hysteria and autism
Dec. 1st, 2001 06:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
taratemimaAs some of youse know, I am diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome. I can talk to people, sometimes do the expected social things, but I have to be explicitly taught them. I have to be reminded not to interrupt people and go off a rant. Sometimes I have trouble thinking of words, especially one with just the right meaning. At the same time, I am not completely bound by what others think. I often tell the truth (any lie bigger than omission I tend to be bad at telling) and hit on metaphors, insights, observations few people have.
My mom's friend is convinced it is because I was vaccined. Then again, she seems to buy every goofy conspiracy theory that gets passed along on the Internet. This one seemed to have legs, at least until word of further studies.
"In 1998, Dr. Andrew Wakefield of the Royal Free Hospital in London correlated the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine to gastrointestinal disease and autism. In an article published in the British science journal The Lancet, Wakefield reported finding measles virus in the intestines of 11 children--none of whom had actually had measles but all of whom had developed bowel problems and autistic behavior soon after receiving the MMR vaccine. Wakefield hypothesized that the measles particles in the vaccine (more on vaccines) might have had an adverse affect on the bowel, interfering with the absorption of some vital nutrient, which in turn interfered with normal brain development.
Although Wakefield's report made headlines, scientists--including Wakefield himself--emphasized the study's limitations. In a follow-up study with a larger sample size, Wakefield did not find a correlation. Nor did any other research group looking into the possible connection, which included the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health."
Public health officials disagree. Agencies in the United States and Britain have been conducting research into the possible connection between vaccines and autism. In April 2000, the Institute of Medicine (IOM)--a private, non-profit research arm of the National Academy of Sciences--issued a report concluding that the MMR vaccine was in fact safe and effective and not correlated to autism.
In October 2001, the IOM released another report into the possible connection between autism and Thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative used in some vaccines since the 1930's. Mercury is a known neurotoxin, but the compound had been proven safe in the small doses received via vaccine. But as more vaccines became routine, some wondered if too much mercury was accumulating in children's systems. "
There is even a lawsuit in th US, alleging vaccines brought on their child's autism. Mind you, it doesn't apply to me, since they are talking about vaccinations after 1990, and I was vaccinated long before that.
My mom wondered if there was something there, since as a baby, I did babble. But from her observations, I was uncoordinated as a toddler and not always forthcoming for hugs and eye contact. So, I had a language delay, but the motor and social delay was worse. A study looking at children at first birthday party videos showed some signs of the autistic spectrum. Also, Asperger's syndrome is relatively new to the public, entering the DSM-IV in 1994.
Ironically, both a group saying that children are over-vaccined and autistic researchers (according to MacCormick) want to look at biochemical and genetic details of autistic people, not just to resolve what autism is, but also if they are connected to vaccinations.
I wonder what my mom's friend would say if she read this:
"In the aftermath of the Wakefield study, British parents increasingly chose not to vaccinate their children. But in evading one danger, these parents were putting their children--and others' children--at increased risk for potentially lethal illnesses.
"When people are not immunized, the wild-type diseases come back," says McCormick. "It varies by disease, but measles returns when fewer than 90% of the population is vaccinated."
In the summer of 2000, a measles outbreak claimed the lives of three children in Dublin, Ireland. In January 2001, Britain's Public Health Laboratory Service warned that more deadly outbreaks were imminent, given that just 88% of the population had been immunized, falling as low as 75% in some regions."
The site I got some of the quotations is at http://www.pbs.org/saf/1205/features/autism.htm
Aside: For the longest time, I wondered how much of my social difficulties were due to that and what was due to ADD. In some ways, the symptoms of one amplifies the other. In another way, the perservence and obsession with certain topics associated with the autism spectrum is migitated by the distractiblity of ADD (I can think about something else or try to focus on the other person) or heightened by hyperfocusing. I am hypersensitive, hyperfocused and hyperlexic. :)
My mom's friend is convinced it is because I was vaccined. Then again, she seems to buy every goofy conspiracy theory that gets passed along on the Internet. This one seemed to have legs, at least until word of further studies.
"In 1998, Dr. Andrew Wakefield of the Royal Free Hospital in London correlated the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine to gastrointestinal disease and autism. In an article published in the British science journal The Lancet, Wakefield reported finding measles virus in the intestines of 11 children--none of whom had actually had measles but all of whom had developed bowel problems and autistic behavior soon after receiving the MMR vaccine. Wakefield hypothesized that the measles particles in the vaccine (more on vaccines) might have had an adverse affect on the bowel, interfering with the absorption of some vital nutrient, which in turn interfered with normal brain development.
Although Wakefield's report made headlines, scientists--including Wakefield himself--emphasized the study's limitations. In a follow-up study with a larger sample size, Wakefield did not find a correlation. Nor did any other research group looking into the possible connection, which included the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health."
Public health officials disagree. Agencies in the United States and Britain have been conducting research into the possible connection between vaccines and autism. In April 2000, the Institute of Medicine (IOM)--a private, non-profit research arm of the National Academy of Sciences--issued a report concluding that the MMR vaccine was in fact safe and effective and not correlated to autism.
In October 2001, the IOM released another report into the possible connection between autism and Thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative used in some vaccines since the 1930's. Mercury is a known neurotoxin, but the compound had been proven safe in the small doses received via vaccine. But as more vaccines became routine, some wondered if too much mercury was accumulating in children's systems. "
There is even a lawsuit in th US, alleging vaccines brought on their child's autism. Mind you, it doesn't apply to me, since they are talking about vaccinations after 1990, and I was vaccinated long before that.
My mom wondered if there was something there, since as a baby, I did babble. But from her observations, I was uncoordinated as a toddler and not always forthcoming for hugs and eye contact. So, I had a language delay, but the motor and social delay was worse. A study looking at children at first birthday party videos showed some signs of the autistic spectrum. Also, Asperger's syndrome is relatively new to the public, entering the DSM-IV in 1994.
Ironically, both a group saying that children are over-vaccined and autistic researchers (according to MacCormick) want to look at biochemical and genetic details of autistic people, not just to resolve what autism is, but also if they are connected to vaccinations.
I wonder what my mom's friend would say if she read this:
"In the aftermath of the Wakefield study, British parents increasingly chose not to vaccinate their children. But in evading one danger, these parents were putting their children--and others' children--at increased risk for potentially lethal illnesses.
"When people are not immunized, the wild-type diseases come back," says McCormick. "It varies by disease, but measles returns when fewer than 90% of the population is vaccinated."
In the summer of 2000, a measles outbreak claimed the lives of three children in Dublin, Ireland. In January 2001, Britain's Public Health Laboratory Service warned that more deadly outbreaks were imminent, given that just 88% of the population had been immunized, falling as low as 75% in some regions."
The site I got some of the quotations is at http://www.pbs.org/saf/1205/features/autism.htm
Aside: For the longest time, I wondered how much of my social difficulties were due to that and what was due to ADD. In some ways, the symptoms of one amplifies the other. In another way, the perservence and obsession with certain topics associated with the autism spectrum is migitated by the distractiblity of ADD (I can think about something else or try to focus on the other person) or heightened by hyperfocusing. I am hypersensitive, hyperfocused and hyperlexic. :)
