Death by Unnatural Means in the Autism Community  Matters We Can No Longer Ignore – August 10, 2011

As someone who first came to know the autism community while working for Congress in 1999, I realize families living with autism have many challenges including providing medical and therapeutic services that drain every financial resource, challenges with obtaining adequate educational resources from public school systems, prolonged lack of sleep, high stress levels, and a higher than average divorce rate. The families coming together in various organizations and online have done much to educate and empower themselves to address policy changes at the local, state and federal levels. Because these families have worked together, there are increased research resources, and increased focus on environmental factors associated with the development of autism. Parents have been the driving force behind getting states to adopt insurance reimbursement guidelines and have led the way in looking at an integrative approach to addressing the myriad of co-morbid conditions often found an individual diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder.

This week as Americans reel from largest single loss of life in the 10 year war in Afghanistan, the autism community is reeling from yet another tragic loss. The loss of two dozen elite special force members are losses I feel very deeply about as I hold in extremely high regard all those who serve in the military and especially those who go the extra distance to become elite special force members. People I care about have put themselves in harm’s way in the global war on terror. The sacrifice they and their family’s make should never be discounted. I know from past experience that this helicopter crash will be thoroughly investigated both to determine exactly what happened and to look at ways of preventing a similar tragedy in the future. The Department of Defense announced yesterday that Army Brigadier General Jeffrey Colts has been appointed to oversee the official investigation. Undoubtedly, the Congressional Armed Services Committees will conduct investigations and public hearings.

 But who is looking into the deaths in the autism community? Research discussed below indicates that individuals living with autism have  a higher death rate for seizures and accidents (such as drowning) as well as an elevated mortality rate in respiratory diseases in those individuals with autism and “mental retardation”. However, there is little to no attention paid to death by unnatural means.

 Death at the Hands of a Parent

In Kensington, Maryland, a psychiatrist took the life of her son Ben on Saturday and a day lady took her own life. Follow ups to the original story reported that the child, Ben, was living with autism and obesity. Conflicting news accounts have reported that she wanted to place Ben at Ivymount, a well respected school in the area as well as reporting that she wanted to have him return to Wellspring a boarding school where he had spent the previous year with great success (and lost 100 pounds). By all news accounts Ben was bullied in public school because of his autism and his weight. Dr. Jensvold’s family have released portions a letter she sent her sister. “School — can’t deal with school system…Debt is bleeding me. Strangled by debt…”

Her family shared with the media that, “Jensvold had become increasingly strained by financial pressure and by anguished fights with the county public school system over the special-needs education of her son, who had an autism spectrum disorder. They said the school district — apparently believing it could adequately educate Ben — had refused to cover tuition costs for the boy to attend a private school for special-needs students. Jensvold didn’t have the money herself and didn’t want to return her son to public school, where relatives said she felt harshly judged and marginalized and where Ben had struggled…It was a huge stress,” Slaughter said. “It’s very hard being a single parent under any circumstances, but to have a high-needs child is overwhelming. And then to have him inappropriately placed in the school, and have the school fighting with her, was really traumatic.” (Associated Press)

This story is sadly not an isolated incident. In July 2010, in the Bronx, Michaela Jackson took the life of her 12 year old son Mick and then her own. Also in 2010, Gigi Jordan described by the Associated Press as a multimillionaire former pharmaceutical executive and nurse killed her 8 year old son, Jude Mira, and possibly attempted to take her own life by overdose. She survived and will soon go to trial for her son’s murder. According to the media, “She’s invoking the concept of “altruistic filicide,” or child-killing by parents convinced they’re acting in the child’s best interest.” (Associated Press) There are already some challenges for the prosecution (the hospital lab lost a key blood sample taken from Jordan which could clarify whether or not she had attempted to overdose on drugs as she initially reported) which may affect the outcome of the case.

If there are three cases in 13 months, are there others?

 Death at the Hands of Caregivers

One of the first individuals who contacted me in 1999 had a son entering his adult years who was increasingly unmanageable at home. He told me he needed to have his son institutionalized but feared for his son’s life. I understood his concern, but had no reports I could reference to confirm or allay his concerns.

