Urine test for autism: echoes of Dr Wakefield's research

An interesting report here:

"A simple urine test could determine whether or not a young child has autism, according to new research. Children with the condition have a different chemical fingerprint in their urine than their non-autistic counterparts. It is therefore possible to differentiate between the two by looking at the by-products of gut bacteria and the body's metabolic processes in the children's urine, scientists believe. The findings, published tomorrow in the Journal of Proteome Research, suggest that ultimately a urine test will be able to detect autism in infants

People with autism are known to suffer from gastrointestinal disorders and have a different make-up of bacteria in their guts from non-autistic people. The exact biological significance of gastrointestinal disorders in the development of autism is unknown."

This was the subject of Dr Wakefield's research paper, which set out that many autistic children were suffering from undiagnosed gastrointestinal disorders. When he discovered the measles virus in the gut of a number of such children, and the strain of the virus was the same as that used in the MMR jab, he called for the triple vaccine to be withdrawn, and other measles vaccines to be used. The government then moved to prevent alternatives to the MMR being available in the country, thinking that they could force parents into having the MMR, and when that didn't work, they blamed Dr Wakefield and prosecuted a vendetta to destroy his career, which saw him struck off only recently on ludicrous trumped-up charges.