake in younger siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder.  Autism.  2014 Feb;18(2):148-55. doi: 10.1177/1362361312459111. Epub 2012 Oct 8. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23045216

Lazoff, T., Zhong, L., Piperni, T., Fombonne, E.  Prevalence of pervasive developmental disorders among children at the English Montreal School Board.  Canadian Journal of Psychiatry.  2010 Nov;55(11):715-20.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21070699

Lingam, R., Simmons, A., Andrews, N., Miller, E., Stowe, J., & Taylor, B. (2003).  Prevalence of autism and parentally reported triggers in a North-east London population.  Archives of Disease in Childhood, 88(8), 666-670.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12876158

Madsen, K.K., Hviid, A., Vestergaard, M., Schendel, D., Wohlfahrt, J., Thorsen, P., Olsen, J., Melbye, M.  A population-based study of measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination and autism.  2002.  The New England Journal of Medicine, 347(19), 1477-82.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12421889

Madsen KM., Hviid, A., Vestergaard, M., Schendel, D., Wohlfahrt, J., Thorsen, P., Olsen, J. Melbye, M.  MMR vaccination and autism--a population-based follow-up study.  Ugeskr Laeger.  2002.  Dec 2;164(49):5741-4.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12523209

Madsen, K.M., Lauritsen, M.B., Pedersen, C.B., Thorsen, P., Plesner, A.M., Andersen, P.H. & Mortensen, P.B.  Thimerosal and the occurrence of autism:  negative ecological evidence from Danish population-based data.  2003.  Pediatrics, 112, 604-606. doi: 10.1542/peds.112.3.204 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12949291

Madsen, KM.  Vestergaard, M.   MMR and Autism:  what is the evidence for a causal association?  Drug Safety.  2004;27(12):831-40. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15366972

Makela, A., Nuorti, J., & Peltola, H. (2002).  Neurologic disorders after measles-mumps-rubella vaccination.  Pediatrics, 110(5), 957-963.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12415036

Marin, M., Broder, KR., Temte, JL., Snider, DE., Seward, JF., (CDC).  Use of combination measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella vaccine: recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP).  MMWR Recommendations and Reports.  2010 May 7;59(RR-3):1-12.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20448530

Marwick, C.  US Report finds no link between MMR and autism.  British Medical Journal.   May 5, 2001; 322(7294): 1083.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1120232/

MacDonald, NE., Pickering, L. Canadian Paediatric Society, Infectious Diseases and Immunization Committee.  Autism Spectrum Disorder:  No causal relationship with vaccines.  Paediatric Child Health 2007;12(5):393-5.  http://www.cps.ca/documents/position/autistic-spectrum-disorder-no-causal-relationship-with-vaccines

Meadows, M.  IOM Report:  no link between vaccines and autism.  FDA Consumer. 2004 Sep-Oct;38(5):18-9.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15595144

Meilleur, AA., Fombonne, E.  Regression of language and non-language skills in pervasive development disorders.  Journal of Intellectual Disability Research.  2009 Feb;53(2):115-24. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2788.2008.01134.x. Epub 2008 Nov 27. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19054269

Miller, E.  Measles-mumps-rubella vaccine and the development of autism - epidemiologic evidence against such an association is compelling.  Seminars in Pediatric Infectious Diseases.  2003 Jul;14(3):199-206.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12913832

Miller, E., Andrews, N., Grant, A., Stowe, J., Taylor, B.  No evidence of an association between MMR vaccine and gait disturbance.  Archives of Disease in Childhood.  2005.  Mar;90(3):292-6. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15723921

Miller, L., Reynolds J.  Autism and vaccination – the current evidence.  Journals for Specialists in Pediatric Nursing.  2009 Jul;14(3):166-72. doi: 10.1111/j.1744-6155.2009.00194.x. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19614825

Mrozek-Budzyn, D., Kiełtyka, A.  The relationship between MMR vaccination and the number of new cases of autism in children.  Przeglad epidemiologiczny.  2008;62(3):597-604. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19108524

Mrozek-Budzyn, D., Kiełtyka, A.,  Majewska, R.  Lack of association between measles-mumps-rubella vaccination and autism in children:  a case-control study.  Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal.  2010 May;29(5):397-400. doi: 10.1097/INF.0b013e3181c40a8a. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19952979

