Forget the MMR vaccine question. The 1998 Lancet paper that was withdrawn was a case study on inflammatory bowel disease in children with autistic spectrum disorders. The paper never claimed to have discovered a link between autism and the MMR vaccine. It merely stated that 8 of the 12 parents noted regression after the MMR vaccine and the onset of regression. The editor of the Lancet, Dr. Richard Horton, stated at the hearing’s that Wakefield’s findings were still clinically valid. It was about bowel disease, I repeat bowel disease, in autistic children.

The fact that, for whatever reason, children with autistic spectrum disorders have lots of gut problems—has been replicated in studies in 5 different countries including Canada.

The sad part is, that the conflation of these two issues, and the ensuing controversy, has made doctors in England afraid to treat children with bowel disease.

For those of you who think Dr. Wakefield is a fraud below are a list of studies, from peer reviewed journals that replicate/support his results vis-a-vis autistic bowel problems: The abstract for one is at the end of the list.

Here is a documentary, that has never to my knowledge, been shown on television. If you think Brian Deer is a legitimate journalist, please watch it. If you think Wakefield abused the children, I beg you to watch it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id_AxZ3zHAc

If you think Wakefield is not credible, please watch one of his lectures on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67U0_SUt5NM

(Skeptics were supposedly there to ambush him. I guess he won them over.)

Wakefield has never said not to vaccinate. That’s a joke. He has never said vaccines cause autism. He thinks there might be a link, but it has not been scientifically proven and more studies need to be done. He is concerned about vaccine safety. Watch his lecture and you’ll see why. His reasons are not that of an anti-vaccine fanatic; watch and I think you will find his reasons cogent and well thought out. Most of the lecture deals with bowel disease.

The GMC did not find the research fraudulent scientifically. It was a list of nonsense and pumped up casuistry. If you don’t believe read it here. It’s not that long:

http://www.gmc-uk.org/Wakefield_SPM_and_SANCTION.pdf_32595267.pdf

I have no idea how safe vaccines are or are not nor if they have any relation to autism. Asking questions is not a crime.

Refusing to treat bowel problems in Autistic children should be.

This whole Wakefield affair leaves me disgusted with the scientific establishment, the media in general for not doing 15 minutes of research and the “skeptical” community, in particular, who take medical journalism and press releases on science stories as gospel. I thought we applied skepticism to everything; not just tarot card readers. THE PAPER DID NOT PURPORT TO PROVE VACCINES CAUSE AUTISM. “WOW VICTORY, RATIONALITY HAS PREVAILED… VACCINES ARE VINDICATED WE HAD A PAPER ON BOWEL DISEASE WITHDRAWN!”

I think I’ll go ask Richard Dawkins to ask Rebecca Watson back to his room for coffee. In an elevator of course. Yeah skeptics are infallible.

Just found this. I guess Wake Forest University are fraudsters as well: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-388051/Scientists-fear-MMR-link-autism.html#ixzz1DevpXU1A

The following peer-reviewed papers duplicate Dr. Wakefield’s original findings in five additional countries, including the US, Italy, Venezuela, Canada and Poland:

1) Gonzalez, L. et al., Endoscopic and Histological Characteristics of the Digestive Mucosa in Autistic Children with gastro-Intestinal Symptoms. Arch Venez Pueric Pediatr, 2005;69:19-25.

2) Balzola, F., et al., Panenteric IBD-like disease in a patient with regressive autism shown for the first time by wireless capsule enteroscopy: Another piece in the jig-saw of the gut-brain syndrome? American Journal of Gastroenterology, 2005. 100(4): p. 979- 981.

3) Balzola F et al . Autistic enterocolitis: confirmation of a new inflammatory bowel disease in an Italian cohort of patients. Gastroenterology 2005;128(Suppl. 2);A-303.

4) Krigsman A, Boris M, Goldblatt A, Stott C. Clinical Presentation and Histologic Findings at Ileocolonoscopy in Children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder and Chronic Gastrointestinal Symptoms. Autism Insights. 2009;1:1—11.

