the glory and the horror

We leave for Swaziland is just over 12 hours. Of course, there is still packing to be done and tidying up around the house that needs to happen. Ray has very graciously volunteered to housesit and dogsit while we’re gone, with the side perk of him getting to write up some of the research his institute has been trying to get written up for some time now.

Anyway, if you keep an eye out, there will be updates here and probably via email, although most will probably be here, just to make it easier for people to find things. It’ll also be easier to do pictures and such from here, I think. Please drop us a line if you have the chance!

Happy Easter!

He is risen! Alleluia!

Case renews debate on vaccine-autism link – CNN.com

It should be noted that this case is unusual. There has not ever been a clear association, much less causal link, between vaccines and autism. The child in this case had an underlying mitochondrial disorder that was PROBABLY exacerbated by the robust immune response elicited by the vaccines. A similar robust immune response might have been stimulated by any infection, and not just the vaccines. Also, this child was not diagnosed with autism, but autism-like symptoms.

There is data out there to suggest that mitochondrial disorders are found in a higher than expected rate among kids with autism, so there MIGHT be a link there. It’s still not clear what causes autism, but it’s definitely not vaccines themselves. It may be that vaccines are one of many possible triggers (other could include other environmental factors, or just an infection) that cause kids with an underlying mitochondrial disorders to decompensate and worsen, but the vaccines themselves are not the problem. It would the the underlying mitochondrial disorder.

It may also be that the kids with these mitochondrial disorders only develop autism-like symptoms if the insult occurs at a specific stage in development, the same time that a lot of these vaccines might be given.

There’s still a lot we don’t know about autism, in general, and even less about how mitochondrial disorders and autism spectrum disorders might be related.

However, we do know a lot about the suffering and death caused by polio, measles, mumps, rubella, and other vaccine-preventable illnesses.