Mrozek-Budzyn, D., Majewska, R. Kiełtyka, A. & Augustyniak, M.  Lack of association between thimerosal-containing vaccines and autism.  Przeglad epidemiologiczny.  2011, 65(3), 491-495. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22184954

Muhle, R., Trentacoste, SV., Rapin, I.  The genetics of autism.  Pediatrics. 2004 May;113(5):e472-86.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15121991

Nelson, KB., Bauman, ML.  Thimerosal and autism?  Pediatrics.  2003.  Mar;111(3):674-9.http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/111/3/674.long

Offit, PA., Coffin, SE.  Communicating science to the public:  MMR vaccine and autism.  Vaccine.  2003.  Dec 8;22(1):1-6. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14604564

Stratton, K., Ford, A., Rusch, E., Wright Clayton, E.  Committee to Review Adverse Effects of Vaccines; Institute of Medicine.  Adverse Effects of Vaccines: Evidence and Causality.  Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2012. (a review of more than ONE THOUSAND studies).  http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=13164

Patja, A., Davidkin, I., Kurki, T.,  Marku, J., Kallio, T., Valle, M., Peltola, H.  Serious adverse events after measles-mumps-rubella vaccination during a fourteen-year prospective follow-up.  2000.  Pediatric Infectious Diseases Journal.  2000;19:1127-34.  http://www.nccn.net/~wwithin/MMR.pdf

Parker, S.K., Schwartz, B., Todd, J., Pickering, L.K.  Thimerosal-containing vaccines and autistic spectrum disorder: A critical review of published original data.  2004.  Pediatrics, 114, 793-804. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15342856

Parker, S. Todd, J., Schwartz., B., Pickering, L.K.  Thimerosal-containing vaccines and autistic spectrum disorder: A critical review of published original data.  2005.  Pediatrics. Jan;115(1):200.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15630018

Pichichero, ME., Cernichiari, E., Lopreiato, J., Treanor, J.  Mercury concentrations and metabolism in infants receiving vaccines containing thiomersal: a descriptive study.  Lancet. 2002 Nov 30;360(9347):1737-41.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12480426

Peltola, H., Patja, A., Leinikki, P., Valle, M., Davidkin, I., & Paunio, M.  No evidence for measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine-associated inflammatory bowel disease or autism in a 14-year prospective study.  1998.  Lancet, 351(9112), 1327. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9643797

Plotkin, S., Gerber, J. S., & Offit, P. A. (2009).  Vaccines and autism: a tale of shifting hypotheses.  Clinical Infectious Diseases, 48(4), 456-461. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2908388/

Price, C. S., Thompson, W. W., Goodson, B., Weintraub, E. S., Croen, L. A., Hinrichsen, V. L., DeStefano, F.  Prenatal and infant exposure to thimerosal from vaccines and immunoglobulins and risk of autism.  2010.  Pediatrics, 126(4), 656-664. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20837594

Roehr B.  Study finds no association between vaccines and autism.  2013.  British Medical Journal.  Apr 3;346:f2095. doi: 10.1136/bmj.f2095. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23554072

Richler, J., Luyster, R., Risi, S., Hsu, W. L., Dawson, G., Bernier, R., ... & Lord, C. (2006). Is there a ‘regressive phenotype’ of Autism Spectrum Disorder associated with the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine?  A CPEA Study.  Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 36(3), 299-316. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16729252

Rumke, HC., Visser, HK.  Childhood vaccinations anno 2004. II. The real and presumed side effects of vaccination.  Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Geneeskunde.  2004 Feb 21;148(8):364-71. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15032089  

Schechter, R., Grether, JK.  Continuing increases in autism reported to California's developmental services system: mercury in retrograde.  Archives of General Psychiatry.  2008 Jan;65(1):19-24. doi: 10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2007.1. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18180424

Schultz, ST.  Does thimerosal or other mercury exposure increase the risk for autism?  A review of the current literature.  Acta Neurobiologiae Experimentalis. 2010;70(2):187-95. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20628442

Shevell, M.,Fombonne, E. Autism and MMR vaccination or thimerosal exposure: an urban legend?  Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences.  2006 Nov;33(4):339-40. http://cjns.metapress.com/content/xqxx6ha3ufaeuunv/?genre=article&issn=0317-1671&volume=33&issue=4&spage=339

