Government Concedes Vaccine-Autism Case in Federal Court!

[AikidoSoul]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-kirby/government-concedes-vacci_b_88323.html

After years of insisting there is no evidence to link vaccines with the onset of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), the US government has quietly conceded a vaccine-autism case in the Court of Federal Claims.

Government Concedes Vaccine-Autism Case in Federal Court - Now What?

The unprecedented concession was filed on November 9, and sealed to protect the plaintiff's identify. It was obtained through individuals unrelated to the case.

The claim, one of 4,900 autism cases currently pending in Federal "Vaccine Court," was conceded by US Assistant Attorney General Peter Keisler and other Justice Department officials, on behalf of the Department of Health and Human Services, the "defendant" in all Vaccine Court cases.

The child's claim against the government -- that mercury-containing vaccines were the cause of her autism -- was supposed to be one of three "test cases" for the thimerosal-autism theory currently under consideration by a three-member panel of Special Masters, the presiding justices in Federal Claims Court.

Keisler wrote that medical personnel at the HHS Division of Vaccine Injury Compensation (DVIC) had reviewed the case and "concluded that compensation is appropriate."

The doctors conceded that the child was healthy and developing normally until her 18-month well-baby visit, when she received vaccinations against nine different diseases all at once (two contained thimerosal).

Days later, the girl began spiraling downward into a cascade of illnesses and setbacks that, within months, presented as symptoms of autism, including: No response to verbal direction; loss of language skills; no eye contact; loss of "relatedness;" insomnia; incessant screaming; arching; and "watching the florescent lights repeatedly during examination."

Seven months after vaccination, the patient was diagnosed by Dr. Andrew Zimmerman, a leading neurologist at the Kennedy Krieger Children's Hospital Neurology Clinic, with "regressive encephalopathy (brain disease) with features consistent with autistic spectrum disorder, following normal development." The girl also met the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) official criteria for autism.

In its written concession, the government said the child had a pre-existing mitochondrial disorder that was "aggravated" by her shots, and which ultimately resulted in an ASD diagnosis.

"The vaccinations received on July 19, 2000, significantly aggravated an underlying mitochondrial disorder," the concession says, "which predisposed her to deficits in cellular energy metabolism, and manifested as a regressive encephalopathy with features of ASD."

This statement is good news for the girl and her family, who will now be compensated for the lifetime of care she will require. But its implications for the larger vaccine-autism debate, and for public health policy in general, are not as certain.

In fact, the government's concession seems to raise more questions than it answers.

Is there a connection between vaccines, mitochondrial disorders and a diagnosis of autism, at least in some cases?

<<<<SNIP>>>>

Mitochondrial disorders are now thought to be the most common disease associated with ASD. Some journal articles and other analyses have estimated that 10% to 20% of all autism cases may involve mitochondrial disorders, which would make them one thousand times more common among people with ASD than the general population.

Another article, published in the Journal of Child Neurology and co-authored by Dr. Zimmerman, showed that 38% of Kennedy Krieger Institute autism patients studied had one marker for impaired oxidative phosphorylation, and 47% had a second marker.

The authors -- who reported on a case-study of the same autism claim conceded in Vaccine Court -- noted that "children who have (mitochondrial-related) dysfunctional cellular energy metabolism might be more prone to undergo autistic regression between 18 and 30 months of age if they also have infections or immunizations at the same time."

An interesting aspect of Mt disease in autism is that, with ASD, the mitochondrial disease seems to be milder than in "classic" cases of Mt disorder. In fact, classic Mt disease is almost always inherited, either passed down by the mother through mitochondrial DNA, or by both parents through nuclear DNA.

In autism-related Mt disease, however, the disorder is not typically found in other family members, and instead appears to be largely of the sporadic variety, which may now account for 75% of all mitochondrial disorders.

<<<SNIP>>>>

[varkam]

1. Nope. Kirby's playing with hyperbole.

This has already been discussed to death, but essentially the court is saying that vaccines injured this particular child - but not that they caused an ASD (in fact, the child had not been Dxed with autism).

ETA - Have a read: http://www.theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php?p=203

[lumberjack_jeff]

2. The observation that the vaccines caused the symptoms is significant

and relevant.

