Autism link to MMR vaccine dismissed

Published on Monday 4 February 2008 21:19

NO EVIDENCE exists to link the controversial MMR vaccine and autism, researchers said yesterday.

In a study which experts hope will draw a line under the debate surrounding the safety of the combined measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) jab, almost 250 children had blood tests to discover if the vaccine could be responsible for the onset of autism.

The researchers found no differences in circulating measles virus or increased antibody levels between children with autism, those with special educational needs and children developing normally.

Dr Gillian Baird, from Guy's Hospital in London, said she hoped the study would give parents the confidence to make sure their children received the MMR jab.

Uptake of the vaccine fell significantly after Dr Andrew Wakefield's 1998 study – now discredited – linked it to the developmental condition autism.

Since then, other research has failed to find a link between the vaccine and autism and parents have slowly returned to the jab.

The latest study was published in the journal Archives of Disease in Childhood.