Smeeth, L., Cook, C., Fombonne, E., Heavey, L., Rodrigues, L. C., Smith, P. G., & Hall, A. J. (2004). MMR vaccination and pervasive developmental disorders: a case-control study.  The Lancet, 364(9438), 963-969. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15364187

Smith, M. J., & Woods, C. R.  On-time vaccine receipt in the first year does not adversely affect neuropsychological outcomes.  Pediatrics.  2010. 125(6), 1134-1141. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20498176

Solt, I., Bornstein, J.  Childhood vaccines and autism – much ado about nothing?  Harefuah. 2010 Apr;149(4):251-5, 260.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20812501

Singh, VK. Rivas, WH.  Detection of antinuclear and antilaminin antibodies in autistic children who received thimerosal-containing vaccines  - mercury as in thimerosal-containing vaccines is likely not related to autoimmune phenomenon in autism.   Journal of Biomedical Science.  2004 Sep-Oct;11(5):607-10.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15316135   

Steffenburg, S., Steffenburg, U., Gillberg, C.  Autism spectrum disorders in children with active epilepsy and learning disability:  comorbidity, pre and perinatal backgound, and seizure characteristics.   Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology.  2003 Nov;45(11):724-30. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14580127   

Stehr-Green, P., Tull, P., Stellfeld, M., Mortenson, PB., Simpson, D.  Autism and thimerosal-containing vaccines: lack of consistent evidence for an association.   American Journal of Preventive Medicine.  2003 Aug;25(2):101-6.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12880876

Taylor, B.  Vaccines and the changing epidemiology of autism.  Child: Care, Health and Development Journal.  2006 Sep;32(5):511-9.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16919130

Taylor, B., Miller, E., Farrington, C., Petropoulos, M., Favot-Mayaud, I., Li, J., & Waight, P. A. (1999).  Autism and measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine: no epidemiological evidence for a causal association.  Lancet, 353(9169), 2026-20. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10376617

Taylor, B., Miller, E., Lingam, R., Andrews, N., Simmons, A., & Stowe, J.  Measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination and bowel problems or developmental regression in children with autism: population study.  2002.  British Medical Journal, 324(7334), 393-396. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11850369

Taylor, B., Lingam, R., Simmons, A., Stowe, J., Miller, E., Andrews, N.  Autism and MMR vaccination in North London: no causal relationship.   2002.  Molecular Psychiatry.                   7 Suppl2:S7-8.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12142932

Thjodleifsson, B., Davidsdóttir, K., Agnarsson, U., Sigthórsson, G., Kjeld, M., Bjarnason, I.  Effect of Pentavac and measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccination on the intestine.  Gut.  2002 Dec;51(6):816-7.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12427783

Thompson, WW., Price, C., Goodson, B., Shay, DK., Benson, P., Hinrichsen, BL., Lewis, E., Eriksen, E., Ray, P., Marcy, SM., Dunn, J., Jackson, LA., Lieu, TA., Black, S., Stewart, G., Weintraub, ES., Davis, RL., DeStefano, F.,  Vaccine Data Link Safety Team.  Early thimerosal exposure and neuropsychological outcomes at 7 to 10 years.  New England Journal of Medicine.  2007 Sep 27;357(13):1281-92.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17898097

Uchiyama, T., Kurosawa, M., & Inaba, Y.  MMR-vaccine and regression in autism spectrum              disorders: negative results presented from Japan.  2007.  Journal of Autism and Developmental       Disorders, 37(2), 210-217.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16865547

Uno, Y., Uchiyama, T., Kurosawa, M., Aleksic, B., & Ozaki, N.  The combined measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines and the total number of vaccines are not associated with development of autism spectrum disorder:  first case–control study in Asia.  2012.  Vaccine, 30(28), 4292-4298. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22521285

Verstraeten T., Davis, RL., DeStefano, F., Lieu, TA., Rhodes, PH., Black, SB., Shinefield, H., Chen RT. Safety of thimerosal-containing vaccines: a two-phased study of computerized health maintenance organization databases.   Pediatrics.   2003 Nov;112(5):1039-48. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14595043

Whitehouse, AJ., Maybery, M., Wray, JA., Hickey, M.  No association between early gastrointestinal problems and autistic-like traits in the general population.  Developmental Medicine and Childhood Neurology.  2011.  May;53(5):457-62. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-8749.2011.03915.x. Epub 2011 Mar 21.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21418197