Today there are reports available but not organized that show cases in which an individual living in an institution dies at the hands of staff. For example, on December 4, 2010, at a Staten Island’s South Beach Psychiatric Center, supervisor Erik Stanley apparently used an inappropriate method of restraint (using excessive pressure on the patient’s neck and torso) and strangling to death Jawara Henry, a young man with autism. Stanley has recently surrendered to police and will be charged with, “criminally negligent homicide and endangering the welfare of an incompetent or physically disabled person.” Jawara’s mother reported that the young man had no history of outbursts but that she had seen bruises on her son. (Yakas)

In 2007, People Magazine published an article entitle, “Autistic Kids in Danger? Recent Deaths Raise Concerns About Care in Group Homes”. The story opened by discussing the death of Martha Quesada’s son Denis, which at the time the article was published the actual cause of death was undetermined. The article reports “six times the state’s Department of Children and Families was called in to investigate allegations that staffers had abused him. All the allegations were dismissed, and a lawyer for Rainbow Ranch denies wrongdoing in his death. But the home has since been closed by the state.” The article reported that four other individuals with autism had died while under the care of aides in the previous six months. (People Magazine)

The Legal Radar later reported, “The Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner found that Denis died of Central Serotonergic Syndrome. This resulted from “the co-administration of multiple psychotropic medications with no monitoring or supervision,” Denis, who had severe autism, died in a van after being restrained by group home staff was under the care of psychiatrist, Dr. Steven L. Kaplan, at the former Rainbow Ranch group home, owned and operated by David Glatt. In 2009, Denis’s mother filed a wrongful death suit because as her attorney stated, “This is a clear case of a 12-year-child who perished because he was given a lethal combination of off-label, dangerous, anti-psychotic drugs to control his behavior without appropriate consent, administration and supervision.” (Colodny, Fass, Talenfeld, Karlinsky & Abate)

Dr. Kaplan was eventually terminated from the Florida Medicaid Program because “administrators at three state agencies had expressed concerns about Kaplan’s prescribing of psychiatric drugs to disabled children before and after the May 23, 2007, death of 12-year-old Denis Maltez.” It is reported, that Dr. Kaplan, had more than 800 patients, mostly impoverished or disabled and had been notified repeatedly to reconsider his prescribing practices. Denis, who weighed around 70 pounds, had been on three different mental health drugs, two of them in the maximum dose, at the time he died. A pharmacist from the University of South Florida sent to visit Dr. Kaplan regarding his prescribing practices in May 2009 reported, “He said he had been practicing long enough to know how to treat his patients and was tired of being told what to do.” (PsychCrime Reporter) At the time of this report, the wrongful death lawsuit was still pending.

While the issue of using restraining techniques has gained some attention in recent years, and the FDA has issued black box warnings about many psychotropic drugs, there is not to my knowledge a report gathering the data on how often these incidences of unnatural death at the hands of caregivers in institutions have and are occurring.

Death at the Hands of Strangers 

In July, little Leiby Kletzky, an 8 year old boy of Brooklyn disappeared. The story gained national media coverage in part because this young boy was part of the Hasidic Orthodox Jewish community. He was kidnapped off the sidewalk in his Borough Park neighborhood, drugged, smothered, and killed by Levi Aaron, another member of the community. Leiby had been walking to meet his parents. His dismembered body was found two days later after surveillance footage was reviewed and the suspect identified. (Parascandola) Sadly there are predators and criminals in every town, not just in New York; however, to my knowledge no organization has collected and reported the extent to which individuals with autism become the victims of such predators and whether the incidence is higher than the general population.

The Scientific Analysis

In 2001 the findings of a study conducted by the Life Expectancy Project looking at causes of death in individuals on the autism spectrum was conducted in California. The goal was to determine how the causes compared with the general population. The researchers followed more than 13,000 ambulatory Californians between 1983 and 1997. Elevated death rates were found deaths related to seizures and accidents such as suffocation and drowning. Elevated mortality due to respiratory disease was linked to individuals with autism and mental retardation. (Shavelle RM) A follow on evaluation looking at data between 1998 and 2002, found a similarly elevated mortality rate. (Shavelle R M) Overall in both studies the mortality rate was about double that of the general population.

