Scientists exploring a hypothesis that a measles vaccine caused autism report they could not find any link and hope their study will encourage parents to vaccinate their children. Parental concerns over vaccinationd against measles has contributed to a rising numbers of cases in the US and Europe.

Public health officials have been stressing the safety of the combined measles-mumps-rubella, or MMR, shot and other childhood vaccines in the face of opposition from some groups that claim vaccines may cause autism. The Institute of Medicine, however, has issued several definitive reports showing no connection between autism and any vaccines.

This study, which was published in PLoS, attempted to replicate a 1998 study by a team led by Andrew Wakefield, then of Britain’s Royal Free Hospital, in the Lancet medical journal that triggered an international scare by suggesting the vaccine was linked to autism and gastrointestinal problems. Wakefield is undergoing disciplinary action for professional misconduct by the UK’s General Medical Council and 10 of his collaborators formally withdrew their original study.

Scientists at Columbia University and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention looked for evidence of genetic material from the measles virus in intestinal tissue samples taken from 25 children with autism who also had GI problems. They compared these to samples from 13 children of similar ages who had GI problems but no autism.

The samples were analyzed in three labs that were not told which came from the children with autism. One lab had been involved in the original study suggesting a link between measles virus and autism. “We found no difference in children who had GI complaints and no autism and children who had autism but no GI complaints,” Ian Lipkin of Columbia University told reporters in a telephone briefing.

The team also collected data about the children’s health and immunization histories from parents and physicians to see if vaccinations preceded either their autism or bowel trouble. “We found no relationship between the timing of MMR vaccine and the onset of either GI complaints or autism,” Mady Hornig, also of Columbia, said in a statement.

But the study did find evidence that children with autism have persistent bowel troubles that should be addressed. “No longer can mainstream medicine ignore parents’ claims of clinically significant GI distress,” Rick Rollens, a parent and autism research advocate, tells Reuters. He commended the researchers for their work but adds, “This study by itself does not exonerate the role of all vaccines.”

The CDC estimates that about one in every 150 children has autism or a related disorder such as Asperger’s syndrome — 560,000 people up to age 21 in the United States.

Source: Reuters