Weisser, K., Bauer, K., Volkers, P., Keller-Stanislawski, B.  Thimerosal and immunizations - evidence does not support the hypothesis of a potential relationship between neurodevelopmental disorders and thiomersal-containing vaccines.  2004. Bundesgesundheitsblatt Gesundheitsforschung Gesundheitsschutz.  Dec;47(12):1165-74. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15583887

MMR vaccine is not linked to Crohn’s disease or autism.  Commun Dis Rep CDR Weekly. 1998 Mar 27;8(13):113.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9592960

KISS 3/3/2014 The Dreamboat

Measles love to travel

These days, you can catch them on planes and buses, but also in a very posh location - the Concordia class cruise liner Costa Pacifica has had 7 confirmed cases of measles amongst its crew members, 40 are in quarantine in Italy, where the boat made an unscheduled stop.
Check your vaccination records now, unless you want to bring home a souvenir...

KISS 2/27/14 Good and bad measles news

1. PSA: If you work in a cancer center, get your MMRs

A research student at the Hillman Cancer Center infected with measles has exposed 300 co-workers and cancer patients to this highly contagious disease. 15 unvaccinated colleagues have been asked to stay at home until next week, over 100 non immune patients were seen and some have had to be treated with anti-measles immunoglobulins to prevent infection. This is a total nightmare scenario, easily prevented by getting your MMRs. So if you are about to start work in a cancer research center (or hospital, or nursery, or school), or you are planning to travel abroad, check that you have had 2x MMRs. Do not be that index case!

2. Carribean has not seen measles transmission since 2002

Not that I would encourage anyone to travel unvaccinated, but you would be unlikely to bring back measles from the Carribean, as PAHO reports today. Before the establishment of PAHO/WHO’s Expanded Immunization Program in 1977, more than 250,000 measles cases and 12,000 deaths were recorded yearly in the Americas, so this is an amazing, life saving success of measles containing vaccines/MMR.

KISS 2/24/14 Media storm about "polio like illness"

I was just about to write about this, since less than 24 hours after the embargo was lifted on a meeting presentation on a handful of children presenting, over the course of a year, with irreversible paralysis of the limbs, and of whom 2 were found to harbour an enterovirus, the first conspiracy theories have already popped up (this is just polio by another name, yada yada).

However, the Skeptical Raptor has done a perfect job - so please read this

KISS 2/23 More measles in California

Crowne Hill Elementary reports two more cases of measles amongst the 10 unvaccinated students excluded from the school last week. I wonder whether we'll ever learn how many were patients of Bob Sears, whose practise lies a mere 58 miles from the school?

In any case, let's hope none of the patients have a little sibling in River Springs Charter Kindergarten, 7 miles away, where a whopping 22% of pupils, 117, have a personal belief exemption from vaccination:

KISS 2/22 : Mostly measles with a side of flu

Since both ScienceMom and I are strapped for time at the moment, I thought we'd try to do a series of short posts on current vaccine related themes - keeping it short and simple KISS.

1. Max is dead

Parents of children with SSPE, the always fatal measles complication, are getting more vocal in their support for vaccines, and therefore, we get to know the names of their children. Max caught measles in late 1994, when he was just half a year old, probably from older kids in his brother's daycare. He recovered seemingly well, but in 2004, 10 years later, he suddenly had memory lapses and was diagnosed with SSPE soon after. In 2006, Max fell into a wake coma - the family took care of him at home as long as possible, but in early January, Max was in such bad, intractable pain that his family placed him in hospice care. They write:

Maxi's condition has constantly worsened over the past weeks. He is barely reacting to his environment and if even he does, he would often start crying and screaming at things that definitely could not cause any pain such as music, wind or when you just caress him.

We are at the end. We cannot get the pain under control, we dare hardly just to touch him. For us parents it means a torture and for Maxi an absolutely intolerable situation. We have therefore decided to give Maxi in the care of a small hospice not far from here. It is a beautiful house, almost like a living community, located in a residential area. We very much hope that they will find the right pain management and that he no longer has to suffer. Today is the day.

Almost nine years of caring for Maxi within his family are coming to an end. We are very sad and it breaks our hearts, but we just can go on no more.

On the 12th of February 2014, Max passed away. Finally. He never had a chance.

