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LETTERS: Liam Smeeth, Andrew J Hall, Laura C Rodrigues, Xiangning Huang, Peter G Smith, Eric Fombonne, Michael Edwardes, Marc Baltzan, F Edward Yazbak, James A Kaye, Maria del Mar Melero-Montes, and Hershel Jick Measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism BMJ 2001; 323: 163 [Full text]

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MMR and Brain Damage

Alan Challoner MA MChS   (30 April 2003)

MMR and Brain Damage 30 April 2003
Alan Challoner MA MChS, Retired Bodelwyddan LL18 5UR Send response to journal: Re: MMR and Brain Damage	The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Immunization Program, promulgates that the risks from MMR vaccine can be permanent brain damage. [1] The US Institute of Medicine’s immunisation safety review committee has been investigating whether the influenza vaccine might carry a risk of the demyelinating disorder Guillain-Barré syndrome. [2] So, before the proposal that MMR can cause autism is abandonded completely, perhaps we should await the outcome of further research into the ways in which vaccinations can directly affect the brains of very young children. [1] http://www.cdc.gov/nip/publications/VIS/vis-mmr.pdf [2] BMJ 2003;326:620 ( 22 March 2003 ) Competing interests:   Daughter brain-damaged by DPT vaccine.