A study conducted in Denmark, published in 2008, involved 341 individuals on the autism spectrum who were followed between 1960 and 1993. The researchers found 26 individuals died nearly twice the expected level when compared to the general population. The rate was ‘particularly high in females.” The authors concluded: “Eight of the 26 deaths were associated with epilepsy and four died from epilepsy. Future staff education should focus on better managing of the complex relationships between ASD and physical illness to prevent avoidable deaths.” (Mouridsen SE)

Concluding Thoughts

The autism community has many challenges such as insurance reimbursement, recognition of co-morbid conditions, recognition of environmental factors, educational challenges as well as stress, finances, and family stressors. Premature death of an individual with autism by unnatural means, especially at the hands of a parent or caregiver is an area that needs more attention and solutions. Is there any organization or individual working on this issue? The first step in drawing attention is gathering the data on how often this is happening. The second step is raising attention to the data, and the third step developing solutions which can be implemented.

Bibliography

Associated Press. The Washington Post. 8 August 2011. 10 August 2011 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/md-mom-who-killed-son-herself-agonized-over-education-costs-for-special-needs-child-debt/2011/08/08/gIQAdbTh2I_story.html>.

—. The Washington Post. 1 Auguust 2011. 20 August 2011 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/mothers-blood-sample-lost-never-tested-in-sons-nyc-hotel-death-she-calls-murder-suicide-try/2011/08/01/gIQAhR9MoI_story.html>.

Colodny, Fass, Talenfeld, Karlinsky & Abate. Legal Radar. 21 May 2009. 10 August 2011 <http://www.legalradar.com/wrongful-death/>.

Mouridsen SE, Brønnum-Hansen H, Rich B, Isager T. “Mortality and causes of death in autism spectrum disorders: an update.” Autism (2008): 403-14.

Parascandola, Nestel, Lauinger, and Hutchinson. New York Daily News. 13 July 2011. 10 August 2011 <http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2011/07/apolitical-aside-tragic-end-to-the-leiby-kletzky-case>.

People Magazine. 27 August 2007. 10 August 2011 <http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20060043,00.html>.

PsychCrime Reporter. April 2010. 10 August 2011 <http://psychcrimereporter.wordpress.com/2010/04/21/psychiatrist-steven-l-kaplan-ousted-by-florida-medicaid-relative-to-death-of-7-year-old/>.

Shavelle R M, & Pickett, J. “Letter to the Editor: 1998–2002 Update on ‘‘Causes of Death in Autism’’.” Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders (2006).

Shavelle RM, Strauss DJ, Pickett J. “Causes of Death in Autism.” J Autism Dev Disord. 2001 Dec (2001): 569-76.

Yakas, B. Gothamist. 3 August 2011. 10 August 2011 <http://gothamist.com/2011/08/03/supervisor_charged_with_strangling.php>.

Beth Clay

This article was previously published.

The Autism Vaccine Debate and Dr. Andrew Wakefield – August 30, 2009

I applaud Dr. Andrew Wakefield and Thoughtful House for taking a chance with a Dateline Interview. True to form, Matt Lauer told part of the story in a balanced way, but went on to convolute the discussion of MMR and autistic entercolitis with the bigger discussion of vaccine safety. He continually underscored the numerous large studies that point to no connection between vaccine injury and autism but failed to note the difference between CDC funded population-based epidemiological studies and laboratory and clinical research.

While all autism is not vaccine injury related, or MMR related, some are. The Vaccine Injury Compensation Program Court has ruled so more than a dozen times according to some media accounts.

For those of us who have followed Dr. Wakefield’s research both in the UK and now in the United States, and have taken the time to listen to his presentations, we have learned that he is a thoughtful and thorough scientist. He did what the ethics of good science call for, he kept an open mind, he studied the literature, he listened to the parents, and he did high quality laboratory and clinical research.