2. Increase in measles cases in California

Really, this should not happen at all, however, unvaccinated adults and children are exposing Californians to measles. I wonder whether we'll ever learn whether the Temecula measles case was Dr. Bob's patient, like the patient who started the 2008 San Diego outbreak. As a reminder - check your immunity for measles. If you are not immune, get the MMR.

3. 2013/14 Flu vaccine effectiveness released

The CDC has released the preliminary vaccine effectiveness for this year's flu season (approximately 61%). Tara Haelle at Red Wine and Apple Sauce has summarized the situation in a thorough blog: Flu is really bad this year - and the vaccine's pretty good.

Of seizures and celebrity: Evan’s grandmother speaks up

 Reposted from Autism News Beat:

Jenny McCarthy is the face of vaccine rejectionism in America. The story she tells of how her son, Evan, became autistic after his MMR shot is arguably the origin myth for the anti-vaccine movement, and the legions of  “Warrior Mothers” who follow her. Now, a competing narrative from someone else close to Evan calls the myth into question.
“I have such tremendous guilt for not speaking up when I knew something wasn’t right,” says Joyce Bulifant, Evan’s paternal grandmother. “But I was afraid of Jenny, and didn’t want to be the interfering mother-in-law. I was more concerned about me than taking care of Evan.” She agreed to speak with AutismNewsBeat.
McCarthy’s many critics have pointed to her numerous contradictions. She told Oprah Winfrey, for example, and there is “no doubt in my mind” that the MMR vaccine caused her son Evan’s autism. But she has also written that Evan showed signs of delay by six months – one year before the shot.
“I don’t think she’s very fond of me, but I love her because she is Evan’s mother. It makes me sad that we don’t have a true relationship,” says Bulifant. “That makes me very sad.”

The elf on the shelf
Bulifant is no stranger to Hollywood. The Virginia native has been acting for more than 50 years, and is well known for playing Murray Slaughter’s wife, Marie, on the Mary Tyler Moore Show. She was also a regular on The Match Game, and appeared in Airplane! (1980). She lives in Palm Springs with her fourth husband, actor and composer Roger Perry. Joyce has 15 grandchildren, and they all call her LaLa. When she speaks of Evan, who was born in May, 2002, it’s easy to imagine he is the favorite.
“Evan was here for Thanksgiving, and he left a note on my fridge that I just can’t take down. It reads ‘Dear LaLa, I hope that you love me so much. Thanks, Evan. I love you to the moon and back.
P.S., the Elf is in the freezer with turkey.”
The elf is a small, felt doll that sits on a shelf.
“He used to be afraid of the Elf on the Shelf, but last year he started moving it around the house, hiding it in different places and making it reappear. He said it had magical powers,” says Bulifant. “I love playing magic with him. He’s so very dear. It’s like he has a sixth sense that I don’t have.”
That sixth sense sparks her sense of wonder. “I am dyslexic and so is my son (Evan’s father, John),” she says. “We do compensate when we don’t have all the typical skills. The compensation part fascinates me. T
o me Evan is magical and wonderful and I love him to death.”
Bulifant’s conversation is sprinkled with sweet and simple stories about the boy she loves.  One time at L.A.’s Getty Museum, she said, Bulifant and Evan were throwing quarters into a fountain to make a wish
“I wish you would always love me,” said Evan.
“I wish you would always love me,” she said.
“LaLa, that’s my wish!”
Bulifant said she was concerned about Evan’s months before his first birthday.

