The Western Mail, 24/06/2003

Parents of autistic children allegedly damaged by the triple MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine have welcomed new claims by researchers in the United States that they can prove that a significant number of children suffered an abnormal response to the measles component of the combined jab.

Their findings appeared to back up those published five years ago by the British gastroenterologist, Dr Andrew Wakefield, which started widespread concerns about a link between the triple vaccine, autism and bowel disease.

One Welsh mother, Julie Loch, who lives near Newport, believes her six-year-old son, Oliver, developed autism after the MMR jab. She told The Western Mail newspaper: "This study proves that our children have followed the same normal development pattern but have regressed after having MMR, and it seems as though the key is the children's immune systems. These findings reinforce what parents have been saying for so many years - something is happening to this group of children as they are reacting abnormally, with devastating effects. Our children cannot be ignored any longer."

The research, by Dr Vijendra Singh and Dr Ryan Jensen, of Utah State University, into samples from 52 autistic children who had been vaccinated with MMR, found that measles antibodies - a sign of an immune reaction to the measles virus - were significantly greater in this group than among the non-autistic children studied. More than 80 per cent of the autistic children had these antibodies compared with none of the 30 normal children and none of the 15 siblings involved in the research.

Drs Singh and Jensen believe the presence of antibodies show that many autistic children have suffered an abnormal response to the measles element of the MMR vaccine, causing them to develop these "inappropriate" antibodies.

The findings, which are published in the journal Pediatric Neurology, are the result of the pair's theory that, as viruses are common trigger agents for auto-immune diseases, where the human body attacks itself, autism could involve a virus-induced auto-immune response, which in turn leads to autism.

Crucially, none of the autistic children involved had any history of measles rash or wild-type natural measles infection, which implies that the source of the measles antibody is the strain of measles virus used in the MMR vaccine.

This new research comes 10 days after the High Court ruled that two British girls, aged four and 10, had to have the MMR jab, on their absent fathers' insistence, despite their mother's concerns about its safety.

Public confidence and take-up rates of MMR have plummeted since Dr Wakefield's controversial study in 1998 linking it to autism and bowel disease.

In Wales, the MMR take-up rate has fallen again over the last quarter to just 78.1 per cent, compared with a year ago when 82.5 per cent of children were vaccinated with MMR.

The Chief Medical Officer for Wales, Dr Ruth Hall, said: "I realise that parents are concerned about the MMR vaccine and the unproved allegation that the vaccine can harm some children, but it is the safest way to protect children from measles, mumps and rubella. The vaccine is used successfully in over 30 countries around the world and is the vaccine recommended by the World Health Organisation. "Measles is one of the world's biggest killers and the recent outbreaks in the Cardiff area demonstrate the importance of the MMR vaccine."