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Wakefield has since claimed in several journals, including the ''Journal of Clinical Immunology'', to have discovered a new disease, unlike other childhood intestinal disorders. However, no other group has confirmed this claim. Since arriving in the United States in the wake of the MMR controversies, over which he is accused of Scientific Misconduct , Wakefield has continued his research at the Thoughtful House , a center for Autistic children in Texas .[http://thoughtfulhouse.org/editorials.php EARLY CAREER Dr. Andy Wakefield, MB BS FRCS FRCPath, is an academic gastroenterologist. He graduated in Medicine from St. Mary’s Hospital , part of the University of London, in 1981, and pursued a career in gastrointestinal surgery, pursuing an interest in Inflammatory Bowel Disease ( such as Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis). He became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1985, and in 1996 he was awarded a Wellcome Trust Traveling Fellowship to study small intestinal transplantation in Toronto, Canada. Discoveries made during his time in Canada led him to pursue the scientific investigation of inflammatory bowel disease. In 1998, he and his colleagues at the Royal Free Hospital reported a novel inflammatory bowel disease in children with developmental disorders such as autism; the condition later became known as Autistic Enterocolitis . Dr. Wakefield resisted pressure to stop his announcements of possible links between childhood immunisations, intestinal inflammation and autism, and left the Royal Free School of Medicine in 2001. He is involved in many scientific collaborations in the U.S and Europe. The main focus of Dr. Wakefield’s research is an investigation of the immunologic, metabolic, and pathologic changes occurring in inflammatory bowel diseases such as autistic enterocolitis, links between intestinal disease and neurologic injury in children, and the potential relationship of these conditions to environmental causes, such as childhood vaccines. During the course of his work on childhood developmental disorders, Dr. Wakefield became increasingly convinced of the need for a research-oriented, integrated bio-medical and educational approach to these disorders in order to translate clinical benefits for affected children into measurable developmental progress; this is the driving aim of Thoughtful House. Dr. Wakefield has published 132 original scientific articles, book chapters and invited scientific commentaries and was awarded the Fellowship of the Royal College of Pathologists in 2001. He is medical advisor to the United Kingdom charity, Visceral, and sits on the board of the U.S. charity, Medical Interventions for Autism. In 1995, while conducting research into Crohn's disease, he was approached by Rosemary Kessick, the parent of an autistic child seeking help with her son's bowel problems [http://briandeer.com/wakefield/dawbarns-kessick.htm]. Kessick ran a group, Allergy Induced Autism [http://www.autismmedical.com], focused on the effects of diet of autistic children's behavior. Wakefield subsequently began the controversial ''Lancet'' study that ultimately included 12 children, including Kessick's son. He is currently the Executive Director of Thoughtful House Center for Children (www.thoughtfulhouse.org). THE MMR CONTROVERSY In February 1998 a paper written by Wakefield and 12 other doctors about the 12 Autistic Spectrum children was published in the ''Lancet''. Although in the paper the authors stressed no causal connection had been proven, Wakefield called for suspension of the triple MMR vaccine at a press conference and in a video news release issued by the hospital. {Link without Title} He said, "If you give three viruses together, three live viruses, then you potentially increase the risk of an adverse event occurring, particularly when one of those viruses influences the immune system in the way that measles does." He suggested parents should opt for single jabs against measles, mumps and rubella, separated by gaps of one year. The paper described what its authors suggested was a possible new Syndrome , raising the possibility of a link between a novel form of bowel disease, autism, and the MMR vaccine. In prefacing the study's findings, the authors noted parents of eight of the twelve children reported the onset of behavioral problems within two weeks of MMR vaccination. In the published ''Lancet'' summary, the authors wrote, "We identified associated gastrointestinal disease and developmental regression in a group of previously normal children, which was generally associated in time with possible environmental triggers." These possible triggers were reported to be MMR in eight cases, and measles infection in one. The paper was instantly controversial, leading to widespread publicity in the UK and the convening of a special panel of the UK's Medical Research Council the following month. {Link without Title} Wakefield's warnings added fuel to the controversy and contributed to a drop in the number of children receiving MMR, as had been predicted in a letter to the government by Wakefield's chief at the hospital. {Link without Title} The controversy escalated as the UK government