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American Morning

Paging Dr. Gupta: Autism Mystery

Aired November 21, 2002 - 09:40   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: So could there be a link between the rise in autism and something in the vaccine?
Joining me sort through all of this conflicting information is Dr. Sanjay Gupta. I looked at the research, I can't make any sense of it -- what's the deal?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There's so many studies on both sides of the aisle, and what Rusty Dornin's piece was talking about specifically a little bit about was this mercury derivative, which a lot of people have been focusing their attention on, themerisol (ph). The name is not that important, but there was quite a bit of mercury, as we found out, in a lot of these vaccines over the years. As of '99, you and I talked about this, they actually said, you know what, we don't put anymore themerisol (ph) in vaccines anymore, not because we believe that it actually caused any of the problems, autism being the one most talked about, but because this mercury problem has undermined the public confidence in vaccines, and these vaccines are so important, they've rid the United States and many other countries of the scourge of so many childhood diseases that keep getting them.

ZAHN: The fact is, though, you know millions of kids inoculated before 1999, those parents that inoculated three of their kids are very worried about this stuff.

I do understand you have some guidelines for us this morning for parents who have concern about the immune system being suppressed at the time of the inoculation. What should parents do? Should they spread them out?

GUPTA: Well, that's been a hotly debated point as well. In England, most recently, with Prime Minister Blair actually talking about three separate shots for measles, mumps, rubella, versus one single jab.

ZAHN: He got in some trouble for that.

GUPTA: Yes, he got a little heat for that, but here's the thing, you can actually measure these sorts of things you don't have to guess. We know how much the babies or young child's immune system can actually tolerate. And what it can tolerate is many times, exponentially greater than the 20 or so shots given in this country before the age of two years. That's something that we can actually measure. So this whole notion that perhaps we're overwhelming the immune system, we don't have to guess at this sort of thing. We can measure that, and the Institute of Medicine, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the CDC, all say that's not the problem. That was a hypothesized problem, as well, and there is an increase in autism, that's clear, you know, 273 percent.

But to sort of hang it on this particular hat, that may in fact be a problem, because you may be missing the boat on something else.

ZAHN: Parents and pediatricians, too, should make it very clear to parents, too, that if your kid has any trace of a runny nose or an ear infection coming on, do not get the shots.

GUPTA: Yes. Paula, that's a very good point. It's absolutely worth reinforcing. The shots are important. You have to get them before two years, because that's when the babies immune system needs to develop that power to fight off those diseases. But if your kid's sick, and kid's do sick a lot, as you know, I know, avoid the shot at that point. Get the shot when the kid is healthy, and that'll be the best advice, but get the shot.

ZAHN: Very good advice, indeed.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired November 21, 2002 - 09:40   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: So could there be a link between the rise in autism and something in the vaccine?
Joining me sort through all of this conflicting information is Dr. Sanjay Gupta. I looked at the research, I can't make any sense of it -- what's the deal?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There's so many studies on both sides of the aisle, and what Rusty Dornin's piece was talking about specifically a little bit about was this mercury derivative, which a lot of people have been focusing their attention on, themerisol (ph). The name is not that important, but there was quite a bit of mercury, as we found out, in a lot of these vaccines over the years. As of '99, you and I talked about this, they actually said, you know what, we don't put anymore themerisol (ph) in vaccines anymore, not because we believe that it actually caused any of the problems, autism being the one most talked about, but because this mercury problem has undermined the public confidence in vaccines, and these vaccines are so important, they've rid the United States and many other countries of the scourge of so many childhood diseases that keep getting them.

ZAHN: The fact is, though, you know millions of kids inoculated before 1999, those parents that inoculated three of their kids are very worried about this stuff.

I do understand you have some guidelines for us this morning for parents who have concern about the immune system being suppressed at the time of the inoculation. What should parents do? Should they spread them out?

GUPTA: Well, that's been a hotly debated point as well. In England, most recently, with Prime Minister Blair actually talking about three separate shots for measles, mumps, rubella, versus one single jab.

ZAHN: He got in some trouble for that.

GUPTA: Yes, he got a little heat for that, but here's the thing, you can actually measure these sorts of things you don't have to guess. We know how much the babies or young child's immune system can actually tolerate. And what it can tolerate is many times, exponentially greater than the 20 or so shots given in this country before the age of two years. That's something that we can actually measure. So this whole notion that perhaps we're overwhelming the immune system, we don't have to guess at this sort of thing. We can measure that, and the Institute of Medicine, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the CDC, all say that's not the problem. That was a hypothesized problem, as well, and there is an increase in autism, that's clear, you know, 273 percent.

But to sort of hang it on this particular hat, that may in fact be a problem, because you may be missing the boat on something else.

ZAHN: Parents and pediatricians, too, should make it very clear to parents, too, that if your kid has any trace of a runny nose or an ear infection coming on, do not get the shots.

GUPTA: Yes. Paula, that's a very good point. It's absolutely worth reinforcing. The shots are important. You have to get them before two years, because that's when the babies immune system needs to develop that power to fight off those diseases. But if your kid's sick, and kid's do sick a lot, as you know, I know, avoid the shot at that point. Get the shot when the kid is healthy, and that'll be the best advice, but get the shot.

ZAHN: Very good advice, indeed.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com