Baird, Gillian; Brown, D; Simonoff, Emily; Pickles, Andrew; Charman, Tony; (2008) No support for a link between MMR and autism. [Editorial comment]. The Practitioner , 252 (6) , Article 1704.

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Abstract

It is now 10 years since The Lancet published the study that triggered concern of a link between measles vaccine and the development of autistic spectrum disorder (ASD)1 . A subsequent virological study was cited as evidence that supported this association2 . These reports were viewed with scepticism by the scientific community at the time due to the lack of clinical and technical validation and detail. A recent detailed review of the methods used in these studies has now discredited them3 . At the same time a range of carefully designed and conducted epidemiological4,5,6 and biological studies7,8,9 have failed to support any link. Studies examining time trend links between ASD and MMR failed to find an association between introduction5 or cessation6 of MMR vaccination and rate of autism diagnosis. A large case-control study in the UK reported no association between individual vaccination and ASD diagnosis4 . Biological studies using methods designed specifically to identify measles virus have failed to find evidence of its persistence in peripheral blood7,8 Our study investigated a large community sample of children with ASD from the South of England and found no difference in the level of circulating measles virus and measles antibody between children with ASD and controls; this adds to the overwhelming body of evidence that has found no link between MMR and autism10

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