As “Marie” on The Mary Tyler Moore Show

“I remember Christmas, 2002 (age seven months). I was bathing him in the sink, and trying to get him to giggle and respond to me, but he seemed detached. My family was a little concerned but I didn’t say anything to Jenny because I know children develop at different times. But I was concerned.”
And then there was the incident in the park, another example of how difficult it is to see autism in a loved one.
“We took him to the park, and he started running away from us. We called, but he didn’t even turn around. We wondered if his hearing was impaired,” she says. “That didn’t seem right. So I was testing him in the car seat on the way home. ‘Where is your nose? Where are your ears?’ I asked Evan. He didn’t respond, and I wondered what was going on. Then, when we pulled up in the driveway, Evan suddenly pointed to his mouth and said ‘mouth’, and then he pointed to his ears and said ‘ears.’ It was like he was saying ‘Silly gramma, I know where my mouth and my ears are!’”
Joyce has been active in dyslexia education and advocacy for years, and she called on her research contacts for help. “By the time Evan was 18 months old, I was convinced he had autism,” she says.
Bulifant was wary of approaching McCarthy, who had written two books by that time that made it clear she didn’t appreciate parenting advice from others.
“She wrote ‘I don’t want anyone telling me what to do as a mother,’” says Bulifant. “I was trying to be a good mother-in-law and a good grandmother at the same time. I don’t think I even said anything to John. Everything I read pointed to autism.”
One day, while John was off directing in North Carolina, and Bulifant was staying at Jenny’s Los Angeles home, the “Good Grandmother” spoke up, and asked the nanny about Evan’s development. The nanny reacted defensively.
“I want to ask you something. Have you noticed that Evan doesn’t always connect with me?“ asked Bulifant.
“Jenny is a wonderful mother and he always connects with me.”
“He does watch a lot of television, ” said Bulifant, “and I’m wondering if that means he’s not used to interacting.”
“Evan is fine and always interacts with me. “
Bulifant retreated. “I thought maybe I was just me being a silly grandmother.”
She and her husband left the house for a few hours, and when they came back nobody was home.
“I was terrified that something had happened to Evan.” Then John called, and said that Jenny was “very upset “about the conversation with the nanny.
“You just can’t say anything about Evan,” John continued. “She gets very upset.” He said McCarthy would not come back home until Bulifant and her husband left the house.
Which they did.
Back home, Bulifant wrote a letter of apology to McCarthy. “Jenny wrote back saying ‘You shouldn’t have said anything to the nanny. You should have said it to me.’ And she was right, I should have. I was just afraid. I didn’t want to be the interfering mother-in-law.
“It was very wrong, and that is something I have to live with,” says Bulifant.
McCarthy has told a similar story:

Others had noticed something different about Evan, too. “My mother-in-law said, ‘He doesn’t really show affection,’ and I threw her out of the house,” Jenny says. “I went to a play gym, and the woman [there] said, ‘Does your son have a brain problem?’ … [I said], ‘How dare you say something about my child? I love him. He’s perfect. You can’t say that about a child.’ I just had no idea.”

Bulifant says that after being “thrown out of the house,” she and McCarthy have only spoken a few times, and for the last two years have communicated only through occasional texts.

Seizures and celebrity
Evan’s autism, and Bulifant’s collision with McCarthy’s “strong personality” created another issue. It’s what she calls her “moral problem” for not speaking up sooner about McCarthy’s well-publicized anti-vaccine views. “I know enough about Evan that if I spoke up sooner, more kids would be vaccinated, and fewer would have died or gotten very sick. We’ve seen cases of measles in Texas, and whooping cough killed ten children in California. It breaks my heart. That’s the biggest moral issue in my whole life,” she says.
Vaccines are at the center of McCarthy’s shifting narrative. In one version she says “the soul was gone from Evan’s eyes” shortly after the boy’s MMR vaccine. Here is what she told Oprah in September, 2007:

“Right before his MMR shot, I said to the doctor, ‘I have a very bad feeling about this shot. This is the autism shot, isn’t it?’ And he said, ‘No, that is ridiculous. It is a mother’s desperate attempt to blame something,’ and he swore at me, and then the nurse gave [Evan] the shot,” she says. “And I remember going, ‘Oh, God, I hope he’s right.’ And soon thereafter—boom—the soul’s gone from his eyes.”

