- “Measles - this can cause ear infections, pneumonia, fits and encephalitis (inflammation of the brain). Sometimes it can be fatal.”
- “Mumps - this can cause meningitis, which can result in deafness. It may cause inflammation of the pancreas, leading to pain, nausea and vomiting. In boys it can damage the testicles and cause infertility.”
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“Rubella - this is also known as German measles and is usually a minor illness. However, it's harmful to pregnant women. If you become infected during the first 10 weeks of pregnancy, it's very likely to cause problems in your unborn baby. These include heart damage, blindness, deafness and brain damage. It can also lead to miscarriage. If you become infected with rubella between 10 and 16 weeks, your baby may still be harmed but the risk is smaller.” [3]
The MMR vaccine is usually given in doses, with a time gap in between them. The MMR vaccine is given to children. It is first given when the child is 13 months old. Then the second dose is given between the ages of three and five years old. So that children you didn’t respond to the first dose are covered.
The result of this vaccination can result in various symptoms such as
- Fever
- Rash
- Swollen Glands
- Seizure
- Joint pain/stiffness
- Allergic Reaction
What is Autism?
“Autism is a disabling brain disorder. It affects the way in which people understand and react to the world around them. This causes them to act differently than others.[5]” Many autistic people have a hard time using words to say what they want or need, where as others might end up repeating the same word or sentence over and over again. Autism is a lifelong disability. It is part of the autism spectrum and is sometimes referred to as an autism spectrum disorder, or an ASD. The word 'spectrum' is used because, while all people with autism share three main areas of difficulty, their condition will affect them in very different ways. Some are able to live relatively 'everyday' lives; others will require a lifetime of specialist support.
The characteristics of autism vary from one person to another but are generally divided into three main groups. The most important characteristics of autism include impaired social interactions, impaired communication, and restricted behaviours. The impaired social interactions are among the most conspicuous of the autistic deficits and were the reason Leo Kanner used the term "autism" to describe the syndrome in 1943. Social problems of autism include impaired social play, a general preference for isolation in the presence of others, failure to seek comfort at times of distress, indifference to others and an inability to understand social rules and conventions. Communication and language problems are also most important in autism. Approximately 50% of autistic people do not develop meaningful communicative language and most autistic people have problems with other forms of communication. Verbal autistic youngsters are frequently echolalia and cannot engage in social conversations. Non-verbal youngsters have difficulty understanding or being understood and consequently often retreat from interactions with others. Play is impaired in most autistic youngsters, lacking the social and creative aspects generally seen in non-handicapped children. The third primary characteristic of those with autism is their restricted range of behaviours, and interests. Lower functioning autistic people frequently engage in repetitive bodily movements, self stimulatory behaviours and sometimes even self abuse. Their play patterns are restricted and repetitive. Higher-level autistic people may focus on some topics that are narrow and generally uninteresting to others for example bus or train timetables, the telephone directory memorising sequences of numbers.
The symptoms of Autism can be noticed. During late infancy, parents or caregivers often start noticing signs of indifference or even aversion in their child when showing affection or cuddling their child. They also often observe other symptoms such as: a lack of eye contact, no facial receptiveness or socially directed smiles and notice that their child fails to respond to their voice or the voices of its siblings. The first clear signs of abnormality become apparent when a child's language skills lack speech development or are much delayed. As infants and toddlers grow older, these skills do not appear to progress. They do not say words or formulate sentences. Often children appear aloof, withdrawn and detached. They prefer to be alone and tend to display repetitive and self-stimulating behaviours such as rocking or head banging. By the age of two or three, it becomes apparent that something is severely wrong. Over time, as the symptoms of autism become more obvious, the child fails to develop normal verbal and communication skills. There is no standard, universally accepted treatment for autism and no cure at present. As yet there is no known drug treatment to help autism however autistic suffers from multiple problems such as depression or seizures, and the drugs can help with those secondary problems.
How is MMR linked to Autism?
There are many reasons as to how there is a link between the MMR vaccine and Autism. Before the controversy with the MMR vaccine there was a cause for concern in the 1970s when a study pointed to a link between the whopping cough vaccine and brain damage in babies.
The theory came around when Dr Andrew Wakefield: of the Royal free hospital suggested that common childhood vaccine may be linked with autism and cause an intestinal disorder. He claimed that the combination of the three virus strains may overload the body's immune system and cause the bowel disorder to develop.
DR ANDREW WAKEFIELD:
“Vaccines 'should be given separately'
Other members of the team have questioned the connection, but Dr Wakefield claims that until further research is done to determine whether there is a link between the disease and the MMR vaccine, the jab should be given in three separate doses spaced by at least one year.
However, he stressed the importance of children being immunized against the diseases, particularly measles.
Dr Wakefield, a reader in experimental gastroenterology, said: "This is a genuinely new syndrome and urgent further research is needed to determine whether MMR may give rise to this complication in a small number of people.
"For the vast majority of children the MMR vaccine is fine, but I believe there are sufficient anxieties for a case to be made to administer the three vaccinations separately. “ [6]
This article suggests that there is a link between MMR vaccines and Autism. Mainly because there was a trend found, that shortly after receiving the dose of the MMR vaccine, there was a change in the behaviour of the children. This cannot be a mere coincidence.
How is MMR not linked to Autism?
