Sometimes medicine can be confusing and scary at the same time. And, fraud doesn't help.
For several years, there has been concern that thimerosol (a mercury compound) used as a preservative in vaccines was a cause of autism in children. That theory has been proven false - thimerosol has been removed from childrens vaccines, yet the rate of diagnosis of autism and related disorders has continued to rise.
Now comes the news that British physician Andrew Wakefield (who published one of the most frequently cited articles on this subject) simply made up some of the data he used to write his paper! There appears to have been no evidence to support the thimerosol - autism link in the first place!
And, the number of children affected by largely preventable diseases appears to have been impacted by this fraud: The number of confirmed cases of measles increased from 56 in 1998 to 1,348 last year.
Written by Scott W. Yates, MD, MBA, MS, FACP