When Congress first began looking into the epidemic rise of autism rates, parents by the hundreds told us that their children, after vaccination, developed chronic bowel conditions in conjunction with symptoms that would eventually be diagnosed a autism spectrum disorders. Unlike so many doctors who simply discounted the years of chronic diarrhea and constipation as ‘something autistic kids get’, Dr. Wakefield did his job and determined what was happening in the gastrointestinal system and treated the condition.

Rather than run from the controversy, Dr. Wakefield did what a good doctor is supposed to do and continued to look for the ‘why’ in the seeming coincidence between MMR vaccination and the onset of both inflammatory bowel disease and the symptoms of autism spectrum disorders.

It has been ten years almost to the day that we first conducted a hearing to discuss this topic in the Congress. Sadly, those who should have been at the forefront of an earnest and honest review of the questions have focused on getting the answers they wanted rather than getting to the truth. Because of their failings, the public confidence in the Public Health Service and Vaccine Information/Research continues to decline.

Thankfully, Dr. Bernadine Healy, the former Director of the NIH has been bold enough to say the research needs to continue, that the research that the CDC and AAP are relying on would not catch the hopefully rare condition of autistic entercolitis. How rare it is continues to go unanswered because those who should be on the front lines of this battle still have their heads in the sand, thinking the families will follow suit.

Dr. Paul Offit continues to be put forward as a media spokesperson without his clear and obvious financial conflict of interest being provided each time. While presented tonight, it was only partially presented. Why was a Merck spokesperson not on this show? Because Merck pays Dr. Offitt to be their front-man. Additionally, he holds a patent on a vaccine, and other members of his family are involved in the field as well.

It would have been appropriate and informative for Matt Lauer to read or refer to the actual MMR Package insert http://www.merck.com/product/usa/pi_circulars/m/mmr_ii/mmr_ii_pi.pdf If he had, he could have noted in addition to admissions that MMR adverse reactions include arthritis and joint issues, diabetes, and two specific conditions that may answer the autism/MMR link: measles inclusion body encephalitis (MIBE) and subacute sclerosing panencephalitis…right there in the official MMR package insert, approved and required by the FDA…The other information includes:

 ADVERSE REACTIONS

The following adverse reactions are listed in decreasing order of severity, without regard to causality, within each body system category and have been reported during clinical trials, with use of the marketed vaccine, or with use of monovalent or bivalent vaccine containing measles, mumps, or rubella:

Body as a Whole
Panniculitis; atypical measles; fever; syncope; headache; dizziness; malaise; irritability.
Cardiovascular System
Vasculitis.
Digestive System
Pancreatitis; diarrhea; vomiting; parotitis; nausea.
Endocrine System
Diabetes mellitus. (who knew that MMR could cause diabetes?)
Hemic and Lymphatic System
Thrombocytopenia (see WARNINGS, Thrombocytopenia); purpura; regional lymphadenopathy;
leukocytosis.
Immune System
Anaphylaxis and anaphylactoid reactions have been reported as well as related phenomena such as
angioneurotic edema (including peripheral or facial edema) and bronchial spasm in individuals with or
without an allergic history.

Musculoskeletal System
Arthritis; arthralgia; myalgia.
Arthralgia and/or arthritis (usually transient and rarely chronic), and polyneuritis are features of
infection with wild-type rubella and vary in frequency and severity with age and sex, being greatest in
adult females and least in prepubertal children. This type of involvement as well as myalgia and
paresthesia, have also been reported following administration of MERUVAX II.

Chronic arthritis has been associated with wild-type rubella infection and has been related to
persistent virus and/or viral antigen isolated from body tissues. Only rarely have vaccine recipients
developed chronic joint symptoms.

