Did your child receive Proquad?

[Guest guest]

Hi there,

Any parents on this board have kids diagnosed with autism who

received the Proquad (MMR+ varicella vaccine)?

It's a relatively new vaccine released in 2005. Many of you saw this

search a couple years ago - now that the vaccine's been out awhile

(and in light of it's known problems) - we're asking parents again in

case younger kids are emerging.

If your child with autism did get this vaccine, please e-mail Dan

Olmsted - olmsted.dan@...

Or, if your child participated in any clinical trials involving

Varicella or MMR (or both) conducted 1998-2004 (WA state and others) -

please get in touch.

Thanks -

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Here's the story from two weeks ago about the findings with this

vaccine.

Kids Vaccine Linked To Fever, Seizures

ProQuad Vaccine Linked To More Convulsions; CDC Panel Amends

Preference For Combo

ATLANTA, Feb. 27, 2008

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(AP) Children suffered higher rates of fever-related convulsions when

they got a Merck & Co. combination vaccine instead of two separate

shots, according to a new study presented Wednesday.

The results prompted a federal advisory panel on vaccines to water

down their preference for the combo vaccine ProQuad, which protects

against measles, mumps and rubella as well as chickenpox.

In the study of children ages 12 months through 23 months, the rate

of seizures was twice as high in toddlers who got ProQuad, compared

with those who got one shot for chickenpox and one for the three

other diseases.

The risk translates to about one extra case of convulsion for every

2,000 doses of ProQuad given said Dr. Nicola Klein, who lead the

federally funded study. She presented the data at a meeting of the

Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.

The study focused on children who develop fevers and then go into

convulsions _ an occurrence that frightens parents but usually has no

lingering consequences. There were no deaths in the new study.

ProQuad was licensed in 2005. It's been in extremely short supply

since last year, when Merck suspended production because of

manufacturing problems. The company expects to resume ProQuad

production next year.

The panel had previously taken a position that they preferred doctors

give children as few needlesticks as possible, and that ProQuad is

preferable to giving separate shots.

It voted Wednesday to amend that, to say they're no longer voicing a

preference for ProQuad over the separate shots.

" Safety, shortages, delivery issues _ lots of reasons not to state

such a strong preference, " said member panel Patsy Stinchfield, an

infectious disease expert at Children's Hospitals and Clinics of

Minnesota.

Merck officials said their own research, though preliminary, also

showed a doubling of the risk in children within five to 12 days of

vaccination. However, the occurrence was low _ about 5 cases in

10,000, Merck officials said.

They said there was five times more chickenpox antigen, the key

ingredient, in the ProQuad shot than in the stand-alone chickenpox

shot. But they said it's not clear that would explain the difference

in seizure rates.

For some reason, the difference disappears when comparing rates for

30 days, Merck officials added.

Klein's research checked seizure rates only at seven to 10 days after

vaccination, and looked at about 43,000 kids who got ProQuad and

315,000 who got the two other shots together. It found fever-related

seizures occurred at a rate of 9 per 10,000 children vaccinated with

ProQuad, compared with 4 per 10,000 for those who got separate shots.

Klein is co-director of Kaiser Permanente Vaccine Study Center in

Oakland, Calif., one of seven sites in the study. Her work was funded

by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

ProQuad costs $124 per dose, about the same as the two other shots

combined.