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Vaccines and autism: a tale of shifting hypotheses

Jeffrey S Gerber1, Paul A Offit

  • 1Division of Infectious Diseases, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-4399, USA. offit@email.chop.edu

Clinical Infectious Diseases : an Official Publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America
|January 9, 2009
PubMed

Insights

Despite high vaccination rates, some parents worry about vaccines and autism. This review examines three theories linking vaccines to autism and the scientific evidence supporting or refuting them.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric medicine
  • Immunology
  • Neuroscience

Background:

  • Parental concerns persist regarding a potential link between childhood vaccinations and autism spectrum disorder.
  • Three prominent hypotheses propose mechanisms for vaccine-induced autism: intestinal damage from MMR vaccine, thimerosal neurotoxicity, and immune system overload from multiple vaccines.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To explore the origins of prominent vaccine-autism hypotheses.
  • To critically review the epidemiological evidence pertaining to these proposed links.

Main Methods:

  • Literature review of scientific studies and epidemiological data.
  • Analysis of the scientific basis for each proposed vaccine-autism hypothesis.

Main Results:

  • Discusses the genesis of the MMR-intestinal damage, thimerosal neurotoxicity, and vaccine overload hypotheses.
  • Reviews epidemiological evidence relevant to each theory.

Conclusions:

  • The scientific community continues to investigate vaccine safety and autism concerns.
  • Evidence-based reviews are crucial for addressing public health questions regarding vaccination.

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