Autism and Mitochondrial Disease

Larry King missed the point during his segment this evening on CNN Larry King live. The subject was the autism-vaccine debate, and included a "exclusive" interview with the Poling family. I am disturbed that the obvious issue wasn't addressed by any of the pediatricians and physicians who were consulted.

The basis of the discussion stems from recent news that the US Government has conceded that there is at least one link between autism and childhood vaccines. Details focus on the preservative, thimersol, as well as the suggestion that the vaccine triggered an underlying mitochondrial disease.

As a parent of a child with mitochondrial disease, I am well aware that stress, fever, or any demonstrable energy demand could trigger a metabolic crisis for my daughter. In fact, we, after lengthy discussion, decided with our pediatrician NOT to administer the MMR vaccine to our daughter because of the risk. In addition, I insisted that the other vaccines were given separately (commonly children are given multiple injections at one well-visit) and withheld the immunizations until my daughter was in optimal health.

The bigger question raised by the evidence from this one case should be centered around the population of children UNDIAGNOSED with an underlying mitochondrial disease that could manifest as a result of environmental factors, toxins, or physiological stress.

So the question I would like to see further discussion about is this: Should children with known mitochondrial disease be exempt from vaccination, and how do we address the obvious need for awareness about mitochondrial disease?

Read more on the MitoAction blog