Following vaccination in children, reactions in joints are uncommon and generally of brief duration. In
women, incidence rates for arthritis and arthralgia are generally higher than those seen in children
(children: 0-3%; women: 12-26%),17,52,53 and the reactions tend to be more marked and of longer
duration. Symptoms may persist for a matter of months or on rare occasions for years. In adolescent
girls, the reactions appear to be intermediate in incidence between those seen in children and in adult
women. Even in women older than 35 years, these reactions are generally well tolerated and rarely
interfere with normal activities.

Nervous System
Encephalitis; encephalopathy; measles inclusion body encephalitis (MIBE) (see CONTRAINDICATIONS); subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE); Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS); febrile convulsions; afebrile convulsions or seizures; ataxia; polyneuritis; polyneuropathy; ocular palsies; paresthesia.

Experience from more than 80 million doses of all live measles vaccines given in the U.S. through
1975 indicates that significant central nervous system reactions such as encephalitis and
encephalopathy, occurring within 30 days after vaccination, have been temporally associated with
measles vaccine very rarely.54 In no case has it been shown that reactions were actually caused by
vaccine. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has pointed out that “a certain number of cases
of encephalitis may be expected to occur in a large childhood population in a defined period of time even
when no vaccines are administered”. However, the data suggest the possibility that some of these cases

may have been caused by measles vaccines. The risk of such serious neurological disorders following
live measles virus vaccine administration remains far less than that for encephalitis and encephalopathy
with wild-type measles (one per two thousand reported cases).

CONTRAINDICATIONS
Hypersensitivity to any component of the vaccine, including gelatin.
Do not give M-M-R II to pregnant females; the possible effects of the vaccine on fetal development
are unknown at this time. If vaccination of postpubertal females is undertaken, pregnancy should be
avoided for three months following vaccination
Anaphylactic or anaphylactoid reactions to neomycin (each dose of reconstituted vaccine contains
approximately 25 mcg of neomycin).
Febrile respiratory illness or other active febrile infection.
Patients receiving immunosuppressive therapy. This contraindication does not apply to patients who
are receiving corticosteroids as replacement therapy, e.g., for Addison’s disease.
Individuals with blood dyscrasias, leukemia, lymphomas of any type, or other malignant neoplasms
affecting the bone marrow or lymphatic systems.
Primary and acquired immunodeficiency states, including patients who are immunosuppressed in
association with AIDS or other clinical manifestations of infection with human immunodeficiency
viruses;41-43 cellular immune deficiencies; and hypogammaglobulinemic and dysgammaglobulinemic
states. Measles inclusion body encephalitis60 (MIBE), pneumonitis and death as a direct consequence
of disseminated measles vaccine virus infection have been reported in immunocompromised individuals
inadvertently vaccinated with measles-containing vaccine.
Individuals with a family history of congenital or hereditary immunodeficiency, until the immune
competence of the potential vaccine recipient is demonstrated.

WARNINGS
Due caution should be employed in administration of M-M-R II to persons with a history of cerebral
injury, individual or family histories of convulsions, or any other condition in which stress due to fever
should be avoided. The physician should be alert to the temperature elevation which may occur following
vaccination (see ADVERSE REACTIONS).

Hypersensitivity to Eggs
Live measles vaccine and live mumps vaccine are produced in chick embryo cell culture. Persons with
a history of anaphylactic, anaphylactoid, or other immediate reactions (e.g., hives, swelling of the mouth
and throat, difficulty breathing, hypotension, or shock) subsequent to egg ingestion may be at an
enhanced risk of immediate-type hypersensitivity reactions after receiving vaccines containing traces of
chick embryo antigen. The potential risk to benefit ratio should be carefully evaluated before considering
vaccination in such cases. Such individuals may be vaccinated with extreme caution, having adequate
treatment on hand should a reaction occur

 Thrombocytopenia
Individuals with current thrombocytopenia may develop more severe thrombocytopenia following
vaccination. In addition, individuals who experienced thrombocytopenia with the first dose of M-M-R II (or
its component vaccines) may develop thrombocytopenia with repeat doses. Serologic status may be
evaluated to determine whether or not additional doses of vaccine are needed. The potential risk to
benefit ratio should be carefully evaluated before considering vaccination in such cases

