[The Empire Strikes back, as usual. Some collected comments below.]
Dr M.A. Afzal was among the first Government Lab researchers to oppose Wakefield way back in 1998. Leopards don't change their spots.
As you know - plenty of the kids with MV in bowel, csf and even brain don't have positive blood samples. This is not where measles settles and they know that. This is a cheap shot (no surprise) and not even a new story. This "news' was circulated around awhile back - they're just rehashing and slinging whatever crap they can find to minimize the impact of the replication study.
Note the important difference which is WHERE these researchers looked for the measles virus - they looked in the blood, NOT in the gastrointestinal tract, which is where the other researchers found it. A very effective way to make sure you don't find something is to look in the wrong place!
We're fighting a bunch of morons. No right thinking virologist or immunologist would buy this type of junk science...Folks - these types of chronic viruses are RARELY if ever found in peripheral blood! If they were, these kids would have rashes and fevers... duh!!!!!
We are fighting the evil empire.
Boy, they are bold and sneaky with their "studies"...what timing eh? Don't have all the data but I'm thinking this is "robust" bullshit...
When they look for something where they KNOW they won't find it, then we all should not be surprised when they do NOT find it there. Except when the measles virus is "active," the measles virus should not be found in a previously vaccinated person's blood. Had these researchers wanted to verify Dr. Wakefield's work, then, without making any excuses, they would have looked in the intestional tissues where Dr. Wakefield reported finding the virus. Since they did not, it is obvious that they are engaged in doing non-scientific "confirmatory" studies to make sure that their findings have no risk of finding any evidence supporting measles virus in intestional tissues. Fortunately, the Wake Forest University researchers did duplicate Dr. Wakefield's studies and found, as he did, measles virus in the intestional tissue samples from a significant percentage of the "autistic" children they studied. Hopefully, this information coupled with Dr. Hooker's observations will help all to formulate an appropriate response to the editors of those papers who publish any non-science-based study examining the blood. PS: Since the apparent "cause" of the abnormal suppression of the replication measles virus is related to an abnormal immune system, it would seem that Dr. Wakefield's findings point to a prior poisoning of the immune system by mercury exposure in utero or after birth in those children whose differential diagnosis clearly establishes they have been mercury poisoned (which, to date, seems to be the case in more than 75 % of the cases of autism where complete differential diagnoses have been conducted).
No Evidence of Measles Virus in MMR-Vaccinated Autistic
Children
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/533545
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) May 31 - Contrary to the findings of some earlier
studies, measles virus genetic material was not detected in the blood of
MMR-vaccinated autistic children with development regression, according to
a report in the Journal of Medical Virology for May.
A possible link between MMR vaccination and autism was first noted in a
report released in 1998. Since then, several epidemiologic studies,
conducted in various countries, have found no support for this association.
However, in recent years, the controversy again surfaced as researchers
reported finding measles virus genomic fragments in tissue samples taken
from autistic children.
In the present study, Dr. M. A. Afzal, from the National Institute for
Biological Standards and Control in Hertfordshire, UK, and colleagues used
several assays to test for measles genome sequences in leukocyte
preparations obtained from 15 children with autism who had received the MMR
vaccine as part of the routine immunization schedule in the UK.
There was no evidence of measles genomic fragments in any of the children,
by any of the methods used. The authors emphasize that the methods were
"highly sensitive, specific, and robust" and were capable of detecting
"measles virus RNA down to single figure copy numbers per reaction."
Given the rigorous methods employed, the researchers believe that measles
virus material genuinely did not exist in the patient's blood samples.
Moreover, "all children examined in this study responded positively to MMR
vaccine and developed a normal immune response to the measles component of
the vaccine."
J Med Virology 2006;78:623-630.