PEDIATRICS Vol. 103 No. 3 March 1999, pp. 694-696
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To the Editor.
We are indebted to Dr Weibel for reviewing the cases of encephalopathy or death after measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccinations that have been submitted to the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (NVICP).1 During a 23-year period, 48 cases were considered to have had an acute encephalopathy followed by either permanent brain impairment or death. A statistically significant clustering of cases occurred in the first week (days 8, 9) after the vaccine injection. This nonrandom distribution of cases was interpreted to indicate that, "in the absence of obvious bias and confounding," measles vaccine could cause death or permanent brain damage.
Other explanations for this statistically significant clustering