Pertussis Vaccine

[John Dellera]

A recent book on the subject of autism and pertussis vaccine is Russell
Martin, *Out of Silence* (Henry Holt, New York 1994). The author is a writer
of fiction and nonfiction and the uncle of an autistic boy who received the
vaccine at 18 months. The child slept for almost two days immediately
thereafter, and his previously normal verbal development stopped abruptly.
Martin is emphatic in his belief that his nephew's autism was brought on by
the vaccine. He suggests that 18 months is a crucial time in the development
of language, and that severe damage may be caused by immunization of children
who have a particular sensitivity. Martin cites the work of Harris Coulter
of Washington, D.C., who he says links pertussis vaccine to sudden infant
death syndrome as well as to autism.

I have read a number of comments from people who suspected the pertussis
vaccine was a cause of their child's autism, but they believe that their
child may have had autistic symptoms before receiving the vaccine. However,
since autistic traits seem to appear at around 18-24 months, one wouldn't
expect to see any of them before the petussis immunization occurs. In any
event, a drug that causes high fever, abnormal sleep and other worrisome
reactions in children at 18 months seems to be a risky matter. As the
diagnosis and awareness of autism increases, I suspect questions about
pertussis vaccine will as well.

John Dellera
Rockville Centre, N.Y.

[Richard Kooijman]

On Wed, 27 Jul 1994, John Dellera wrote:

>
> I have read a number of comments from people who suspected the pertussis
> vaccine was a cause of their child's autism, but they believe that their
> child may have had autistic symptoms before receiving the vaccine. However,
> since autistic traits seem to appear at around 18-24 months, one wouldn't
> expect to see any of them before the petussis immunization occurs. In any
> event, a drug that causes high fever, abnormal sleep and other worrisome
> reactions in children at 18 months seems to be a risky matter. As the
> diagnosis and awareness of autism increases, I suspect questions about
> pertussis vaccine will as well.
>
> John Dellera
> Rockville Centre, N.Y.
>

HI, I agree that a lot of parents mention the autistic traits have
worsened after the immunization. But at the moment there is a lot of
research done on the early detection of autism and they do show some
precursors of the autistic traits from birth on. I think Cathy Lord does
this research with videotapes and Baron-Cohen e.o. did a big study in
England looking for the stretching out of hands towards people in babies
and the baby following the eye-movements of their mothers. These two
traits are considered the precursors of (social) communication, the basic
problem in autism.

Yvette