As discussed in the other thread, the syndrome is nothing more than a collection of behavioral features. In fact, it seems likely from the court documents that, given the array of symptoms described, an ASD dx is (particularly if they hadn't tested for the mitochondrial disorder) at least plausible.

I have to wonder how many other kids have the behaviors because of vaccines? I wonder how many of them have been diagnosed with ASD? If the answer to those two questions is any number greater than zero, then RFK Jr was right - vaccines cause Autism.

edited to add;
The author of the link you posted went to great lengths to obfuscate the important bigger picture. The government has conceded that the vaccines played a role in creating the markers for Autism. The mechanism by which this happened, and the number of other children and the degree to which they were affected is the only remaining question.

the vaccinations CHILD received on July 19, 2000, significantly aggravated an underlying mitochondrial disorder, which predisposed her to deficits in cellular energy metabolism, and manifested as a regressive encephalopathy with features of autism spectrum disorder.

I wonder how many people have underlying conditions which are similarly aggravated by vaccinations... resulting in features of ASD?

It doesn't seem to me to be much of a logical leap, that since ASD is nothing more than a collection of features, (that if present to the appropriate degree and absent a testable organic condition) those features which were caused by vaccinations have caused people to be Dx'ed with Autism. The author seems to be making a case that the vaccines didn't cause autism, they exploited a cellular/organic disorder which caused symptoms identical to Autism. This seems a subtle distinction.

One last thing, I may not know as much about medicine as the author of the blog post, but I do know the difference between "he" and "she". :hi:

[alarimer]

4. Buit it isn't true and has been disproved many, many times

It is a logical fallacy called post hoc ergo propter hoc. Just because one thing follows another, it does not mean that the first thing caused the other. The symptoms appear at roughly two years of age, or about the same time as the vaccines are given. one does not cause the other (in either direction).

There is no credible link between the vaccines and autism.

The Science-Based medicine blog is a good place to learn about various medical bogeymen, including this one.

http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=9

[lumberjack_jeff]

10. Government admission isn't credible?

the vaccinations CHILD received on July 19, 2000, significantly aggravated an underlying mitochondrial disorder, which predisposed her to deficits in cellular energy metabolism, and manifested as a regressive encephalopathy with features of autism spectrum disorder.

"Causing the features of Autism" vs "causing Autism" is a subtle distinction. Autism is nothing more than a collection of features.

Careful reading of the court docs suggests that the the absence of mention of an Autism diagnosis implies that the diagnosticians believed that the features were better explained by a lab testable disorder.

Everyone is missing the bigger point. How many kids were diagnosed with ASD by virtue of features created by vaccines through a similar mechanism to the little girl in the court case?

Is it germane to argue that 'vaccines don't cause Autism, they just cause regressive encephalopathy and deficits in cellular energy metabolism which is indistinguishable from Autism'

In fact, the more I read, the more I suspect that an autism dx was avoided because a settlement was impossible if it were included.

[varkam]

14. Oy.

"Causing the features of Autism" vs "causing Autism" is a subtle distinction. Autism is nothing more than a collection of features.

I believe we've been over this before. You need to meet at least six different critera for a Dx of autism. If you only meet one or two, then you have features but not the disorder. It's actually a pretty big distinction. Also, it can't be caused by an underlying condition in order to be Dxable IIRC.

[varkam]

13. A response.

As discussed in the other thread, the syndrome is nothing more than a collection of behavioral features. In fact, it seems likely from the court documents that, given the array of symptoms described, an ASD dx is (particularly if they hadn't tested for the mitochondrial disorder) at least plausible.

I would disagree - as I mentioned in the other thread, having features of a disorder is not the same thing as a disorder. If the child had enough features for a diagnosis, then one would imagine the child would of received the diagnosis (and that would be reflected in the court documents).

I have to wonder how many other kids have the behaviors because of vaccines? I wonder how many of them have been diagnosed with ASD? If the answer to those two questions is any number greater than zero, then RFK Jr was right - vaccines cause Autism.

That's a tautology. You're saying, essentially, how many other kids have autism because of vaccines. If there are at least some kids that have autism because of vaccines, then RFK is right. Well...yeah...but that's kind of a meaningless statement. Also, again, it's important to bear in mind that (a) the court did not find that the vaccine caused autism and (b) their standard was not a scientific one, but rather a legal one.

