Do vaccines cause autism?

Today's edition of the Washington Post features an article entitled Fathering Autism which is about a father's experience caring for a daughter with autism. The father in the article is GWUMC's Dr. Peter Hotez who is the Walter G. Ross Professor and chair of the Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Tropical Medicine, president of the Sabin Vaccine Institute, and the principal scientist for the Human Hookworm Vaccine Initiative.

In the article, Dr. Hotez describes his daughter and his family's life as well as the suggestion that autism is caused by mercury or thimerosal, a mercury derivative, which used to be used as a preservative in vaccines. To learn more about this controversy, the following materials may be useful:

• Baker, J. P. (2008). Mercury, vaccines, and autism: One controversy, three histories. American Journal of Public Health, 98(2), 244-253.
• Doja, A., & Roberts, W. (2006). Immunizations and autism: A review of the literature. Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences, 33(4), 341-346.
• Hughes, V. (2007). Mercury rising. Nature Medicine, 13(8), 896-897.

You can explore additional information on this topic in Himmelfarb Library's print and electronic collections.

Image: Finkenstaedt, M. (2008). Autism in a Doctor's Family. [Online image]. Retrieved July 1, 2008 from http://www.washingtonpost.com.