Common Variable Immunodeficiency Support Group
Common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) is a group of 20-30 primary immunodeficiencies (PIDs) which have a common set of symptoms but with different underlying causes. CVID's underlying causes are different, but the result of these are that the body doesn't produce sufficient antibodies in response to exposure to pathogens.
Retracted autism study an 'elaborate fraud,' British journal finds
By the CNN Wire Staff
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
* NEW: Dr. Andrew Wakefield says his work has been "grossly distorted"
* British journal BMJ accuses Wakefield of faking data for his 1998 paper
* "The damage to public health continues" as a result of the autism-vaccine claim
* The study was retracted and Wakefield lost his license in 2010
(CNN) -- A now-retracted British study that linked autism to childhood vaccines was an "elaborate fraud" that has done long-lasting damage to public health, a leading medical publication reported Wednesday.
An investigation published by the British medical journal BMJ concludes the study's author, Dr. Andrew Wakefield, misrepresented or altered the medical histories of all 12 of the patients whose cases formed the basis of the 1998 study -- and that there was "no doubt" Wakefield was responsible.
"It's one thing to have a bad study, a study full of error, and for the authors then to admit that they made errors," Fiona Godlee, BMJ's editor-in-chief, told CNN. "But in this case, we have a very different picture of what seems to be a deliberate attempt to create an impression that there was a link by falsifying the data."
Britain stripped Wakefield of his medical license in May. "Meanwhile, the damage to public health continues, fueled by unbalanced media reporting and an ineffective response from government, researchers, journals and the medical profession," BMJ states in an editorial accompanying the work.
Speaking to CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360," Wakefield said his work has been "grossly distorted" and that he was the target of "a ruthless, pragmatic attempt to crush any attempt to investigate valid vaccine safety concerns."
The now-discredited paper panicked many parents and led to a sharp drop in the number of children getting the vaccine that prevents measles, mumps and rubella. Vaccination rates dropped sharply in Britain after its publication, falling as low as 80% by 2004. Measles cases have gone up sharply in the ensuing years.
In the United States, more cases of measles were reported in 2008 than in any other year since 1997, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 90% of those infected had not been vaccinated or their vaccination status was unknown, the CDC reported.
"But perhaps as important as the scare's effect on infectious disease is the energy, emotion and money that have been diverted away from efforts to understand the real causes of autism and how to help children and families who live with it," the BMJ editorial states.
Wakefield has been unable to reproduce his results in the face of criticism, and other researchers have been unable to match them. Most of his co-authors withdrew their names from the study in 2004 after learning he had had been paid by a law firm that intended to sue vaccine manufacturers -- a serious conflict of interest he failed to disclose. After years on controversy, the Lancet, the prestigious journal that originally published the research, retracted Wakefield's paper last February.
The series of articles launched Wednesday are investigative journalism, not results of a clinical study. The writer, Brian Deer, said Wakefield "chiseled" the data before him, "falsifying medical histories of children and essentially concocting a picture, which was the picture he was contracted to find by lawyers hoping to sue vaccine manufacturers and to create a vaccine scare."
According to BMJ, Wakefield received more than 435,000 pounds ($674,000) from the lawyers. Godlee said the study shows that of the 12 cases Wakefield examined in his paper, five showed developmental problems before receiving the MMR vaccine and three never had autism.
"It's always hard to explain fraud and where it affects people to lie in science," Godlee said. "But it does seem a financial motive was underlying this, both in terms of payments by lawyers and through legal aid grants that he received but also through financial schemes that he hoped would benefit him through diagnostic and other tests for autism and MMR-related issues."
But Wakefield told CNN that claims of a link between the MMR vaccine and autism "came from the parents, not me," and that his paper had "nothing to do with the litigation."
"These children were seen on the basis of their clinical symptoms, for their clinical need, and they were seen by expert clinicians and their disease diagnosed by them, not by me," he said.
Wakefield dismissed Deer as "a hit man who has been brought into take me down" by pharmaceutical interests. Deer has signed a disclosure form stating that he has no financial interest in the business.
Dr. Max Wiznitzer, a pediatric neurologist at Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital in Cleveland, said the reporting "represents Wakefield as a person where the ends justified the means." But he said the latest news may have little effect on those families who still blame vaccines for their children's conditions.
"Unfortunately, his core group of supporters is not going to let the facts dissuade their beliefs that MMR causes autism," Wiznitzer said. "They need to be open-minded and examine the information as everybody else."
