Autism and Autoimmunity

As a parent whose son is autistic due to the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine, I found Dr. Andrew Wakefield's February 1998 Lancet article about measles in the gut of autistic children on target.¹

Vijendra Singh,PhD, found that our son tested positive for myelin basic protein antibodies in February 1995.² In November 1995, James Oleske, a pediatric immunologist at UMDNJ in Newark, New Jersey tested our son and found that his measles titers were three times higher than normal, equal to subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE). Dr. Oleske has found other autistic patients having elevated measles titers that are three-fold higher than normal.³

Our son and other autistic patients were treated with intravenous gamma globulin (IVIG), a treatment pioneered by Sudhir Gupta,MD.⁴ Dr. Gupta notes that high titers, the MMR vaccination and the myelin basic protein antibodies as being connected with autism.

There have been other troubling findings:

In an article on autoimmunity and vaccines,⁵ Arnon Dov Cohen,MD, and Yehuda Shoenfeld,MD, state that vaccines have a predilection to affect the nervous system and cause demyelination.⁶ Hugh Fudenberg,MD, identifies the MMR, DPT and hepatitis B vaccines being involved with his autistic patients.⁷ He also referenced Dr. Singh's article on the myelin basic protein antibodies (VK Singh, et al., 1993). Harold Buttram,MD, believes the MMR is a potential cause of encephalitis in children.⁸ Dr. Rimland, recognized internationally as a leading expert in the field of autism, publicly states that he believes that the current childhood vaccine programs are one of the major causes for the current epidemic of autism.⁹

At a public meeting, Dr. Singh presented information on an unpublished, preliminary study of 27 autistic children. He found a nearly 50 percent correlation between MMR antibodies and antibodies to myelin basic protein in serum drawn from the children.¹⁰

Dawbarns, a law firm in England, has published a paper that reports on over 600 instances of side effects following the MMR and MR vaccines, which were introduced in England in 1988.¹¹

In a recent report from Japan it was demonstrated that the live virus from the measles vaccine does persist in mononuclear cells of the body in children with autoimmune hepatitis.¹²

In 1991, there was a report of significantly higher child mortality following high-titered measles vaccines compared with standard measles vaccines among children in Senegal.¹³

Dr. Harris Coulter makes numerous references in his book to the effect of vaccines on the myelin in the brain. He states that vaccines are the main cause of encephalitis.¹⁴

References:

1. Wakefield AJ, Murch SH,et al. Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, nonspecific colitis, and pervasive developmental disorder in children. Lancet 1998;351:637-641.

    

2. Singh VK, Warren RP, Odell JD, Cole WP. Antibodies to myelin basic protein in children with autistic behavior. Brain, Behavior and Immunity 1993;7:97-103.

    

3. Abstract presented by Dr. Zecca and Dr. Graffino at an NIH meeting, September 23,1997. Elevated rubeola titers in autistic children.

    

4. Gupta S, Aggarwal S, Heads C. Brief report: dysregulated immune system in children with autism: Beneficial effects of intravenous immune globulin on autistic characteristics. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 1996;26(4):439-452.

    

5. Cohen AD, Shoenfeld Y. Vaccine-induced autoimmunity. Journal of Autoimmunity 1996;9:699-703.

    

6. Herroelen L, De Keyser J, Ebinger G. Central-nervous-system demyelination after immunisation with recombinant hepatitis B vaccine. Lancet 1991;338:1174-1175.

    

7. Fudenberg HH. Dialysable lymphocyte extract (DLyE) in infantile onset autism: A pilot study. Biotherapy 1996;9:143-147.

    

8. Buttram HE. Measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine as a potential cause of encephalitis (brain inflammation) in children. Townsend Letter for Doctors & Patients; December 1997:100-102.

    

9. Statement by Bernard Rimland, PhD, at a conference sponsored by the Autism Research Institute in Chicago, June, 1996.

    

10. Presentation by Vijendra Singh,PhD, August 16, 1997, Allegro School, Cedar Knolls, New Jersey.

     

11. Fact sheet distributed by Dawbarns Law Firm, Bank House, King's Straithe Square, King's Lynn, Norfolk PE30 1RD, Great Britain, Tel.11. 01553-764373, Fax 01553-765226.

     

12. Kawashima H. Polymerase chain reaction detection of the hemagglutinin gene from an attenuated measles vaccine strain in the peripheral mononuclear cells of children with hepatitis. Archives Virology 1996;141(5):177-884.

     

13. Garene M, et al. Child mortality after high-titre measles vaccines; a prospective study in Senegal. Lancet October 12,1991;338:903-907.

     

14. Harris L. Coulter, Ph.D. Vaccination, Social Violence and Criminality: The Medical Assault on the American Brain. North Atlantic Books, Berkeley, California, 1990.

Raymond Gallup President, Autism Autoimmunity Project, a 501 (c) (3) charity committed to finding the answers to the epidemic of autism caused by immune insult. http://www.gti.net/truegrit Lake Hiawatha, New Jersey