McCarthy’s narrative also includes two seizure episodes suffered by Evan, leading to an autism diagnosis. In Belly Laughs, she wrote Evan was diagnosed with a febrile seizure at 2 ½, and three weeks later, he suffered seizures which led to a cardiac arrest, and a diagnosis of epilepsy. By this telling, stereotypical autistic behaviors followed.
Bulifant says the first seizure came in the spring of 2004. Oddly, the news triggered in her a sense of relief.
“I knew that seizures are associated with autism, and that Evan would finally get the diagnosis he needed and finally get help. I wasn’t alarmed.”
The second seizure occurred the evening before Easter Sunday, in Bulifant’s home. “I had an Easter basket for Evan,” she says.
“It was the night before Easter. Evan was so tired that he fell into my arms. I laid him on his bed and took off his shoes and when I looked at him I saw his little eyes rolled into the back of his head. I yelled for John to come quickly. We called 911. John held Evan’s hand and said ‘Don’t worry, you are in a safe place.”
Paramedics arrived. “Jenny was a mess. I now know what ‘wringing your hands mean’, because that’s what I was doing.” The EMTs “bagged” the boy because his breathing was shallow, says Bulifant, then took him to the local emergency room. Jenny rode in the ambulance. Anxious hours followed in the waiting room while doctors stabilized Evan and then allowed family to visit.
Evan’s first words were “Look at that air conditioning vent.”
Jenny and John left Palm Springs with Evan and drove straight to Cedars Sinai Hospital in LA, where he was diagnosed with epilepsy. Joyce felt like screaming – “No, it’s autism!” She had had enough.
“I said to John ‘I now insist that you go to UCLA to see a neurologist.’” By McCarthy’s telling, it took the neurologist 20 minutes to arrive at a diagnosis.
A September, 2007 People Magazine article is typical of how McCarthy tells the story:

This was another seizure, she thought, “but this one is different. He’s not convulsing.” Instead, “foam was coming out of his mouth, (and) and after a few minutes, I felt his heart stop,” she said.
When the paramedics arrived, she told them about Evan’s heart. “They looked at me like I was crazy. I don’t know why,” she said. Only, as they discovered for themselves, the child’s heart was no longer beating, so they administered CPR.
“Why, God? Why me … Why? Why? Why?” McCarthy recalled thinking in those desperate moments, but then, she said, an inner voice came over her. “Everything’s going to come out okay.”
Because there was no pediatric hospital near her parents’ home, Evan and McCarthy drove three hours back to Los Angeles, during which time Evan suffered several more seizures.

Dramatic effect
Another unfortunate dimension to McCarthy’s assault on children’s health is her endorsement of unproven, costly, and potentially harmful alternative therapies for autism. She is front and center at the annual AutismOne conference, where speakers have recommended bleach enemas and chemical castration. Her charitable foundation, Generation Rescue, actively promotes  “a wealth of biomedical therapies that treat the underlying issues of autism inside the body.” These include chelation, hyperbaric oxygen, anti-fungals, anti-virals, and cannabis.
When asked what she thinks of the autism cure industry that Jenny has captained, Bulifant demurs. “I think there is value in eating right and exercise for all children,” she says, her voice trailing off.
But what about telling autistic children they are vaccine injured, or that the soul has been sucked from their eyes? Jenny and her angry mob, as she has called her followers, regularly describe their children as train wrecks, zombies, and worse.
“Jenny says things for dramatic effect,” says Bulifant “I don’t understand that type of thinking. Evan is incredible. One of our favorite things to do is to go looking for lizards. He spots them where I can never see them. I ask him ‘How did you even begin to see that?’”
Still, Bulifant doesn’t hesitate to describe McCarthy as “a very good mother, very caring and trying to do the best for Evan,” adding “I don’t know why she says those things.” She describes her son as good father, and regrets how John has been portrayed as distant and uncaring.
“John never spoke up when Jenny said unkind things about him. I asked him why, and he said it would turn into another ‘Hollywood he said – she said’, and that he wanted to be a gentleman about it, and didn’t want to hurt Evan.”
Does she worry that Evan may one day think he lost his soul to autism?
“I hope that Evan never realizes the things have been said about him. I just don’t want him to ever be hurt. I don’t know if he will ever realize what has been said about him. I hope not.”
Bulifant tries to expose her magical grandson to the arts whenever possible. “I took him to see Billy Elliot, and he loved that. His little mind is working all the time. ”But those bonding opportunities have dwindled since McCarthy moved to the Chicago suburb of Geneva last year. Now, Bulifant watches The View to see new pictures of Evan, and to hear the latest stories.
“Jenny is doing well on The View,” she says.
- by Ken Reibel

_____________________

Update from Joyce Bulifant:

I understand and have great empathy for parents of autistic children who want to know the reason for their children’s autism. They understandably latch onto anything they can find as a reason. That might be what Jenny did when Dr. Wakefield gave incorrect information about vaccines. I don’t think she did this maliciously. She just needed a reason.

If people know Evan showed signs of autism before his MMR vaccine, parents wouldn’t be afraid to vaccinate their children, thereby saving lives and much suffering.