 PRECAUTIONS
General:  Adequate treatment provisions including epinephrine injection (1:1000), should be available for
immediate use should an anaphylactic or anaphylactoid reaction occur.
Special care should be taken to ensure that the injection does not enter a blood vessel.
Children and young adults who are known to be infected with human immunodeficiency viruses and
are not immunosuppressed may be vaccinated. However, vaccinees who are infected with HIV should be
monitored closely for vaccine-preventable diseases because immunization may be less effective than for
uninfected persons

Vaccination should be deferred for 3 months or longer following blood or plasma transfusions, or
administration of immune globulin (human).

Excretion of small amounts of the live attenuated rubella virus from the nose or throat has occurred in
the majority of susceptible individuals 7 to 28 days after vaccination. There is no confirmed evidence to
indicate that such virus is transmitted to susceptible persons who are in contact with the vaccinated
individuals. Consequently, transmission through close personal contact, while accepted as a theoretical
possibility, is not regarded as a significant risk. However, transmission of the rubella vaccine virus to
infants via breast milk has been documented (see Nursing Mothers).
There are no reports of transmission of live attenuated measles or mumps viruses from vaccinees to
susceptible contacts.

It has been reported that live attenuated measles, mumps and rubella virus vaccines given individually
may result in a temporary depression of tuberculin skin sensitivity. Therefore, if a tuberculin test is to be
done, it should be administered either before or simultaneously with M-M-R II.

Children under treatment for tuberculosis have not experienced exacerbation of the disease when
immunized with live measles virus vaccine; no studies have been reported to date of the effect of
measles virus vaccines on untreated tuberculous children. However, individuals with active untreated
tuberculosis should not be vaccinated.
As for any vaccine, vaccination with M-M-R II may not result in protection in 100% of vaccinees.
The health-care provider should determine the current health status and previous vaccination history
of the vaccinee.
The health-care provider should question the patient, parent, or guardian about reactions to a previous
dose of M-M-R II or other measles-, mumps-, or rubella-containing vaccines.

 Information for Patients
The health-care provider should provide the vaccine information required to be given with each
vaccination to the patient, parent, or guardian.

The health-care provider should inform the patient, parent, or guardian of the benefits and risks
associated with vaccination. For risks associated with vaccination see WARNINGS, PRECAUTIONS,

ADVERSE REACTIONS.
Patients, parents, or guardians should be instructed to report any serious adverse reactions to their
health-care provider who in turn should report such events to the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services through the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), 1-800-822-7967.47

 Immune Globulin
Administration of immune globulins concurrently with M-M-R II may interfere with the expected
immune response.

 Carcinogenesis, Mutagenesis, Impairment of Fertility
M-M-R II has not been evaluated for carcinogenic or mutagenic potential, or potential to impair fertility.

Pregnancy
Pregnancy Category C
Animal reproduction studies have not been conducted with M-M-R II. It is also not known whether
M-M-R II can cause fetal harm when administered to a pregnant woman or can affect reproduction
capacity. Therefore, the vaccine should not be administered to pregnant females; furthermore, pregnancy
should be avoided for 3 months following vaccination

In counseling women who are inadvertently vaccinated when pregnant or who become pregnant
within 3 months of vaccination, the physician should be aware of the following: (1) In a 10-year survey
involving over 700 pregnant women who received rubella vaccine within 3 months before or after
conception (of whom 189 received the Wistar RA 27/3 strain), none of the newborns had abnormalities
compatible with congenital rubella syndrome;48 (2) Mumps infection during the first trimester of pregnancy
may increase the rate of spontaneous abortion. Although mumps vaccine virus has been shown to infect
the placenta and fetus, there is no evidence that it causes congenital malformations in humans; and
(3) Reports have indicated that contracting wild-type measles during pregnancy enhances fetal risk.
Increased rates of spontaneous abortion, stillbirth, congenital defects and prematurity have been
observed subsequent to infection with wild-type measles during pregnancy. There are no adequate
studies of the attenuated (vaccine) strain of measles virus in pregnancy. However, it would be prudent to
assume that the vaccine strain of virus is also capable of inducing adverse fetal effects.

