Published online October 2, 2006
PEDIATRICS Vol. 118 No. 4 October 2006, pp. 1744-1745 (doi:10.1542/peds.2006-2252)
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow P3Rs: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when P3Rs are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow E-mail this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My File Cabinet
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (3)
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Katz, S. L.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Katz, S. L.
Related Collections
Right arrow Infectious Disease & Immunity

COMMENTARY

Has the Measles-Mumps-Rubella Vaccine Been Fully Exonerated?

Samuel L. Katz, MD

Division of Pediatric Infectious Disease, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina

Abbreviations: MMR, measles-mumps-rubella • ASD, autism spectrum disorder

The first 20% of the full text of this article appears below.

Initiated by a report in 1998 by Wakefield et al1 that the onset of a syndrome of ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia and nonspecific colitis accompanied by pervasive developmental disorder had appeared shortly after receipt of measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine by 8 children, the vaccine was soon indicted as the etiology of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). Subsequent reports elaborated on this theory, and several laboratories claimed to have detected measles virus or its genome in intestinal biopsies as well as peripheral blood mononuclear cells from such autistic children.2–4 Other reports described elevated levels of measles antibodies in children with autism.5 In this issue of Pediatrics, D’Souza et al6 present their detailed, careful laboratory studies that refute these claims and explain the errors that led to them.

Within a short time after the initial report by Wakefield et al, many parents in the United Kingdom and the United States opted to refuse the MMR vaccine for their infants and children. One explanation offered by the original reporters was that simultaneous MMR vaccination might lead to an aberrant immune response resulting in persistent infection and increased permeability of an inflamed gastrointestinal tract. Such conditions permitted the transport of opiate-like peptides to the central nervous system resulting in the autism syndromes.7 These claims occurred at a time of recognition that reports of children with . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Address correspondence to Samuel L. Katz, MD, Duke University Medical Center, Division of Pediatric Infectious Disease, Box 2925, Durham NC 27710. E-mail: katz0004@mc.duke.edu




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 CVIHome page
C. Fu, J. Liang, and M. Wang
Matched Case-Control Study of Effectiveness of Live, Attenuated S79 Mumps Virus Vaccine against Clinical Mumps
Clin. Vaccine Immunol., September 1, 2008; 15(9): 1425 - 1428.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 PediatricsHome page
C. P. Johnson, S. M. Myers, and and the Council on Children With Disabilities
Identification and Evaluation of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders
Pediatrics, November 1, 2007; 120(5): 1183 - 1215.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]