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In reply to the discussion: Yes, Virginia there ARE Two Sides to Vaccines [View all]proverbialwisdom
(4,959 posts)78. That's the official story; too bad it ignores all nuance. Read Dr.Poling's Op-Ed from 2008.
Link from post 34 (above):
http://autisminnb.blogspot.com/2010/12/2010-autism-words-of-year-mitochondrial.html
2010 Autism Words of the Year: Mitochondrial Dysfunction
The word mitochondria is not new to discussions of autism disorders. The Poling case "injected", no pun intended, mitochondria into the debates over vaccines and autism. The recent UC Davis study, by Cecilia Giulivi, Ph D., and other researchers, Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Autism, published in the December 1, 2010 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association has brought the association between mitochondrial dysfunction and autism disorders into mainstream public consciousness and into mainstream medical legitimacy. Make no mistake about it we will now hear much, much more about the connection between autism disorders and mitochondrial dysfunction.
The Poling family was successful in advancing a vaccine injury claim on behalf of their daughter Hannah Poling to the point of settlement by US authorities. Hannah's father is Dr. Jon Poling, a practicing neurologist in Athens, Georgia, and clinical assistant professor at the Medical College of Georgia. He reviewed his daughter's case in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on April 11, 2008. In his comments Dr. Poling explained how mitchondrial dysfunction was related to his daughter's case and to the existence of a possible mitochondrial dysfunction subgroup of autism disorder. He also discussed, as a medical doctor who expressly recognized the importance of vaccines in preventing serious diseases, the need for public health authorities to abandon fear tactics and conduct research to restore confidence in public health authorities and vaccines:
<>
2010 Autism Words of the Year: Mitochondrial Dysfunction
The word mitochondria is not new to discussions of autism disorders. The Poling case "injected", no pun intended, mitochondria into the debates over vaccines and autism. The recent UC Davis study, by Cecilia Giulivi, Ph D., and other researchers, Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Autism, published in the December 1, 2010 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association has brought the association between mitochondrial dysfunction and autism disorders into mainstream public consciousness and into mainstream medical legitimacy. Make no mistake about it we will now hear much, much more about the connection between autism disorders and mitochondrial dysfunction.
The Poling family was successful in advancing a vaccine injury claim on behalf of their daughter Hannah Poling to the point of settlement by US authorities. Hannah's father is Dr. Jon Poling, a practicing neurologist in Athens, Georgia, and clinical assistant professor at the Medical College of Georgia. He reviewed his daughter's case in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on April 11, 2008. In his comments Dr. Poling explained how mitchondrial dysfunction was related to his daughter's case and to the existence of a possible mitochondrial dysfunction subgroup of autism disorder. He also discussed, as a medical doctor who expressly recognized the importance of vaccines in preventing serious diseases, the need for public health authorities to abandon fear tactics and conduct research to restore confidence in public health authorities and vaccines:
"Mitochondria key
To understand Hannah's case, it is important to understand mitochondria, which act like batteries in our cells to produce energy critical for normal function. Because the government's concession hinged on the presence of Hannah's underlying medical condition, mitochondrial dysfunction, some claim the decision is relevant to very few other children with autism. As a neurologist, scientist and father, I disagree.
Emerging evidence suggests that mitochondrial dysfunction may not be rare at all among children with autism. In the only population-based study of its kind, Portuguese researchers confirmed that at least 7.2 percent, and perhaps as many as 20 percent, of autistic children exhibit mitochondrial dysfunction. While we do not yet know a precise U.S. rate, 7.2 percent to 20 percent of children does not qualify as "rare." In fact, mitochondrial dysfunction may be the most common medical condition associated with autism.
Biological markers
Although unlikely, if the Portuguese studies are incorrect and mitochondrial dysfunction were found to be a rarity occurring in less than 1 percent of all autism, it would still impact up to 10,000 children (250,000 worldwide), based on current estimates that 1 million people in the U.S. (25 million worldwide) have autism. If, on the other hand, the research showing that 7.2 percent to 20 percent of children with autism have mitochondrial dysfunction is correct, then the implications are both staggering and urgent.
Autism researchers do not currently understand whether mitochondrial dysfunction causes autism or is simply a secondary biological marker. Autism clearly has many different causes, and should really be separated into multiple autism(s). I propose that we clearly identify and research the subpopulation term of "mitochondrial autism," which is distinguished by its unique biological, but not genetic, markers.
Based on what we know now, it is time to follow the prestigious Institute of Medicine 2004 report regarding autism and vaccines:"Determining a specific cause (for autism) in the individual is impossible unless the etiology is known and there is a biological marker. Determining causality with population-based methods requires either a well-defined at-risk population or a large effect in the general population."
A paradigm shift
When the IOM report was published, mitochondrial dysfunction defining an autistic subpopulation was not firmly established. Today there is no doubt that mitochondrial dysfunction represents a distinct autism subpopulation biological marker. I urge health officials and the IOM to embrace their own report and pursue this breakthrough in the science of autism. National public health leaders, including those at CDC, must now recognize the paradigm shift caused by this biological marker with regard to their current position of dispelling a vaccine-autism link.