Nursing Mothers
It is not known whether measles or mumps vaccine virus is secreted in human milk. Recent studies
have shown that lactating postpartum women immunized with live attenuated rubella vaccine may secrete
the virus in breast milk and transmit it to breast-fed infants. In the infants with serological evidence of
rubella infection, none exhibited severe disease; however, one exhibited mild clinical illness typical of
acquired rubella.50,51 Caution should be exercised when M-M-R II is administered to a nursing woman.

Pediatric Use
Safety and effectiveness of measles vaccine in infants below the age of 6 months have not been
established (see also CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY). Safety and effectiveness of mumps and rubella
vaccine in infants less than 12 months of age have not been established.

 Geriatric Use
Clinical studies of M-M-R II did not include sufficient numbers of seronegative subjects aged 65 and
over to determine whether they respond differently from younger subjects. Other reported clinical
experience has not identified differences in responses between the elderly and younger subjects.

Post-marketing surveillance of the more than 200 million doses of M-M-R and M-M-R II that have
been distributed worldwide over 25 years (1971 to 1996) indicates that serious adverse events such as
encephalitis and encephalopathy continue to be rarely reported.17

There have been reports of subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) in children who did not have
a history of infection with wild-type measles but did receive measles vaccine. Some of these cases may
have resulted from unrecognized measles in the first year of life or possibly from the measles vaccination.
Based on estimated nationwide measles vaccine distribution, the association of SSPE cases to measles
vaccination is about one case per million vaccine doses distributed. This is far less than the association
with infection with wild-type measles, 6-22 cases of SSPE per million cases of measles. The results of a
retrospective case-controlled study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
suggest that the overall effect of measles vaccine has been to protect against SSPE by preventing
measles with its inherent higher risk of SSPE.55

Cases of aseptic meningitis have been reported to VAERS following measles, mumps, and rubella
vaccination. Although a causal relationship between the Urabe strain of mumps vaccine and aseptic
meningitis has been shown, there is no evidence to link Jeryl Lynn™ mumps vaccine to aseptic
meningitis.

Respiratory System
Pneumonia, pneumonitis (see CONTRAINDICATIONS); sore throat; cough; rhinitis.
Skin
Stevens-Johnson syndrome; erythema multiforme; urticaria; rash; measles-like rash; pruritis.
Local reactions including burning/stinging at injection site; wheal and flare; redness (erythema);
swelling; induration; tenderness; vesiculation at injection site.
Special Senses — Ear
Nerve deafness; otitis media.
Special Senses — Eye
Retinitis; optic neuritis; papillitis; retrobulbar neuritis; conjunctivitis.
Urogenital System
Epididymitis, orchitis.

Other
Death from various, and in some cases unknown, causes has been reported rarely following
vaccination with measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines; however, a causal relationship has not been
established in healthy individuals (see CONTRAINDICATIONS). No deaths or permanent sequelae were
reported in a published post-marketing surveillance study in Finland involving 1.5 million children and
adults who were vaccinated with M-M-R II during 1982 to 1993.56

Under the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986, health-care providers and manufacturers
are required to record and report certain suspected adverse events occurring within specific time periods
after vaccination. However, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has established
a Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) which will accept all reports of suspected events.47
A VAERS report form as well as information regarding reporting requirements can be obtained by calling
VAERS 1-800-822-7967.
At the end of the day, the general public got to see for themselves how very logical,ethical, and compassionate Dr.Wakefield is. I believe he deserves the Nobel Prize in Medicine for the discovery of a link between irritable bowel and the onset of symptoms of autism. And not unlike many doctors who have preceded him in the history of great evolutions in scientific knowledge, (Lister, Marshall, etc.) he has been vilified by his colleagues who have been too closed-minded (or too financially and philosophically invested in vaccine policies) to see what the clinical research shows.

Beth Clay

This article was previously posted.