Autism, vaccine link generates community buzz
Kate S. Peabody
kpeabody@pnj.com

March 7, 2008

http://www.pnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080307/LIFE/803070318/1004 A decision by federal health officials that childhood vaccines worsened a rare, underlying disorder that ultimately led to autism-like symptoms in a Georgia girl is generating a lot of buzz among parents of children with the disorder.

The ruling on the 9-year-old girl is narrowly worded, and the government has not conceded that childhood shots can cause autism on a widespread basis.

Nevertheless, parents and advocates for autistic children see the decision as another step in that direction.

"It's a beginning,'' said Kevin Conway, a Boston lawyer representing more than 1,200 of the nearly 5,000 families nationwide seeking compensation for autism or other developmental disabilities they blame on vaccines and a mercury-based preservative, thimerosal.

"Each case is going to have to be proved on its individual merits. But it shows to me that the government has conceded that its biologically plausible for a vaccine to cause these injuries.''

In 1999, Misty and Phil Hiatt of Pensacola, parents of 10-year-old triplets, were among the first to assert a link between childhood vaccines and autism-like symptoms.

Misty Hiatt said she and her husband, a professional baseball player for 16 years, saw their babies' lives change dramatically after they received routine immunizations at 14 months.

She said daughter Madison began suffering from severe autism-like symptoms. Daughters Morgan and Mackenzie also were affected, though less severely.

In 2002, the Hiatts received a settlement from the National Vaccine Injuries Compensation Program, a fund Congress set up to pay children injured by vaccines and to protect makers from damages as a way to help ensure an adequate vaccine supply. Since the fund started in 1988, it has paid about 950 claims, none for autism but some for autism-like symptoms.

"The government settled with our family and accepted responsibility for the injury the vaccines caused my daughter, Madison," Misty Hiatt said.

Pensacola resident Julian Irby, whose 15-year-old son, David, was diagnosed with autism at 20 months old, is also convinced of the connection between vaccines and autism.

Irby is not swayed by reports from the Centers for Disease Control, the Food and Drug Administration and the American Pediatric Association that there's no connection between thimerosal and autism.

"A small group of scientists, about 20 or 30, at major universities have published dozens of studies to show the opposite," he said.

Irby, owner of Irby Engineering and Construction Inc., said his son was developing normally until he received his shots.

The statute of limitations has long passed for Irby to pursue any recourse, but he said some other parents of more recently diagnosed children may want to pursue legal action.

"Our concern is to get the in- formation out there," he said.

In the Georgia case, the girl has a disorder involving her mitochondria, the energy factories of cells.

The disorder which can be present at birth from an inherited gene or acquired later in life impairs cells' ability to use nutrients and often causes problems in brain functioning. It can lead to delays in walking and talking.

Federal officials say the law bars them from discussing the case or releasing documents without the family's permission. However, the Associated Press obtained a copy of the concession by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services officials.

According to the document, five vaccines the girl received on one day in 2000 aggravated her mitochondrial condition, predisposing her to metabolic problems that manifested as worsening brain function "with features of autism spectrum disorder." In the 1990s, the definition of autism was expanded to take in a group of milder related conditions, which are known as autism spectrum disorders.

In Escambia and Santa Rosa counties, about 2,500 people have the disorder, said Susan Byram, executive director of Autism Society of the Panhandle in Pensacola.

She expects many local residents to be interested in the Georgia case.

Other local autism experts expect the case to give some parents pause about immunizing their children.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.