OK, ths post is late. The latest study (Hornig et al.) has been covered over and over again by blogs.

The basic idea is simple: try to recreate the work of Dr. Andrew Wakfield, whose 1998 and 2002 studies are what has really fueled the idea that MMR and autism are linked.

In the present study, they looked at the subset of kids that one would expect to show the MMR/autism link: kids who had regressions, have gastrointestinal (GI) problems and have autism. For controls, they used kids with the GI problems and no autism.

Hornig et al. looked at the timing of the MMR and the regression. They also looked at whether measles virus was detectable in the intestines of the kids (both control and autistic). Given the nature of the debate–where any study is challenged along many lines–they used three different laboratories, they used multiple research centers (including Dr. Hornig, who wrote a paper favorable to the thimerosal/autism hypothesis) and they included parent advocate Rick Rollens in the consultations.

Given all that, what did they find? To put it simply: regression and GI problems are not found after the MMR shot. In addition, measles virus was found in only one case and one control subject, and that was at levels far below what was reported before.

The study was somewhat small–25 subjects and 13 controls. This has been used as a criticism, along with the idea that only 5 of the subjects underwent regression following the MMR shot. The number was limited by the fact that the subjecthttp://autismlibrary.org/blog/wp-admin/post-new.phps were chosen only if they were going to undergo a colonoscopy for other reasons. I.e. that invasive procedure wasn’t applied as an experiment only. The fact that only 5 of the 25 underwent regression following the MMR was a result, not a limitation. This demonstrates that regression isn’t correlated with MMR vaccination.

One thing that needs to be addressed in the criticism: this paper did not happen in a vaccuum. There are 20 references given to studies which also refute the autism/MMR hypothesis. It was good enough to convince Rick Rollens. I though it would be hard to find a tougher sell than Mr. Rollens, but the criticisms show that I am wrong there.

LeftBrainRightBrain
Orac
Science Based Medicine
AutismVox
Black Triangle
Action for Autism
Aetiology
Blog around the Clock

LeftBrainRightBrain has audio from the press conference, which is interesting.

And, there is some discussion of the criticism as well as covered by
AutismVox
LeftBrainRightBrain
black triangle

Let me know if I’ve missed some links.

Mady Hornig, Thomas Briese, Timothy Buie, Margaret L. Bauman, Gregory Lauwers, Ulrike Siemetzki, Kimberly Hummel, Paul A. Rota, William J. Bellini, John J. O’Leary, Orla Sheils, Errol Alden, Larry Pickering, W. Ian Lipkin, Mark R. Cookson (2008). Lack of Association between Measles Virus Vaccine and Autism with Enteropathy: A Case-Control Study PLoS ONE, 3 (9) DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0003140