Wakefield's defenders include David Kirby, a journalist who has written extensively on autism. He told CNN that Wakefield not only has denied falsifying data, he has said he had no way to do so.
"I have known him for a number of years. He does not strike me as a charlatan or a liar," Kirby said. If the BMJ allegations are true, then Wakefield "did a terrible thing" -- but he added, "I personally find it hard to believe that he did that."
CNN's Elizabeth Cohen and Miriam Falco contributed to this report.
By the CNN Wire Staff
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
* NEW: Dr. Andrew Wakefield says his work has been "grossly distorted"
* British journal BMJ accuses Wakefield of faking data for his 1998 paper
* "The damage to public health continues" as a result of the autism-vaccine claim
* The study was retracted and Wakefield lost his license in 2010
(CNN) -- A now-retracted British study that linked autism to childhood vaccines was an "elaborate fraud" that has done long-lasting damage to public health, a leading medical publication reported Wednesday.
An investigation published by the British medical journal BMJ concludes the study's author, Dr. Andrew Wakefield, misrepresented or altered the medical histories of all 12 of the patients whose cases formed the basis of the 1998 study -- and that there was "no doubt" Wakefield was responsible.
"It's one thing to have a bad study, a study full of error, and for the authors then to admit that they made errors," Fiona Godlee, BMJ's editor-in-chief, told CNN. "But in this case, we have a very different picture of what seems to be a deliberate attempt to create an impression that there was a link by falsifying the data."
Britain stripped Wakefield of his medical license in May. "Meanwhile, the damage to public health continues, fueled by unbalanced media reporting and an ineffective response from government, researchers, journals and the medical profession," BMJ states in an editorial accompanying the work.
Speaking to CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360," Wakefield said his work has been "grossly distorted" and that he was the target of "a ruthless, pragmatic attempt to crush any attempt to investigate valid vaccine safety concerns."
The now-discredited paper panicked many parents and led to a sharp drop in the number of children getting the vaccine that prevents measles, mumps and rubella. Vaccination rates dropped sharply in Britain after its publication, falling as low as 80% by 2004. Measles cases have gone up sharply in the ensuing years.
In the United States, more cases of measles were reported in 2008 than in any other year since 1997, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 90% of those infected had not been vaccinated or their vaccination status was unknown, the CDC reported.
"But perhaps as important as the scare's effect on infectious disease is the energy, emotion and money that have been diverted away from efforts to understand the real causes of autism and how to help children and families who live with it," the BMJ editorial states.
Wakefield has been unable to reproduce his results in the face of criticism, and other researchers have been unable to match them. Most of his co-authors withdrew their names from the study in 2004 after learning he had had been paid by a law firm that intended to sue vaccine manufacturers -- a serious conflict of interest he failed to disclose. After years on controversy, the Lancet, the prestigious journal that originally published the research, retracted Wakefield's paper last February.
The series of articles launched Wednesday are investigative journalism, not results of a clinical study. The writer, Brian Deer, said Wakefield "chiseled" the data before him, "falsifying medical histories of children and essentially concocting a picture, which was the picture he was contracted to find by lawyers hoping to sue vaccine manufacturers and to create a vaccine scare."
According to BMJ, Wakefield received more than 435,000 pounds ($674,000) from the lawyers. Godlee said the study shows that of the 12 cases Wakefield examined in his paper, five showed developmental problems before receiving the MMR vaccine and three never had autism.
"It's always hard to explain fraud and where it affects people to lie in science," Godlee said. "But it does seem a financial motive was underlying this, both in terms of payments by lawyers and through legal aid grants that he received but also through financial schemes that he hoped would benefit him through diagnostic and other tests for autism and MMR-related issues."
But Wakefield told CNN that claims of a link between the MMR vaccine and autism "came from the parents, not me," and that his paper had "nothing to do with the litigation."
"These children were seen on the basis of their clinical symptoms, for their clinical need, and they were seen by expert clinicians and their disease diagnosed by them, not by me," he said.
Wakefield dismissed Deer as "a hit man who has been brought into take me down" by pharmaceutical interests. Deer has signed a disclosure form stating that he has no financial interest in the business.
Dr. Max Wiznitzer, a pediatric neurologist at Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital in Cleveland, said the reporting "represents Wakefield as a person where the ends justified the means." But he said the latest news may have little effect on those families who still blame vaccines for their children's conditions.