In light of the Hannah Poling concession, science must determine more precisely how large the mitochondrial autism subpopulation is: 1 percent, 7.2 percent, 20 percent?
Based on the 2004 IOM analysis, if the mitochondrial autism subpopulation is found to be relatively uncommon, then all conclusions from prior epidemiological studies refuting an autism-vaccination link must be discarded. New studies then need to be performed exclusively with the mitochondrial subpopulation. If mitochondrial autism turns out to be common, then we could re-analyze the data from prior studies to determine if these studies were powered sufficiently based on a predicted effect size. If not powered appropriately, the conclusion refuting an autism-vaccine link would again have to be rejected. These statistical concepts are basic.
The current vaccine schedule, co-sponsored by the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics, injures a small but significant minority of children, my daughter unfortunately being one of those victims. Every day, more parents and some pediatricians reject the current vaccine schedule. In an abundance of caution, meaningful reform must be performed urgently to prevent the re-emergence of serious diseases like polio or measles.
Need for research
As a neurologist, I have cared for those afflicted with SSPE (a rare but dreaded neurological complication of measles), paralytic polio and tetanus. If these serious vaccine-preventable diseases again become commonplace, the fault will rest solely on the shoulders of public health leaders and policymakers who have failed to heed the writing on the wall (scribbled by my 9-year old daughter).
The mitochondrial autism scenario that my daughter has so eloquently painted has the CDC and public health experts logically cornered. Denial and fear tactics won't close Pandora's Box. Whether we find that mitochondrial autism is rare or common, there is urgent research left to be done to fully understand the interrelationship of vaccines, autism and mitochondria.
Reform of the vaccine schedule will be an important part of the solution, whether vaccines play a major or minor role in autism. Our public health agencies and programs need a reconstruction plan. Day one of the reconstruction hopefully starts at the Vaccine Safety Advisory Committee's Working Group, to be held at HHS headquarters today in Washington."
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Also see: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2536523/
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I don't really want our top research scientists taking time out of developing cures to debate
stevenleser
Jan 2015
#25
Agreed, it is best if scientists continue their research than spending all of
Thinkingabout
Jan 2015
#36
What do we do, though, with those who refuse to vaccinate themselves or their children? . . .
Journeyman
Jan 2015
#12
So you propose that the unvaccinated must be kept under house arrest at all times? . . .
Journeyman
Jan 2015
#22
But again, what do we do when those children go to the park, or share a communal swimming pool? . . .
Journeyman
Jan 2015
#27
Which defective vaccines have killed children and this was ignored? Name them.
Bluenorthwest
Jan 2015
#14
SEE ALSO: The Cutter Incident: How America's First Polio Vaccine Led to a Growing Vaccine Crisis
Demeter
Jan 2015
#31
Without the federal fund and immunity we would have NO vaccines in the US.
McCamy Taylor
Jan 2015
#15
Ironic that people don't have as large families any more due to conquering childhood diseases,
Thor_MN
Jan 2015
#43
Elimination of preventable childhood diseases does, in many cases, have an effect on how many
uppityperson
Jan 2015
#53
I hadn't heard of this. Thanks for the info - I need to check to see if I need a booster too.
myrna minx
Feb 2015
#74
With ALL the due respect awarded medical professionals, may I recommend this to be read in full?
proverbialwisdom
Jan 2015
#34
Autism has been proven in multiple studies to have absolutely no correlation with vaccines.
Thor_MN
Jan 2015
#50
Flawed sources. How many were authored by a fugitive? ANS. 21, according to Congressional testimony.
proverbialwisdom
Feb 2015
#54
Again, selectively ignoring inconvenient science is an unsustainable approach.
proverbialwisdom
Feb 2015
#57
That's the official story/FULL STOP. Change subject or tempt me to 'post the same links over & over'
proverbialwisdom
Feb 2015
#60
I have no illusion that purveyors of woo can be convinced that their faith based misinformation
Thor_MN
Feb 2015
#63
Dr. Bernadine Healy, former head of the National Institutes of Health, in 2008:
proverbialwisdom
Feb 2015
#65
Wrong, unfortunately. Hey, let's make all the relevant CDC raw data OPEN SOURCE. (nt)
proverbialwisdom
Feb 2015
#69
That's the official story; too bad it ignores all nuance. Read Dr.Poling's Op-Ed from 2008.
proverbialwisdom
Feb 2015
#78
The fact that some people are allergic to penicillin doesn't mean it isn't a lifesaver.
Liberal Veteran
Jan 2015
#37
You know the actual flu causes GBS at a greater rate than the vaccine, right?
Recursion
Feb 2015
#56
Your comment doesn't ring true for someone with a science or technical education background.
Maedhros
Feb 2015
#77
A lot of people did resist the smallpox vaccination, and for a very long time.
MineralMan
Feb 2015
#61
On the bright side, if you get tetanus, you'll die with a smile on your face. n/t
backscatter712
Feb 2015
#70