"In some ways we've been so successful in eliminating disease that people are resisting vaccines," he said yesterday. "If we had polio cases in the community, this issue of vaccines and autism would go away very fast."
The evidence has mounted for years against the link between thimerosal and autism - a spectrum of neurological disorders diagnosed in as many as 1 in 150 children that makes it difficult to establish normal interactions.
Many public health experts said they hoped a recent study by the California Department of Public Health would discredit the autism-vaccine theory forever. It showed that since 2001, when nearly all thimerosal was removed from vaccines, the autism rate has continued to rise in California. Had thimerosal been the culprit, the rate should have decreased.
FOR THE RECORD - A story about autism and vaccines in Friday's edition incorrectly stated that the preservative thimerosal is no longer used in any shot. It is in some versions of the flu shot.
The Sun regrets the error
Hannah Poling was vaccinated in 2000, before thimerosal was taken out of vaccines. Her family described her as a healthy toddler who could speak 20 words, walk and point to body parts. She had suffered a series of ear infections, so she was behind on vaccinations when she visited her Catonsville pediatrician.
"They did a catch-up on her shots - five shots, nine vaccines - in one sitting," said her father, Dr. Jon Poling, a Johns Hopkins-trained neurologist.
Within 48 hours, she developed a high fever and couldn't stop crying. Soon she stopped walking and became less verbal.
Ultimately, she was diagnosed with a mitochondrial disorder, a deficiency that prevents the body from producing enough energy from food. Symptoms can include fatigue, muscle problems, seizures and other neurological disorders. Her disorder was exacerbated by the vaccines, doctors concluded, which triggered her autism.
"Not only did she lose brain function, she lost her growth, she lost her ability to walk. She lost everything," said Poling, an Upper Marlboro native who moved his family from Ellicott City to Athens, Ga., in 2001.
Still, he said, "if I had it to do over again, I would vaccinate my child, but I would spread the vaccines out," perhaps skipping some of the shots he didn't get as a child, such as chickenpox .
Estimates put the rate of mitochondrial disorder between 1 in 2,000 and 1 in 4,000. Children are typically vaccinated before they show signs of the disorder and there is no easy screening test, said Charles Mohan Jr., executive director of the United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation.
Advocates see the Poling case as a victory for their contention that vaccines cause autism.
The government has kept mum on the Poling case. It was decided by the Department of Health and Human Services' Division of Vaccine Injury Compensation - a vaccine court of sorts that Congress established to resolve claims and keep manufacturers from bailing out of the vaccine business for liability reasons. How much money the Polings will get has not been determined.
Mohan said he is pleased that the link between mitochondrial disorders and autism has been made and hopes there will be more research exploring it. Still, he said, he thinks even those with mitochondrial disorders, which weaken the immune system, should be vaccinated.
stephanie.desmon@baltsun.com
Sun reporter Liz F. Kay contributed to this article.