5) Horvath K., Papadimitriou J.C., Rabsztyn A., Drachenberg C., Tildon J.T. 1999. Gastrointestinal abnormalities in children with autism. J. Pediatrics 135: 559-563.

6) Sabra S, Bellanti JA, Colon AR. Ileal lymphoid hyperplasia, non-specific colitis and pervasive developmental disorder in children. The Lancet 1998;352:234-5.

7) Sabra A, Hartman D, Zeligs BJ et al., Linkage of ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia (ILNH), food allergy and CNS developmental abnormalities: evidence for a non-IgE association, Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol, 1999;82:8

8) Galiatsatos P, Gologan A, Lamoureux E, Autistic enterocolitis: Fact or fiction? Can J Gastroenterol. 2009:23:95-98

9) Jarocka-Cyrta et al. Brief report: eosinophilic esophagitis as a cause of feeding problems in an autistic boy. The first reported case.J. Aut. Dev. Disord. Online July 10, 2010

The following articles support the importance of recognizing and treating gastrointestinal symptoms in autistic children:

1) Buie T, et al. Pediatrics. 2010 Jan;125 Suppl 1:S19-29. Recommendations for evaluation and treatment of common gastrointestinal problems in children with ASDs.

2) Buie T, et al. Pediatrics. 2010 Jan;125 Suppl 1:S1-18. Evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment of gastrointestinal disorders in individuals with ASDs: a consensus report.

The following peer-reviewed papers provide further support for gastrointestinal disturbances involving the immune system in autism.

1) Jyonouchi H., Sun S., Lee H. 2001. Proinflammatory and regulatory cytokine production associated with innate and adaptive immune responses in children with autism spectrum disorders and developmental regression. J. Neuroimmunol. 120(1-2):170-9

2) Jyonouchi H, Geng L, Ruby A, Zimmerman-Bier B. Dysregulated Innate Immune Responses in Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Their Relationship to Gastrointestinal Symptoms and Dietary Intervention. Neuropsychobiology. 2005;28:5177-85

3) Jyonouchi H, Geng L, Ruby A, Reddy C, Zimmerman-Bier B. Evaluation of an association between gastrointestinal symptoms and cytokine production against common dietary proteins in children with autism spectrum disorders. J Pediatr.2005;146(5):605-10.

4) Jyonouchi H, Sun S, Itokazu N. Innate immunity associated with inflammatory responses and cytokine production against common dietary proteins in patients with autism spectrum disorder. Neuropsychobiology. 2002;46(2):76-84.

5) Vojdani A, O’Bryan T, Green JA, McCandless J, Woeller KN, Vojdani E, Nourian AA, Cooper EL. Immune response to dietary proteins, gliadin and cerebellar peptides in children with autism. Nutr. Neurosci. 2004;7:151-61.

6) Whiteley P, Haracopos D, Knivsberg AM, Reichelt KL, Parlar S, Jacobsen J, Seim A, Pedersen L, Schondel M, Shattock P. The ScanBrit randomised, controlled, single-blind study of a gluten- and casein-free dietary intervention for children with autism spectrum disorders. Nutr Neurosci. 2010;13(2):87-100.

7) Knivsberg AM, Reichelt KL, Høien T, Nødland M. A randomised, controlled study of dietary intervention in autistic syndromes. Nutr Neurosci. 2002;5(4):251-61.

8) Balzola F, et al. Beneficial behavioural effects of IBD therapy and gluten/casein-free diet in an Italian cohort of patients with autistic enterocolitis followed over one year. Gastroenterology 2008;4:S1364.

