Saturday, September 6, 2008

Measles and Autism


There are a total of 4 siblings in my family and all of us were vaccinated for measles, although my youngest brother was born with down syndrome and then later when he was around 2 years old my parents found out he had autism. Did they think it was from the vaccine? No they didn't but after reading several stories that said it came from the measles vaccines that children get, my mother started to believe that was the case as do many others since the measles are making a dramatic come back, and yes in the U.S. There have been many studies that have show that the measles vaccine DOES NOT cause autism but it's hard to squash years of rumors. There is an article in Scientific American "New Study: Measles Vaccine Does Not Cause Autism" and it goes in depth about the study on how the measles aren't the culprit for autism. The number of people vaccinating their children have gone down but the rate of autism is going up, 1 out of every 150 children are now autistic.

Many people will still believe that autism is caused by a vaccine, but not vaccinating your children is an even more risky game. Measles can be deadly in children especially for those without means or health care. "In a room of 100 people, only one of whom actually has measles, another 90 to 95 people will become infected, Seward said" This is a direct quote from Bio Medicine. There is no reason for children to be contracting this disease, especially in industrialized countries where vaccines are readily available.

For more recent news on the measles outbreaks click here

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