Good news re: the alleged MMR vaccine/autism link

[matrixrefugee]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/health/8493753.stm <-- I heard about this on the news recently and it's something that has me breathing easier, though as one doctor in Boston pointed out in local news coverage, "People will still worry about this and worry comes from fear that is often mixed with a misunderstanding of the facts." Good that the fellow who came up with the loopy idea has retracted his "findings", though apparently he did so mostly because he's been called out for ethics violations in collecting control samples of blood used in the study. I hate to wish this on the man, that he's removed from the field, but I hope that he has the decency to turn in his medical license so that the board doesn't have to take it away from him.

I've noticed similarities between some forms of autism-like symptoms and the changeling of legend (ie. the European folk belief that faeries would steal babies in the night and leave faery children in their place), and since these legends go back to the Dark Ages (ie. between 400 and 700 C.E.), well before vaccination was developed, much less common-place, I started to personally discredit the connection. I know it's a parent's right to choose how to raise their kid and what measures to take to keep that child healthy, however, I think it's a bit irresponsible and alarmist not to take measures to protect them from life-threatening illnesses because there's (an alleged) risk that the child could develop autism. People like me might not be the easiest to deal with, and I find that the hardest person to live with is often myself for this very reason, but it bothers me that this condition which I live with is treated like something worse than death. And yet... when someone steps up and makes a case for people like me, this gives me hope that a balance can be found, that people will choose to treat the worst symptoms and try to leave the better aspects intact.

Comments

[nightofcydonia.livejournal.com]

Personally I'm just suprised it's taken this long for them to say the whole thing was a load of bollocks. I've never really bought the whole 'MMR causes autism' thing simply because over here pretty much everyone under the age of twenty-four or so has been given the jab in question. If there was a link they you'd think that the number of teenagers and children with some variety of autism would outnumber the neurotypicals by now but that isn't the case. Ergo, the idea that the MMR vaccine causes it is bollocks. Besides which, the three illnesses covered by the vaccine can make a bigger mess of someone then autism, assuming they don't just kill them, something that everyone panicking over the vaccine seems to have forgotten. On a related note, the fact that for most people the word 'autism' conjures up images of the absolute worst end of the spectrum probably didn't help matters.

~Weaver

[matrixrefugee.livejournal.com]

Mmm, I know there was a study done in ...France, I think, which had discredited the MMR/autism link last year, but the information hadn't really caught on till now. I came to the same conclusion, ie. if MMR causes autism, wouldn't everyone who got the jab had it? It doesn't help that some celebrities who are pushing for autism advocacy -- I'm looking at *YOU*, Jenny McCarthy -- are continuing to spread the disinformation. Stupid Americans and their tendency to listen to someone who's popular in Hollywood than someone who has actual credentials in the field. And then there's the phrase "autism epidemic" which the media loves to use, which never fails to cause me to facepalm, since it gives people the image of millions of mute kids who are completely withdrawn into their own minds. I've started to laugh aboutt the number of times people give me that shocked look when they find out I'm on the autism spectrum (don't get me started on how I have to avoid calling it Asperger's Syndrome after there was a high-profile case involving a kid with AS who stabbed another kid who was bullying him; if I mentioned having the condition, I got creeped-out looks as if I'd suddenly morphed into Hannibal Lecter).

[nightofcydonia.livejournal.com]

Well that must suck. Attention human race, one kid who got pushed too far and snapped isn't representative of a whole group and autistic doesn't automatically mean basket case.

I have to say though, this is the first time I've heard the term 'autism epidemic' (and how does that work exactly? It's not like it's catching). Probably because the media over here has a different set of priorities or something. *shrugs* Most of the stuff about autism I've seen on TV over here were pretty positive stories about people overcoming it or the ups and downs of raising an autistic child. As for Asperger's I think most people would associate it with The Curious Incident of the Dog In the Nightime more then anything else, although I'm pretty sure the main character of the book in question wasn't actually autistic.

~Weaver

[matrixrefugee.livejournal.com]

I'm starting to think the American news media has this alarmist outlook (which, I'm told, is a by-product of the Cold War: people seem to thrive on having something to be scared about): we've had a number of otherwise upbeat news stories about kids with autism spectrum conditions which were undercut by this tacked-on-the-end bit about the "1 in 150" rate of autism cases. I personally question if it's really that high, or if someone is inflating the numbers by adding in the borderline cases.

[nightofcydonia.livejournal.com]

Don't forget the 'I can't deal with people and never go out, I must be autistic' brigade. Satistics count for naff all if you don't know the source. By the by, I like to think of myself as an adversion to the 'loner who think's they're an Aspie' stereotype. I do have some of the bahavioural signs, when I took the AQ test due to being really bored my result was 31, which is on the 'wrong' side of borderline, and a Special Needs Advisor once said I fitted the bill. However, I put all of the above down to me just being weird and having seriouly underdeveloped social skills due to being a pariah/target at school.
~Weaver