No MMR jab and autism link - study - News in brief

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Fears over an association between the two in the late 1990s led to a drop in the number of children having the jab for mumps, measles and rubella.

Research on 12 children published in the medical journal The Lancet in 1998 suggested a link between the vaccine, autism and bowel disease.

Lead author Dr Andrew Wakefield is appearing before the General Medical Council on charges relating to the claims.

The new research involved a sample of almost 250 children aged between 10 and 12, born between July 1990 and December 1991 in the South Thames area of England.

The experts noted that two previous studies reported raised concentrations of measles antibodies in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD).

Their study sought to find out if this was true.

The experts said they wanted to "test the hypothesis that measles vaccine was involved in the pathogenesis of ASD, as evidenced by signs of a persistent measles infection or abnormally persistent immune response shown by circulating measles virus or raised antibody titres in MMR-vaccinated children with ASD compared with controls."