Measles immunization autism

The suggestion that measles/MMR immunization can cause autism has not been confirmed. Autism is characterized by absorption in self-centered subjective mental activities (such as day-dreams, fantasies, hallucinations), especially when accompanied by marked withdrawal from reality. 

Two studies suggested a link between measles/MMR immunization and autism. Fudenberg reported that 15 of 40 patients with infantile autism developed symptoms within a week after MMR immunization (487). Wakefield and colleagues evaluated 12 children with chronic enterocolitis and regressive developmental disorders (470). The onset of behavioral symptoms was associated with MMR immunization in eight cases, as reported by the parents. Both reports were non-comparative and anecdotal. By chance alone some cases of autism will occur shortly after immunization, and most children in developed countries receive their first measles or MMR vaccination in the second year of life, when autism typically manifests. The imprecision of the interval between immunization and the onset of behavioral symptoms in the study by Wakefield and colleagues made these data suspect, even before their retraction. 

Immunization Safety Review Committee. Immunization safety review measles-mumps-rubella vaccine and autism. In Stratton K, Gable A, Shetty P, McCormick M, editors. Institute of MedicineNational Academy of Sciences, 2001 241. 

A conference of the American Academy of Pediatrics on new challenges in childhood immunizations was convened in Oak Brook, IL, on 12-13 June 2000 and reviewed data on what is known about the pathogenesis, epidemiology, and genetics of autism and the available data on hypothesized associations with Crohn s disease, measles, and MMR vaccine. The participants concluded that the available evidence did not support the hypothesis that MMR vaccine causes either Crohn s disease or autism or associated disorders. They recommended continued scientific efforts directed to the identification of the causes of autism (69). 

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