"Unfortunately, his core group of supporters is not going to let the facts dissuade their beliefs that MMR causes autism," Wiznitzer said. "They need to be open-minded and examine the information as everybody else."
Wakefield's defenders include David Kirby, a journalist who has written extensively on autism. He told CNN that Wakefield not only has denied falsifying data, he has said he had no way to do so.
"I have known him for a number of years. He does not strike me as a charlatan or a liar," Kirby said. If the BMJ allegations are true, then Wakefield "did a terrible thing" -- but he added, "I personally find it hard to believe that he did that."
CNN's Elizabeth Cohen and Miriam Falco contributed to this report.
this just shows us that we need to use common sense and not react to every thing that comes out until there is fact based large studies to support the claims.
as a teacher it was easy to determine where austism was coming from. look at the orphanages in other countries russia and others where babies are warehoused and have very little one on one time...then look at america's daycares where most babies are in a room 12 hrs a day with 1 or 2 adults..... it doesnt take rocket science to make the connection..... austism resembles detachment disorder... go spend a day in a classroom...
How do you know if an engineer is an introvert or an extrovert. The introvert will look at his shoes when he is talking to you. The extrovert will look at your shoes.
The theory is that when you have people who have these traits, and are likely on the spectrum get married and reproduce, you are more likely to get a child with full blown autism. It seems like a valid theory but not enough is known.
It has also been proven that dyslexia and autism are exact opposites where the brain is involved. In dyslexia, there is a lack of connections in the brain compared to the general population. With Autism, there is more connections within the brain. One prevailing theory is that the over connectedness is what causes the aversion to so many things in the autistic person.
I did a lot of reading in research journals on this subject. My husband and both children have dyslexia and are gifted in Math. Many of the books also discussed Autism and Aspergers. I find it all very interesting.
I do not think that attachment disorder is the same as autism. To me that is like comparing HIV to CVID. One is contracted while the other is likely to be more genetic. Both weakens the immune system but one is much more easily prevented than the other. I know many people who have children with everything from Autism to Aspergers and they are as varied in how they respond to their children as the general population when the child is an infant. Now I also have seen that when the child has good interaction with a parent or teacher then they do better than if neglected. I think that is true of most children. I am a substitute teacher and frequently sub for the self contained autism class. The parents of some of these kids are the most committed, loving parents I know and some of the kids with Autism are some of the most affectionate, loving children I have ever encountered. They just don't communicate it in the same way as the general population.
when you have a school of 600 kids and 20% have autism there is a problem. many kids are getting dx with autism if they display characteristics that resemble. granted there are true cases of autism out there i have had several over the yrs.
my first yr teaching i had a child with aspergers, she truely had aspergers. by the time i retired last yr we had kids with autism label coming out of the woodwork.
in the school, system i taught for 17 yrs we had inculsion i was the one that got most of the special ed kids. i have seen many that autism wasnt the label needed, it has become very over dx.
many kids i saw resembled distachment rather than autism. but i am not a doc, just a reg ed teacher that had MANY special needs kids placed in my room each year because i was so sick my whole school career, i had a special skill with special need kids. my prinicipal commented to my team after my retirement who will we place all the special need kids with with pam gone.... we all had our talents and special kids were mine.
stopping vac was a huge mistake..... we have illnesses back that were nearly eradicated based on this man scaring people.
common sense tells us that everything has risks but when the benefit outweighs the risk we do it.
diseases that were nearly eradicated from vac are now back on the rise and not vaccinating puts everyone at risk. babies not old enough to get vaccinated are at risk as are all immune comprimised people. all based on this man's greed. whooping cough is back, i found out this fall that one of my students last yr had whooping cough, looking back, i now think that is what i got last january and nearly died. he had asthma and was so sick, his doc decided after that it was probably whooping cough..... we have the ability to wipe out horrible diseases and because of one man they are coming back....
from observation it is over dx and with the rise in moms working and kids going to daycare 12 hrs a day there is a rise in dx of something that resembles displacement disorder. it needs a closer look and i have been preaching this since the report came out...and what i said from the beginning is happening, diseases once nearly wiped out are on the rise.....
jumping on a band wagon is always a dangerous move.....
common sense is the best weapon more people need to use it....
this is a passion of mine as you can tell.....something i have preached for yrs....