I just was thinking last night that one of the most obvious reasons why it is considered biological plausible that MMR is linked to autism, and worthy of through investigation, is the following;
Atypical exposure to wild measles, mumps, rubella (and chicken pox) have been shown to be associated with regressive autism in nature. Children who are exposed to two of these infections within a close temporal period, at a time of immune system and brain development, are at higher risk for developing autism.
Close temporal measles and mumps infection are associated with development of IBS, ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease.
So we have seen that children exposed to two of the above viral infections are at risk for developing both autism and bowel disease. Vaccination with a live combined vaccine does exactly that, it exposes children to three of the above viruses at the same time. The timing of vaccination is clearly within a period of immune system and brain development.
Interestingly if we look at the history of the MMR we also have clear evidence that packaging three vaccines in one vial is not the same as giving those vaccines as singles.
When the MMR was first introduced to the UK three vaccines were licensed. Two of those vaccines contained the Urabe mumps strain.
Despite the fact that use of Urabe strain MMRs had led to unacceptably high rates of meningitis in Canada which led to the vaccines being withdrawn, the vaccines were introduced to the UK. I guess UK officials thought that they would give the vaccines a second chance and see if UK kids were more resistant to developing meningitis than Canadian kids. They weren't. The same thing happened in Japan. The vaccines were (eventually) withdrawn (and offloaded onto developing countries because no-one in Europe would touch them with a bargepole anymore).
It was at this point, before anyone had heard of Dr Wakefield, that public confidence in the MMR faltered and vaccination rates dropped. It was at this point that the UK government put all their eggs in one basket and went all out for the third remaining vaccine the MMRII. Single vaccines were discouraged and later made unavailable.
What is interesting about this story is that the Urabe mumps strain was used in the single mumps vaccine with no significant problems. However when it came to making the triple vaccine, the dose of mumps virus had to be increased, as the dose used in the single vaccine did not stimulate an immune response when the vaccine was combined with the measles and rubella elements. This is clear evidence that there is biological interaction of the elements of combined viral vaccines. (Something Dr Paul Offit would have us believe does not happen. Mind you the rota virus vaccine he developed had to be withdrawn so I'm not too sure that he knows what he is talking about).
Many of the participants of the UK litigation were given the Urabe strain MMR. It is impossible to maintain the official line that 'MMR is safe' when talking about children who were given a vaccine which has been withdrawn in several countries for being repeatedly shown as highly reactive and having caused several deaths.
Martin Walker has written a thorough (long!) essay on the Urabe tale.
Dr Wakefield on viral exposure, autism and bowel disease
Dr Wakefield on positive rechallenge of measles containing vaccines and bowel and neuropsychiatric symptoms
(Positive rechallenge is considered to be very solid scientific evidence of a phenomenon. A patient shows return of or worsening of symptoms when rexposed to an agent suspected of causing initial symptoms).
I happen to think that in the face of the above it is utterly incomprehensible that the government is continuing to withhold single vaccines (whilst having the gall to complain about measles vaccination rates and the dangers of measles).
Seems to me that about 95% of this controversy is about measles. No child actually needs the MMR. Children's health could be better, more safely and more judiciously safeguarded by the use of single vaccines. Most children need neither mumps nor rubella vaccines and unnecessarily exposing them to a combined vaccine, with a very bad safety record, they do not need, is madness unethical.
Some news on what the indomitable Dr Wakefield is going to do next. I know thare are a lot of parents who would fully understand if Dr Wakefield chose to walk away from this whole sorry mess. We would much rather support him in his next project though.