measles -autism linkage myth was based on false data and speculations
WHO has, recently, said that there is no linkage between measles and autism.Several large scale studies has debunked measles -autism linkage myth.There is no association between autism and the measles jab; that measles -autism linkage myth has been debunked, Dr. O’Brien said, noting that the study that started the falsehood, was based on erroneous data.
Nonetheless, in recent years vaccine coverage has stalled, at 85 per cent. This is far short of the 95 per cent needed to prevent outbreaks and leaves many people susceptible to the disease. Second-dose coverage stands at 67 per cent.
Emergency Manager Magazine team thinks that measles -autism linkage myth has done damage as presently vaccine coverage is 85% whereas 95% is needed to prevent outbreaks and effectively contain the disease.
Countries should also identify and address all communities that are under-immunized, advised Dr. Katrina Kretsinger, Medical Officer in the Expanded Programme on Immunization at WHO.
“Some populations are more at risk than others” she said. “Children, migrants, refugees and poor populations.”
Although WHO is working in affected regions with ministries of health it won’t commit to a compulsory vaccination recommendation.
“It’s up to the countries to implement vaccination programmes,” Dr. Kretsinger suggested. “Some have made it mandatory for children to be vaccinated in order to attend school.”
Before the introduction of the measles vaccine in 1963, outbreaks and epidemics occurred every two to three years, causing an estimated 2.6 million deaths every year.
Myth of measles-autism linkage and measles vaccine
The myth of linkage of autism with measles started back in 1990s. In 1995,Lancet published an article by a team of British researchers which claimed to have found link between measles-mumps-rubella vaccine (MMR) and bowel disease .They claimed that individuals who have taken MMR vaccine have more chances of getting bowel disease than individuals who had not received MMR.
One of these researchers,gastroenterologist Andrew Wakefield, MD,further speculated that continuous infection with vaccine virus caused disruption of the intestinal tissue which might cause bowel disease and neuropsychiatric disease (specifically, autism).
Some others like Fudenberg, and Gupta in separate articles also speculated about this relationship. However, no large scale study covering large sample size in different geographical domain has been done to establish this connection.
Big study killed Measles-Autism linkage myth
In a very big size study 95,727 children,which included 15000 unvacinated children at age 2 years and 8000 unvaccinated at age 5years, were included for study of health records.About 2000 high risk children from families with history of autism were also included.
This study analyzed autism rates and MMR vaccination at ages 2, 3, 4 and 5 years.
The researchers concluded that there is no increased risk of autism with immunization at any age. On the opposite, autism rates were found lower in the vaccinated groups .
This study was published in JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association in April,2015. Even after this study many other studies debunked this myth of linkage of autism and measles vaccination.
The international autism advocacy group Autism Speaks (https://www.autismspeaks.org) also denies this linkage.
measles -autism linkage myth was based on false data and speculations
WHO has, recently, said that there is no linkage between measles and autism.Several large scale studies has debunked measles -autism linkage myth.There is no association between autism and the measles jab; that measles -autism linkage myth has been debunked, Dr. O’Brien said, noting that the study that started the falsehood, was based on erroneous data.
Nonetheless, in recent years vaccine coverage has stalled, at 85 per cent. This is far short of the 95 per cent needed to prevent outbreaks and leaves many people susceptible to the disease. Second-dose coverage stands at 67 per cent.
Emergency Manager Magazine team thinks that measles -autism linkage myth has done damage as presently vaccine coverage is 85% whereas 95% is needed to prevent outbreaks and effectively contain the disease.
Countries should also identify and address all communities that are under-immunized, advised Dr. Katrina Kretsinger, Medical Officer in the Expanded Programme on Immunization at WHO.
“Some populations are more at risk than others” she said. “Children, migrants, refugees and poor populations.”
Although WHO is working in affected regions with ministries of health it won’t commit to a compulsory vaccination recommendation.
“It’s up to the countries to implement vaccination programmes,” Dr. Kretsinger suggested. “Some have made it mandatory for children to be vaccinated in order to attend school.”
Before the introduction of the measles vaccine in 1963, outbreaks and epidemics occurred every two to three years, causing an estimated 2.6 million deaths every year.
Myth of measles-autism linkage and measles vaccine
The myth of linkage of autism with measles started back in 1990s. In 1995,Lancet published an article by a team of British researchers which claimed to have found link between measles-mumps-rubella vaccine (MMR) and bowel disease .They claimed that individuals who have taken MMR vaccine have more chances of getting bowel disease than individuals who had not received MMR.
One of these researchers,gastroenterologist Andrew Wakefield, MD,further speculated that continuous infection with vaccine virus caused disruption of the intestinal tissue which might cause bowel disease and neuropsychiatric disease (specifically, autism).
Some others like Fudenberg, and Gupta in separate articles also speculated about this relationship. However, no large scale study covering large sample size in different geographical domain has been done to establish this connection.
Big study killed Measles-Autism linkage myth
In a very big size study 95,727 children,which included 15000 unvacinated children at age 2 years and 8000 unvaccinated at age 5years, were included for study of health records.About 2000 high risk children from families with history of autism were also included.
This study analyzed autism rates and MMR vaccination at ages 2, 3, 4 and 5 years.
The researchers concluded that there is no increased risk of autism with immunization at any age. On the opposite, autism rates were found lower in the vaccinated groups .
This study was published in JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association in April,2015. Even after this study many other studies debunked this myth of linkage of autism and measles vaccination.
The international autism advocacy group Autism Speaks (https://www.autismspeaks.org) also denies this linkage.
