New evidence for a viral pathogenic mechanism for new variant inflammatory bowel disease and development disorder?
- 1Department of Biological Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK
- 2Department of Biological Sciences, University of Warwick, UK
- Correspondence to: Dr A Morris, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK; amorris{at}bio.warwick.ac.uk
We are all aware of the public unease about a potential link between vaccination with the triple vaccine MMR (mumps, measles, and rubella) and autism or bowel inflammatory conditions, with some hundreds of parents of afflicted children undertaking legal action against the manufacturers. There is no space to go into detail of the controversy over the link here (search the web using keywords “measles, MMR, vaccination, autism”)—suffice it to say that reliable epidemiologists are content that there is no significant association between MMR and either autism or bowel inflammatory conditions. However, epidemiology is a pretty blunt tool and the studies done do not rule out the possibility that there may be “at risk” groups where a real link between MMR and autism/bowel inflammatory conditions exists.
“Epidemiology is a pretty blunt tool and …