The author of the link you posted went to great lengths to obfuscate the important bigger picture. The government has conceded that the vaccines played a role in creating the markers for Autism. The mechanism by which this happened, and the number of other children and the degree to which they were affected is the only remaining question.

Nope. The government conceded that the vaccines aggravated an underlying mitochondrial disorder (read: not autism).

I wonder how many people have underlying conditions which are similarly aggravated by vaccinations... resulting in features of ASD?

Don't know.

It doesn't seem to me to be much of a logical leap, that since ASD is nothing more than a collection of features, (that if present to the appropriate degree and absent a testable organic condition) those features which were caused by vaccinations have caused people to be Dx'ed with Autism. The author seems to be making a case that the vaccines didn't cause autism, they exploited a cellular/organic disorder which caused symptoms identical to Autism. This seems a subtle distinction.

But, at least in this case, those features did not result in a diagnosis of autism. Also, I believe Novella addresses several of the questions that you posed. It may seem a subtle distinction to you, though the authors of the DSM-IV would most definitely disagree with you.

[AikidoSoul]

5. Outside the box thinking on this

can be found here. It is a well documented and sensible way to look at this disease.

http://www.ehponline.org/members/2006/114-2/focus.html


You may not like Kirby's choice of words, but you cannot throw the article and what happened in the court in the trash without at least admitting that much is not known about the brain and how it interacts with many materials.

It took over 2000 years to discover some ot the most serious problems with lead. It was only in the past year that science realized that there are NO SAFE LIMITS OF EXPOSURE TO LEAD for children.

Neurotoxins act upon the delicate brain in ways that will take decades to understand. Maybe longer.

I sincerely hope you will read the EHP article -- URL pasted above. :hi:

[varkam]

15. I've already read the article you posted.

And it's a giant non-sequitur with respect to this conversation. I was posting on what Kirby's saying - not on effects of various chemicals on neurodevelopment.

You may not like Kirby's choice of words, but you cannot throw the article and what happened in the court in the trash without at least admitting that much is not known about the brain and how it interacts with many materials.

It isn't just Kirby's "choice of words", but rather the conclusions that he chose to try and draw from the case. It's disingenuous at best. Where did I ever say that there's not more to be learned about the brain and how it interacts with many materials? That's a red herring - I merely pointed out that the court case does not mean that the gov't conceded that vaccines cause autism.

It took over 2000 years to discover some ot the most serious problems with lead. It was only in the past year that science realized that there are NO SAFE LIMITS OF EXPOSURE TO LEAD for children.

So? What does that have to do with Kirby's article? You do realize that scientific investigations into lead haven't been taking place over the past 2000 years, right?

Neurotoxins act upon the delicate brain in ways that will take decades to understand. Maybe longer.

But there's no data to suggest that vaccines cause autism. Sorry - it's just not there, and it's been studied. In fact, there is a veritable mountain of data to suggest that the hypothesis is simply wrong. Maybe that'll change at some point, but when it does it'll take hard numbers - not prevarication and hyperbole.

[Junkdrawer]

3. Dupe...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=2938386&mesg_id=2938386

[LVjinx]

6. In Europe, getting rid of thimerosal INCREASED autism rates

That suggests that there is either no relationship at all between the two, or that the post-thimerosal vaccines are even worse, or that there is a factor which hasn't been examined.

[AikidoSoul]

7. citation?

please?

[AikidoSoul]

8. children with apparent mercury toxic encephalopathies --Journal of Environmental Toxicology

A case series of children with apparent mercury toxic encephalopathies
manifesting with clinical symptoms of regressive autistic disorders

Geier DA, Geier MR.

Institute of Chronic Illnesses, Inc., Silver Spring, Maryland, USA.

