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Is the MMR vaccine linked to autism?
The NIH is doing a number of things to look into the claims
about MMR vaccines and autism:
- The Network on the Neurobiology and Genetics of Autism: Collaborative
Programs of Excellence in Autism (CPEA), funded by the NICHD and
the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders
(NIDCD), with additional funding from the CDC, are working together
to study autism and the MMR vaccine.This research will examine people
diagnosed with autism who seemed to develop normally, but then started
to show autistic symptoms.This type of situation is called “regression.”To
learn as much as possible about these patients, researchers will
compare them to people who do not have autism, and to people who
showed autistic symptoms since birth, called classic autism.CPEA
researchers will compare vaccination records to see if the onset
of autism was associated with receipt of MMR and other vaccines.Lab
tests will then look for any evidence of persistent infections that
could be related to the MMR vaccine.
- The NICHD is also working with other NIH Institutes, the CDC,
the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and other federal agencies
to conduct a large, long-term study of the effects of the environment
on children’s health.This study will follow 100,000 children from
before birth to age 20, to track their growth and development, as
well as their genetic blueprints and environmental factors that
they encounter.Researchers hope to establish or rule out links between
a variety of environmental events and normal and abnormal development,
such as autism, asthma, and other childhood disorders that have
shown dramatic increase.The study is currently under design.
- Another NIH Institute, the National Institute of Neurological
Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) is also conducting a retrospective
case-control study to identify any molecular markers in neonatal
blood of children with autism, with support from the California
Department of Health Services and the Division of Bioengineering
and Physical Science (DBEPS) at the NIH.
- In 1998, the NIH, led by the NICHD and the NINDS, sponsored a
conference on ASDs.These and other NIH Institutes formed an expert
panel, which also included 15 professional organizations and three
parents’ groups, and began a review of over 2,500 scientific articles
to develop a system for diagnosing ASDs.The panel published its
findings in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders in
1999 (Filipek et al 1999).In 2000, the panel’s report was adopted
as a practice parameter by the American Academy of Neurology and
the Child Neurology Society (Filipek et al 2000). Practice parameter:
screening and diagnosis of autism gives doctors and other health
professionals the first, standardized method for diagnosing autism
and ASDs based on scientific evidence.
In addition, the NIH is in the process of implementing
the autism aspects of the Children’s Health Act of 2000.This Act, which
was signed into law in October 2000, charges the NIH with the, “Expansion,
intensification, and coordination of activities of the NIH with respect
to research on autism.”All of the NIH Institutes that fund autism research
are working together to establish “Centers of Excellence” to focus on
autism research.In addition, the NIH will form a committee with representatives
from parents’ groups and other federal agencies to coordinate autism
research activities throughout the federal government and to enhance
efforts to educate doctors and other health care professionals, and
parents, and other child caretakers, about autism.
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