9) Valicenti-McDermott M., McVicar K., Rapin I., et al., Frequency of Gastrointestinal Symptoms in Children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders and Association with Family History of Autoimmune Disease. Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics. 2006;27:128-136

10) Chen B, Girgis S, El-Matary W. Childhood Autism and Eosinophilic Colitis. Digestion 2010;18:127-129

11) Sandler R, Finegold SM., Bolte ER., et al. Short-term benefit from oral vancomycin treatment of regressive-onset autism. J Child Neurol. 2000;15:429-435

Wakefield’s Science Proven Valid Again In New Study That Replicates Findings

Read the full study, Clinical presentation and Histologic Findings at Ileocolonoscopy in Children with Autistic spectrum Disorder and Chronic Gastrointestinal symptoms at Autism Insights . View a .pdf HERE.

Arthur Krigsman 1, Marvin Boris 2, Alan Goldblatt 3 and Carol Stott 4

Abstract

Background: Children with developmental disorders experience chronic gastrointestinal symptoms.

Aims:To examine the nature of these gastrointestinal symptoms and histologic findings in children with autism spectrum/developmental disorders and ileocolonic disease.

Methods: Chart review. 143 autism spectrum/developmental disorder patients, with chronic gastrointestinal symptoms, undergoing diagnostic ileocolonoscopy.

Results: Diarrhea was present in 78%, abdominal pain in 59% and constipation in 36%. Ileal and/or colonic lymphonodular hyperplasia (LNH), defined as the presence of an increased number of enlarged lymphoid follicles, often with hyperactive germinal centers, was present in 73.2%. Terminal ileum LNH presented visually in 67% and histologically in 73%. Colonic LNH was multifocal and presented histologically in 32%. Ileal and/or colonic inflammation presented in 74%, consisting primarily of active or chronic colitis (69%). Ileal inflammation presented in 35%. Presence of LNH significantly predicted mucosal inflammation.

Patients with ileal and/or colonic LNH had lower mean/median age than those without; patients with ileal and/or colonic inflammation had lower mean/median age than those without. There was a significant association between ileo and/or colonic inflammation or LNH, and onset of developmental disorder; plateaued or regressive onset conferred greater risk than early onset.

Conclusions: Patients with autism or related disorders exhibiting chronic gastrointestinal symptoms demonstrate ileal or colonic inflammation upon light microscopic examination of biopsy tissue. Further work is needed to determine whether resolution of histopathology with appropriate therapy is accompanied by GI symptomatic and cognitive/behavioral improvement.

Keywords:ASD ileitis, colitis, lymphonodular hyperplasia

1 Assistant professor of pediatrics, New York University school of Medicine Director of Gastroenterology services, Thoughtful House Center for Children, 3001 Bee Caves Rd, Austin, Texas, 78746, UsA.

2 Associate Clinical professor of pediatrics, New York University school of Medicine, 550 1st Ave., New York, NY 10016, UsA.

3 Adjunct professor Touro College, 27-33 West 23rd st, New York, NY 10010, UsA.

4Thoughtful House Center for Children, 3001 Bee Caves Rd, Austin, Texas, 78746, UsA.

For those of you who think Dr. Wakefield is a fraud…

He is. And so are his studies.

Sorry, my fault I left out a few critical sentences. Forget Wakefield and the MMR Autism question. No link and MMRs are safe and Wakefield is a charlatan.

The studies above relate to the question of the high prevalence of Inflammatory Bowel Disease in children with Autistic spectrum disorders and how to treat it. That’s what the 1998 Lancet paper was about. The paper merely noted that 8 of the 12 children’s parents noted the regression after the MMR vaccine and added there should be further investigation. So ditch Wakefield we’ll assume he’s a fraud, huckster and an enemy of science, rationality and mankind.

The part that has been replicated in 5 countries including Canada is simply that, for whatever reason, children with Autistic spectrum disorders have very high rates of bowel problems.
The vaccine question is something else. The sad part is that the vaccine controversy has been so closely intertwined with the vaccine question, at least in England, that Doctors are afraid to treat autistic children when they present with bowel problems.

That’s the point I was trying to make. Sorry for the poorly written post.

I’ve edited it to make my point clearer.

