This is the second article I found today about the role of vaccinations as a cause of autimmune diseases. It's too late for most of us, but still very interesting.

http://www.healthyoates.com/2009/07/

I've always wondered if its kids from families with lots of autoimmune diseases that end up getting vaccination reactions more. I know my sisters kids had a couple of bad reactions, before she decided to stop the vaccination programme.

There has been a lot of anti-vaccination propaganda out there and this seems to be another outlet for such info. If it were that just the children that would be affected from not being vaccinated, I would be all for choice. BUT, it is called "herd immunity" and weak links in the herd cause unforeseen outcomes especially to those to who are too young to have a vaccination or to those who are possibly immuno-compromised. Vaccines are well established science and it is meant to protect self as well as others. How would you feel if you or your kids passed along whooping cough to someones infant and the infant died or suffered greatly from such exposure?

Give vaccinations one at a time - singly - WELL spaced apart.

Yes, Molly - definitely the answer for both minimising potential for reactions and getting herd immunity.

I suppose the only other thing would be to offer different types of vaccine for the same disease, or at least different culture mediums, or binders, and a choice of live or inactive if possible.

But, if I had a kid that had had a reaction to one vaccine, there is no way I would let them have others without very very seriously considering the risks. If you are unlucky enough to have a kid who reacts, it can be totally life changing - some vaccine damage has far greater consequences than the disease ever would. The risk of reaction isn't as rare as some folk would have, either.

I have a lot of questons on this topic. First, why don't the amish have autism? Is it becasue they don't get vaccinated? I don't know. Why are the rates of autoimmune diseases, degenerative diseases and autism all high in the western culture and not in thrid world countries? ?? There is so much to read on this topic it sometimes seems overwhelming and when you read either side it seems people are kinda crazy and it's hard to believe anyone.

I do like statistics though, there is one death in 40 million from the disease chicken pox, that is the population of California. When I researched the deaths per disease versus the rate of 1 out 38 boys is dxd with autism, it makes mw wonder which is safer. Also when reports show 9 deaths from whooping cough out of 300 million Americans, we don't know if the people that dies were sick already and were hospitalized with pneumonia.
I have a lot questions and I hope they can make safer vaccines.

I will coment further on this when I get time. However would just like to add food for thought.
I had severe reactions to my immunisations.
My eldest 2 children were not allowed to be vaccinated until they were 5yrs old due to my reactions and their biological father also having had severe reactions.
All 3 of us have autoimmune problems now????????????

Questions are good.

I teach an infectious disease class with a virologist so she knows even more than i do about vaccines.

This past year, we read and discussed in class, the papers discussing how the work on vaccines - autism was discovered to be fraudulent research - 100% made up.

I bought two really good books on the topic, but leant them out so don't remember the titles. if you are interested, i can ask for them back, i really need to get them back anyway.

you are right in asking, why so much autism and autoimmune disease in our culture compared to in the past and/or other cultures. truth is, they just don't know right now.

i've read about how they think autoimmune disease and allergies are due to our being too germ free. lack of challenging the immune system let's it do all kinds of crazy things.

i also found some interesting articles on how they have found much success with autistic children being on a gluten free, casein free diet, with the belief that these two food sensitivies are causing at least some of the autism.

I also think we are dx'ing it better now. for example, some highly functional people with aspergers were in the past not seen as autistic but maybe nerdy or geeky instead. i have a friend who's son has aspergers and now she realizes that her husband probably has it too, but was never dx'ed, as it wasn't on our radar in the past.

i'm not saying some people may not have problems with vaccines, allergic responses, etc, but i am saying that they've discovered that there is no proof of a link between autism and vaccines, that work was totally fraudulent. but, now that more and more people are afraid to vaccinate, infectious diseases like measles are on the rise and pockets of epidemic have popped up (in the news in the last few years). we don't think much in the U.S. about how deadly infectious disease can be. turn of the century before antibiotics and vaccinations, infectious disease was by far the number one killer. something as simple as a strep throat could kill a young child. just read about how polio impacted this country in the 40s and 50s and we'll start to appreciate how vaccines save lives.

but yes, i agree, there are a lot of questions out there, for which we currently do not have the answers.

and it is a shame when someone publishes fraudulent papers that make us do dangerous things, things that would never have happened if not for this man's "work'. very sad that he has caused so much worry and misinformation. That then was carried forward by well meaning but misinformed celebrities.

Once misinformation is out there, its hard to set the record straight.

In addition to what Sue said about the vaccine/autism link being untrue, it is also untrue that the Amish do not vaccinate and do not have autistic children. Generation Rescue and other anti-vaccine groups make this claim based on a United Press International (UPI) article: The Age Of Autism - The Amish Anomaly. This article was written by a non-medically trained "investigative journalist" and has been refuted by the scientific community. Scientific studies show that most Amish and Mennonite families do in fact vaccinate their children. There IS a lower reported rate of autism in these communities. However, direct studies of Amish children have found previously undiagnosed autistic spectrum disorders. It is believed that the Amish community views variations in behavior and deals with these variations differently then mainstream culture does. This results in a lower reported rate of diagnosis.

Italian court reignites MMR vaccine debate after award over ...
www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/italian-co...
17 Jun 2012 ... Judges in Rimini, north-east Italy awarded the Bocca family Euros 174000 (£ 140000) after the Italian Health Ministry conceded the MMR ...

Interesting case - though a mere blip in the scheme of things.