J Toxicol Environ Health A. 2007 May 15;70(10):837-51

Impairments in social relatedness and communication, repetitive
behaviors, and stereotypic abnormal movement patterns characterize
autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). It is clear that while genetic
factors are important to the pathogenesis of ASDs, mercury exposure
can induce immune, sensory, neurological, motor, and behavioral
dysfunctions similar to traits defining or associated with ASDs. The
Institutional Review Board of the Institute for Chronic Illnesses
Office for Human Research Protections, U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services, IRB number IRB00005375) approved the present study. A
case series of nine patients who presented to the Genetic Centers of
America for a genetic/developmental evaluation are discussed. Eight of
nine patients (one patient was found to have an ASD due to Rett's
syndrome)
a) had regressive ASDs; (b) had elevated levels of androgens; (c)
excreted significant amounts of mercury post chelation challenge; (d)
had biochemical evidence of decreased function in their glutathione
pathways; (e) had no known significant mercury exposure except from
Thimerosal-containing vaccines/Rho(D)-immune globulin preparations;
and (f) had alternate causes for their regressive ASDs ruled out.
There was a significant dose-response relationship between the
severity of the regressive ASDs observed and the total mercury dose
children received from Thimerosal-containing vaccines/Rho (D)-immune
globulin preparations. Based upon differential diagnoses, 8 of 9
patients examined were exposed to significant mercury from
Thimerosal-containing biologic/vaccine preparations during their
fetal/infant developmental periods, and subsequently, between 12 and
24 mo of age, these previously normally developing children suffered
mercury toxic encephalopathies that manifested with clinical symptoms
consistent with regressive ASDs. Evidence for mercury intoxication should be considered in the differential diagnosis as contributing to some regressive ASDs.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=17454560&itool=pubmed_DocSum

PMID: 17454560

[lumberjack_jeff]

16. And the thimerosol critics are accused of confusing correlation and causation? n/t

[varkam]

17. Well, think about it for a moment.

If there were a cause and effect relationship between thimerosal and autism such that thimerosal in vaccines caused autism, it would consequently stand to reason that if you removed thimersoal from vaccines then rates of autism would go down.

[lumberjack_jeff]

18. Did you not see the irony in the claim that thimerosal suppresses autism occurence?

"... getting rid of thimerosal INCREASED autism"

[varkam]

21. That was perhaps an unfortunate way to word it.

Though, if you read the whole post instead of the subject line, the poster clears that up for us.

eta Here's the body of the message:

That suggests that there is either no relationship at all between the two, or that the post-thimerosal vaccines are even worse, or that there is a factor which hasn't been examined.

[lumberjack_jeff]

24. I don't take issue with his point, just the "unfortunate" wording.

I'm aware that removing thimerosal from most european vaccines hasn't slowed the rate of autism occurence.

This doesn't rule out the idea that there are many environmental triggers, vaccine mercury being just one.

I believe that this is caused largely by something environmental. Finding that environmental trigger is not served by the firewall of sacred cows.

[hunter]

9. You could attribute all of this to leaded gasoline with better cause.

When I'm in a bad mood I can blame U.S. stupidity on leaded gasoline, mercury from coal, and pesticides.

It is silly to worry about mercury in vaccines when the air and water surrounding us is full of lead, mercury, and pesticides.

[AikidoSoul]

11. Oh, yeah... let's keep piling on the neurotoxins

-- what's a little brain damage from time to time -- especially for young developing brains.

If you're a producer of neurotoxic poisons you're pretty safe from being legally culpable. Besides the immunitites gifted by our government you can rest easy that your product will stay on the market even if it's causing neurological damage. It sometimes takes many decades to meet the criteria of "scientific proof" -- for specific damages or mechanisms of damage.

The notion of "cause and effect" is industry's greatest ally.

[RC]

12. Nope. Every little bit helps.

Gotta start somewhere.

[Peace Teacher]

19. as a teacher...

I'm new here. I am not familiar with the Huffington Post. Is it a credible source? As a teacher, I am always looking for a better understanding of various conditions that I witness first hand everyday.

[Sgent]

20. Huffington Post

is a conglomerate of many different blogs. The articles there are generally more on the line of editorials -- not news items.

David Kirby is a well known (within the circle) anti-vaccine activist.

[aikoaiko]

22. this thread is deja vu

almost verbatim

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

23. Bait and switch

The government conceded that vaccines (no mention of which vaccine caused the problem) aggravated an underlying condition. They did not admit that vaccines solely caused autism. Not many very good solutions here though. Lives saved from vaccines far outweigh the cost of reactions or injury to a very small group. Before you jump all over me, I'm speaking of the public health issue not anyones specific case.

David