I also read that allergies and asthma have increased, but I don’t know how certain that information is.

After reading your post this morning I visited a cure website, and I was interested that they linked to a video that claims vaccines and mercury are not to blame. This doctor mentions a study done looking at the brains of dead autistic children (died in accidents) and says they looked like the brains of people with Parkinson’s or Alzheimers. http://www.tarzanacme.com/video.asp?VidID=notautism

I think I can understand your desire to avoid this topic.

Sorry I don’t have a specific link about autism and immune disorders/allergies, I just seem to have heard it a lot. I did find this http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=are-immune-system-molecules-build-brains&sc=rss

I have read there are a lot of anecdotes from parents about autism improving when the child has a fever. http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1889436,00.html

You are right Anna, chances are that even if it was caused by a vaccination, I would still feel that it was natural.

I see far too much evidence that it runs in families to conclude the vaccines are involved, however. And what about those children that Dr Asperger described in the early 1940s? I still don’t buy the vaccines link for one second.

Your comment about allergies intrigues me. I’m going to go and do a search about it now…

If they were, would you know any different?

It might not just be the age of vaccination that makes people think this way. ISTR reading that families of ASD children are much more likely to have allergies, or autoimmune illnesses, etc.

I do find it easier than you to see how someone without a scientific background could be taken in by claims such as thiomerisol causing autism.

Look how uneducated people have reacted over the years to other ideas such as mercury amalgam tooth fillings. I’ve read new age ‘facts’ about how salt is bad because it contains chlorine. Really.

Viruses cause the flu. Germs get spread through coughs and sneezes. Vaccinations mean that you are injecting a bit of the disease into the recipient. The MMR contains a bit of three diseases and we inject it into kids who are just over a year old. Can their immune systems take it?
Yes, but it’s easy to see how parents could be worried about this, after all, it all sounds very scary.

Add to that they adults start to notice problems with the development of their autistic children in the months after the MMR is given, and I for one can see how they blame the vaccine and themselves for the condition.

…and I’m rambling a bit, so I’ll stop.

p.s. – looks like people are fighting back against Jenny McCarthy – see here.

It’s really sad that so much well-meaning but misguided effort is being channelled in an unhelpful direction.

If we ever do have a serious outbreak of something that a vaccine becomes available for I hope Jenny and Jim stick to their guns and don’t get it.

Please let me apologise if this seems a harsh view point, but this has bothered me for a long time. I don’t understand how some people refuse to listen to the plain and simple facts of this matter. There is no debate. ASD is not caused by thiomerisol in vaccines.

On Friday, I saw a report by an American researcher that claims that intensive behavioral therapy can cure autism in 10-15% of autistic children, if the therapy is begun before the age of 7. The researcher claims to have studied children who were “definitely autistic at age 2″ and who are “definitely not autistic” at age 9.

Why? Because they learned to make eye contact and be sociable. They got more flexible. They don’t get frustrated as easily. They get along with their peers.

Well, guess what? Me too. Really! I even have friends and everything. Does that mean I don’t have Asperger’s? Give me a slight break.

Thanks for this post, James. It’s a great one.