In February 1998, Dr Andrew Wakefield, a British gastroenterologist then working at the Royal Free Hospital in north London, claimed there could be a link between rising levels of autism and the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine.
Based on a research paper published in the medical journal the Lancet, Wakefield and others, in a study of 12 children, claimed to have discovered a new form of inflammatory bowel disease linked to the MMR vaccine. According to the researchers, the combined MMR vaccine may have overwhelmed the immune system, leaving some children prone to bowel disease and autism.
In a press conference on February 26th, 1998, Wakefield said he would advise parents not to use the MMR vaccine until the issue had been resolved. This triggered a major fall-off in the uptake of the vaccine around the world and led to questions from the medical establishment about the quality of Wakefield's research.
The gastroenterologist subsequently linked up with Prof John O'Leary of the Coombe hospital in Dublin and they began a research collaboration in February 1999. Published in the journal Molecular Pathology in 2002, the results described an association between measles virus and inflammatory disease in children with autism.
Last Monday the General Medical Council (GMC) in London began a fitness to practise hearing into the professional conduct of Wakefield and two of his co-authors, Prof John Walker Smith and Prof Simon Murch. Among the allegations levelled against the three doctors is that they undertook the research without full approval from the hospital ethics committee and that they did not treat the young children in accordance with the ethical approval they had received.
Wakefield is also accused of taking blood for research purposes from children at a birthday party after offering them money. If found guilty of professional misconduct, Wakefield, who now practices in the US, could be struck off.
Muiris Houston