Megan Dart

Biology 1615
Lack of Association between Measles Virus Vaccine and Autism with
Enteropathy: A Case-Control Study
MMR is a live vaccine that was developed by Maurice Hilleman. It
immunizes people against measles, mumps, and rubella. Autism is a chronic
mental condition where the person often times has a hard time communicating and
forming relationships with others. There are too forms of autism; there is high
functioning where a person can usually take care of themselves and may even live
a normal life. Then there is low functioning where a person usually cannot
perform normal daily functions and will always need adult supervision and care.
In 1998 people started reporting that the MMR vaccine was causing Autism
in young children. People claimed that after their child received the MMR
immunization their child started having gastrointestinal problems and were later
diagnosed with Autism. Some researchers did a study on 47 children to determine
if the MMR was causing Autism.
Researchers gathered 47 children of all ages and races to test the MMR
vaccine on. The total number of immunizations received was not related to the age
or sex of the child. 3 potential cases dropped out prior to colonoscopy, and .1
potential case and 2 potential controls completed colonoscopy but had incomplete
clinical assessments.

The MMR series consists of 2 shots. Researchers administered one MMR

vaccine to each child and then took note of the reactions and results. Everything
appeared normal. During the second round of testing, researchers reported a
positive result for a single primer pair (a short single stranded DNA molecule).
There results showed researchers that children with Autism who had
received the MMR vaccine shortly before and who had complained of GI issues
had a much earlier onset of GI issues before they were diagnosed with Autism.
Children with Autism who reported GI episodes after their diagnosis of Autism
were rare.
From these results, researchers determined that there was no difference
found in Autism/GI test groups and regular GI test groups. They also determined
that MMR has been known to cause GI inflammation. The origin, nature, and
frequency of GI disturbances within the larger Autism population remain unclear.
MMR immunizations should precede GI complaints, and both MMR and GI
complaints should precede the onset of Autism spectrum disorder. Researchers
most importantly found no evidence proving a relationship between the timing of
MMR and the onset of either GI complaints or Autism.
MMR was found to not cause Autism. In fact, MMR has been proven to
prevent many awful diseases and save a lot of lives. The MMR vaccine has been
proven that the benefits by far out way the risks associated with the immunization.

Testing of the MMR vaccine was limited to children of all ages, race, and
sex over a short period of time.