AUTISM

Is there a link between Autism and Tdap Vaccine?



Is there a link between Autism and Tdap Vaccine?

Introduction

The study shows that there is certainly a lot of linkages between Autism and the Tdap Vaccines. I have witnessed children who “flap” their hands or their arms. This is also a known sign of Autism, although this alone does not mean that a child has or doesn't have Autism. Many children will engage in repetitive rocking motions or twirling. Some kids will also engage in self-destructive behavior such as banging their heads against walls or biting themselves, which I have found to be true in many cases in the time that I worked in Autistic Support. According to the Potter, children with ASD “appear to have a higher than normal risk for certain co-occurring conditions, including Fragile X syndrome (which causes mental retardation), tuberous sclerosis (in which tumors grow on the brain), epileptic seizures, Tourette syndrome, learning disabilities, and attention deficit disorder(Potter, 2011).”

Discussion

Although there isn't a true cause of Autism, there have been some studies that have focused on several possible causes. The first of these causes is genetics. It has been widely studied that genetics plays a part in Autism because families may have more than one child who is diagnosed with the disorder. One study was done at the MRC child psychiatry unit in London researched identical twins. The study showed that if one twin is diagnosed with Autism, there is a 60% chance that the other twin will also be diagnosed. The next possible cause, and probably the most talked about, are the Tdap vaccines. A lot of parent's in today's society is not vaccinating their children for fear of them becoming autistic. It is suggested that the MMR (mumps, measles, and rubella) and Tdap vaccine is a possible cause of autism. Research done by the Royal Free Hospital and School of Medicine in London found that in twelve children, ages 3-10, who were given the Tdap vaccine nine of them showed some form of behavioral disorder including autism(Jordan, 2010).

Of these two potential causes, vaccinations tend to be the most studied and more people are willing to believe that Tdap vaccines' are the reason why our kids have autism so they are unwilling to get their child vaccinated. This causes more problems. Not getting your child vaccinated is very harmful, not only for them but also for other children. There have been many cases where a child is not vaccinated against MMR and will end up getting the measles. This is bad because not only do they have measles, but they can give it to other children. Also, children should have their hearing tested because sometimes the signs of a hearing problem will present themselves as ASD (Howling, 2010). Some children don't have enough symptoms to be actually diagnosed with ASD so these children will be diagnosed with Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS). Those children who have the symptoms of Autism but do not have language ...