Over the past 10 years or so, there has been lots of controversy over the MMR vaccine and its links with autism in children after having the vaccination. Research in the past has shown that there has been no links with MMR and autism and researchers have said that autism was well known long before MMR was ever used in the United Kingdom. From looking at a leaflet promoting the use of MMR it clearly states “there is no evidence, other than coincidence, to link MMR with autism.”(Taken from ‘MMR- the Facts’ leaflets, by the Health Education Authority.) The aim of this is to persuade parents to have their child vaccinated with the MMR vaccine.
Another publication has strengthened the statement that there is no link between autism and the administration of MMR vaccines. The journal "Vaccine" has published an article from the United Kingdom that uses a self-controlled case series method to examine the age at diagnosis of autism compared with age at administration of one or two doses of MMR vaccine and the age at diagnosis of autism for children who received no MMR vaccine. There was statistically no difference between the groups. "In all instances, the relative incidence is not significantly different from 1, indicating no association between vaccination and autism in the subsequent risk period." The authors proceed by proclaiming their results do not support the hypothesis that MMR or measles containing vaccines cause autism at any time after vaccination.
A leading article and commentary in ‘Archives of Disease in Childhood’ (September 2001) – the journal of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health - provides further support for the vaccine. It reviews the evidence on MMR safety and identifies the arguments why separate vaccines are not an alternative to MMR. The authors conclude: "There is no good scientific evidence to support a link between MMR vaccine and autism or inflammatory bowel disease; indeed there is mounting evidence that shows no link. While the final decision rests with the parents, the evidence of the safety and efficacy of MMR vaccine is so overwhelmingly conclusive that health professionals should have no hesitation in recommending its use".
This illustrates once again that there is no link between autism and the MMR vaccine, which suggests that the MMR vaccine is safe to use and cannot cause autism. A study by James A Kaye was published in the ‘British Medical Journal’ In February 2001 showing more evidence of no link between MMR vaccine and autism. The study reported:
- That there was a notable rise from 1988 to 1999 in the diagnosis of autism recorded by UK general practitioners in their records.
- That over the same period, there was no change in the proportion of children who had been vaccinated with MMR, which remained at over 95% for the age groups, and children in this study.
- The study therefore provides good evidence that MMR has not caused the large increase in diagnoses of autism that has taken place since 1988.
- The study authors conclude that: "These data provide evidence against a causal association between MMR vaccination and the risk of autism".
Conclusion:
In conclusion, in support of my hypothesis, I still believe that there is no link between the MMR vaccination and Autism. Although it is shown that there is link between MMR vaccinations and Autism, there is no clear scientific explanation behind the claims. There is definitely no link between these two factors, the reason being the combination of the three virus strains overloading the body's immune system has nothing to do with Autism because Autism is a genetic disease. Therefore it wouldn’t make any difference if the immune system was overloaded or not, because either way the child would have Autism. Also nobody it quiet sure about what the exact cause of Autism is, therefore it would be wrong to say that the MMR vaccine causes Autism. Although it could also be pointed out that there is a link between the MMR vaccine and Autism, this would include the graph which shows that straight after the MMR vaccine was given the number of Autism cases increased. Claims have also been made that giving a vaccine which contains mumps, measles and rubella could overload the immune system, which could then cause bowel cancer. Furthermore it is important to understand that there was only small concern with the link of MMR and Autism, but the research of the scientists around the world has outweighed the small concern and proved that there is no connection between MMR vaccinations and Autism.
Bibliography:
[1]
A lot of information for immunization was found on this website. This source is quiet reliable, the reason being is it a website which raises promotes and raises awareness about different diseases and why people should get vaccines. Therefore they would have the right information on the website, so people know what immunization is exactly.
[2]
I got the picture of the “white blood cell” engulfing the disease causing bacteria” from this website. This source of information is very reliable, the reason being before this information is put up on the internet the examiners on the exam board check to see if the information is correct.
[3]
A lot of the information about the MMR vaccines was found on this website. This is a very reliable website, the reason being Bupa is a Health insurance website therefore it is not allowed to provide wrong information about anything that got to do with health.
[4]
Some of the information for the Vaccines was found from this website. This source of information is very reliable, the reason being before this information is put up on the internet the examiners on the exam board check to see if the information is correct.
[5]
Some of the information about Autism was found on this website. This is a very reliable website; again because it is an Autism awareness website, therefore it is likely to show what Autism exactly is and what the symptoms of Autism are.
[6]
A lot of the information on how MMR links to Autism was found on this website. This source is very reliable because the source in the BBC is scientific is is being backed up by scientist in leading universities.
[7]
The graph showing the link between Autism and MMR vaccines was found on this website. I think this website is very reliable the reason being all the evidence is backed up with scientific evidence.
Glossary
Bacteria:
Tiny, single-celled, prokaryotic organisms that reproduce by cell division and usually have rigid cell walls. Bacteria are very diverse. They can be shaped like spheres, rods or spirals and can be found in virtually any environment.
Toxin:
Toxin is a poisonous substance produced by living cells or organisms which kills invading microbes.
White Blood Cells:
White blood cells are cells of the immune system defending the body against both infectious disease and foreign materials.
Antibodies:
Antibodies are used by the immune system to identify and neutralize foreign objects, such as bacteria and viruses.
Engulfing:
Swallow up/ destroy the disease making bacteria
Echolalia:
A disorder of speech where there is an involuntary repetition several times of the same word.