CNN:
Vaccine-autism link divides parents, scientists. Instead of just denials, it would be more helpful if the CDC could simply supply autism incidence comparison statistics for MMR versus separate injections. Saying “it’s an unfortunate coincidence” isn’t making anyone feel better, or increasing understanding of the science. Frankly, it’s alarming how fast the incidence is increasing. 1 in 94 kids in NJ.
Comments:
Yes, I’m familiar with friends whose children suffer the illness too, in increasing numbers.
You say: “In all three cases the children’s fathers, grandfathers, and/or uncles seem to have something like Asperger’s syndrome but were never diagnosed.”
That’s true. I hear many folks ‘backward-diagnosing’ individuals, even themselves, and this raises alarm bells. The desire to pin blame, or find a scapegoat is strong. Isn’t blame one of the stages of grief?
It’s like when a med school student starts reading medical textbooks, and finds that even normal people betray the symptoms of the most deadly jungle diseases. Most med students go through a hypochondriac phase, wanting to treat themselves for all kinds of bizarre things.
I fear this same sort of mistake is being made by many whose children suffer from autism. Just because someone is single-minded, does not necessarily lead to a diagnosis of autism or Aspergers.
I believe (and I admit this is purely an amateur take) that because the disease has only recently started to increase, looking at ancestors may not be of any use at all. There’s something that’s changed in the last two or three decades, and we need to find out what it is.
Thanks for the link! Very informative. Adds to my knowledge.
Unfortunately, if I were to describe these male relatives in enough detail to make my point, I would be violating their privacy.
Trust me, I am not talking about anything subtle.
In two of the cases, I knew the families for many years before the affected children were born and had been long concerned about certain male relatives.
You may right that something’s been happening in the last few decades to increase the incidence. There’s actually a lot of good genetic research taking place but I agree that learning whether a virus or toxin is part of the problem is urgent.
As far as what happened a generation ago, this is a fascinating site: http://www.faaas.org/
I will concede readily that there exists a contention that autism is old, but the diagnosis is new, being applied more often now than ever in the past.
Until we get more useful information (my original point), we end up having to shift for ourselves.
Another great link.
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I agree that it is very difficult to understand this situation. It is also very hard to ensure that sources are reliable because of the strong emotions on both sides.
I found this article intersting:
http://www.springerlink.com/content/yf24aj15k9b7kcp1/
As for anecdotal evidence I know of 3 families with autistic children ranging in age from about 10 to 20; two of the families have two autistic children and the other has one. In all three cases the children’s fathers, grandfathers, and/or uncles seem to have something like Asperger’s syndrome but were never diagnosed.