another myth...

The MMR Vaccine causes autism.

First, I’ll start out by saying that there is no evidence that this is true.

I think the original idea that there was a link between mmr and autism came from a study on 12 patients (which isn’t very much!) where the authors said at the end of the paper that maybe, possibly there was the potential for a link.  Well, that suggestion turned into a whole big series of investigations, and the long and short of it is that there is no connection.

 The official wording from the AAP…

Although the possible association with MMR vaccine has received much public and political attention and there are many who have derived their own conclusions based on personal experiences, the available evidence does not support the hypothesis that MMR vaccine causes autism or associated disorders or IBD (inflammatory bowel disease). Separate administration of measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines to children provides no benefit over administration of the combination MMR vaccine and would result in delayed or missed immunizations

 What is certain though, is that measles, mumps and rubella are mean and nasty infections.  A fetus infected with rubella is at risk for devastating birth defects including blindness and hearing loss.  Mumps can cause meningitis and is a cause of sterility in men.  Measles causes meningitis, encephalitis and in a significant proportion of those infected, death.