A BOLTON doctor has endorsed the findings of an international study which challenges links between vaccination and autism.

New data from a population study of Swedish children has thrown up evidence to disprove the alleged link between the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine and autism in young children.

The findings of the Swedish research team are published in the latest edition of "Autism" and provides reassurance for parents in support of the triple vaccine.

Dr Robert Aston, Consultant in Communicable Disease Control and District Immunisation Co-ordinator for Bolton, a staunch advocate of the MMR vaccine, said: "There has been no credible evidence produced in the reputable scientific literature of the world to support any link between the MMR vaccination and autism.

"Indeed evidence against any such link continues to accumulate.

"This important study has been published in a peer reviewed journal by an internationally respected expert in the field and is yet further evidence in support of the safety of MMR vaccination," he added.

Uptake

The MMR vaccine has been used in Sweden for more than 15 years and is administered to children at 18 months of age.

Following its introduction, uptake levels quickly reached rates of more than 90 per cent.

The new study, set up through autism expert Dr Christopher Gilberg, Professor of the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Gothenburg University, was designed to investigate if a link between MMR vaccination and autism could be found.

The researchers examined files from 55 children with autism who had been diagnosed by a team of experts.

All had been born within a 10-year period, but were then split into two groups - those who had been born before 1980, before the MMR vaccine was introduced and those born between 1980 and 1984 and therefore eligible for the MMR vaccine.

Out of the 55 autistic children studied, 34 were born in the pre MMR vaccine group and 21 post MMR vaccine.

In their report the authors stated: "Had there been a strong effect of MMR on the prevalence of autistic disorder in the general population, we would have expected more than 45 per cent of the children with autistic disorder to belong to the second group."

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