But Wakefield specifically targeted MMR vaccines in giving expert witness in class-action lawsuits on behalf of parents claiming that MMR had caused their children’s autism. He remains a poster boy for that claim, and has done nothing to dissociate himself from it. He also had a competing vaccine formulation that he was pushing to replace the MMR vaccine.

Correlation is not causation. A recent brain scan study has shown differences in the brains of children who become autistic as early as 6 months—long before the vaccines or the period of Wakefield’s studies, which were directed towards a single false conclusion. The fact that autistic children have gut problems does not indicate a cause of autism, nor does it support Wakefield’s repeated claim that it is caused by the MMR vaccine, whether it appears in his paper or not. Nor does it dispel the fact that Wakefield’s methodology was deeply flawed, that he subjected children to unwarranted and intrusive procedures, or that he lied to innumerable parents about the cause of their children’s autism.

Wakefield remains a liar, a fraud, and a crank. Nothing you have presented here affects that verdict in the slightest way.

Wakefield remains a liar, a fraud, and a crank.

Quite right, he is, and has been shown to be as much in the courts as in the scientific communities. What amazes me is that even in the light of all of that, that he’s still taken seriously.

Autistic children have a higher incidence of bowel problems than a typically developing population, but this does not men there is a direct causal effect.  I do agree however that with any autistic child who has a gastro intestinal problem, this should be a priority for treatment, if for no other reason than, any kind of issues with pain and discomfort would only make efforts at connecting with the child more difficult than it would already be.

I could care less about Wakefield. He’s not the point. Watch the Nature of Things episode “The Autism Enigma.” Lots of research is being carried out on diet/gut/environmental factors as possible triggers of autism. In my uneducated opinion, when this gets sorted out, we’ll find a host of different factors that lead to ASDs. Please watch this short YouTube video. I’m not saying one example is proof of anything; but I find it compelling. You can’t help but be happy for the little boy. (Please watch it’s only 6 minutes… I promise it will make you smile)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEw0Y5LJ6vg

The gut-brain link is being seriously investigated. Oddly enough, one big study is going on in my home town at the University of Guelph. They’re researching the Somalian community as they have extremely high rates of Autism. The idea being that the change in environment may be the trigger(s). Environment could be different food, lack of sun exposure as compared to Somalia and the like. I wish them luck in trying to narrow it down.

I could care less about Wakefield. He’s not the point.

Actually, he is, if for no other reason that this thread was started…by you…with his name being thrown in as the star attraction.

I’m not shortchanging the fact that there is a lot of important research going on but the problem which is showcased by guys like Wakefield is that there is some fraudulant work being done, a lot of which has been given credence because it’s presented under the colour of scientific authority. The problem with fraud aside from it’s dishonesty, is that it distracts and derails the work which needs to be done to find out what’s really going on.

Meanwhile, thanks in part to Wakefield (whose books are also still on Amazon) people all over the world are killing their kids by the hundreds by refusing to vaccinate against Measles.

Worse yet, “Melanie’s Marvelous Measles” is still being sold on Amazon.com without even an official disclaimer from Amazon warning that to swallow this BS is to put yourself, your children, and anyone with whom your family comes into contact at risk of death or disability.  A risk orders of magnitude higher than the risk of adverse reactions to the vaccine.  Encouragingly, the great majority of reviews of this book point out how dangerous it is, even the “most valuable” (but sarcastic) positive review.  Still for people who are hard of reading and just look at the most obvious parts of the first page Amazon.com shows for this book, the impression is that it is based on legitimate science.

I have a petition at http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/Stop_killing_children_by_selling_Melanies_Marvelous_Measles/?copy

asking Amazon.com to stop selling this incredibly dangerous children’s book.

Ex-Dr. Wakefield is a fraud.  It strains credulity to suppose that in the UK in this day and age that a doctor can lose his medical license merely as a result of a conspiracy by fellow doctors trying to suppress valid new scientific information.