declined to introduce single-jab alternatives (which would have required licenced products to become available), based on the contention most closely associated with Dr David Salisbury, Deputy Chief Medical Officer, that the risk of prolonging the period before children were immunised against all three diseases was both significant and disproportionately greater than any credible risk of harm from combining them. Single vaccines, spaced a year apart, clearly expose children to greater risk of infection. In November 2001 Wakefield become a fellow of the Royal College Of Pathologists in recognition of his research publications. In December 2001 , Wakefield resigned from the Royal Free Hospital, saying, "I have been asked to go because my research results are unpopular." The medical school said that he had left "by mutual agreement." In February, 2002, Wakefield stated, "What precipitated this crisis was the removal of the single vaccine, the removal of choice, and that is what has caused the furor - because the doctors, the gurus, are treating the public as though they are some kind of moronic mass who cannot make an informed decision for themselves." {Link without Title} Aftermath of initial controversy Wakefield has continued conducting clinical research in the US, joining American researcher Dr. Jeff Bradstreet to conduct further studies on the possible relationship between the MMR vaccine and autism. Meanwhile, many parents with autistic children have come forward to tell of children who appeared to be developing normally, until shortly after administration of MMR but whose children's development regressed, with many reported to also have digestive problems and food intolerances. Some parents have criticized Wakefield's warnings about the potential adverse effects of the MMR, contending they were made to feel guilty for having had their child vaccinated. Wakefield's medical critics say the temporal association between vaccination and the appearance of developmental disorders is inevitable rather than demonstrating causation since autism is commonly first revealed early in the second year of life, when MMR vaccination is routine. The "novel bowel syndrome" claimed by Wakefield has also been criticised, since the key symptom had been recognised for many years as a common finding in children without developmental disorders {Link without Title} CONTROVERSY RESURFACES In February of , the board had cut off public funding for the litigation against MMR manufacturers Following an investigation of The Sunday Times allegations by the UK General Medical Council, Wakefield was charged with serious professional misconduct, including dishonesty, due to be heard by a disciplinary board in 2006 [http://briandeer.com/wakefield/gmc-alleges.htm Retraction of an interpretation Twenty-four hours before the ''Sunday Times'' report, the ''Lancet'' responded to the investigation in a public statement, describing Wakefield's research as "fatally flawed," an allegation he has denied. {Link without Title} The ''Lancet's'' editor said he would not have published the study if he had known of the legal involvement in the research. Ten of Wakefield's 12 co-authors of the ''Lancet'' paper later published a "retraction of an interpretation."[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=15016483] The 'retraction' stated, "We wish to make it clear that in this paper no causal link was established between (the) vaccine and autism, as the data were insufficient. However the possibility of such a link was raised, and consequent events have had major implications for public health. In view of this, we consider now is the appropriate time that we should together formally retract the interpretation placed upon these findings in the paper, according to precedent."[http://briandeer.com/mmr/lancet-retraction.htm] In November 2004, the UK's Channel 4 Television broadcast a one-hour investigation by reporter Brian Deer , which alleged that before the ''Lancet'' paper was published, Wakefield had filed a patent application for a single measles vaccine, and that his laboratory had failed to find measles virus in the children.[http://briandeer.com/wakefield/nick-chadwick.htm In November 2005, the scope of the allegations facing Wakefield, which he denies, were set out in a High Court judgment [http://briandeer.com/wakefield/eady-judgment.htm]. In June, pediatric gastroenterologist Dr. Timothy Buie, who stated that he did not believe any new bowel syndrome had been found in autistic children, and leading autism expert Lorna Wing , who said that she had seen no change in the presentation of developmental disorders in recent years. The Institutes of Medicine (, NIH , and FDA (and their British counterparts) continue to deny that any link has been found between vaccines and autism. While a number of epidemiological studies have concluded there is no evidence of any link between MMR and autism or bowel disease, Wakefield contends some of the data clearly supports his thesis. {Link without Title} In the aftermath of the Wakefield affair, data suggests that UK vaccination rates have begun to rise {Link without Title} SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
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