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Published: July 6, 2006 at 4:40 PM
By DAN OLMSTED
UPI Senior Editor
WASHINGTON, July 6 (UPI) -- On April 26 a Scottish child named Anna Duncan
attended a party where two children had chickenpox. Nine days later she got her
routine measles-mumps-rubella vaccination. Four days after that she developed
classic chickenpox symptoms -- spots and fever.
One week later, on May 14, Anna was dead from an apparent seizure. She was 17
months old.
Now her father, John, is struggling with the sudden loss of a bright, lively
child -- and increasingly suspicious that the MMR shot during an apparent
chickenpox infection triggered her death.
Those suspicions deepened after he came across Age of Autism's recent
investigative series, Pox, which found that giving MMR and chickenpox vaccines
at the same time might raise the risk of autism in a susceptible subset of
children. By happenstance, the series began the week before Anna's exposure to
chickenpox and ended the week after her death.
In Anna's case, Duncan believes the chickenpox she caught at the party
suppressed her immune system to the point that the measles virus from the MMR
triggered a fatal seizure.
"I feel now that I have an answer to our daughter's death," said Duncan, of
Cardrona, Scotland. "What I'm going to try to do with this is force a fatal
accident inquiry, because there is a potential scenario here where it could
happen again, and if (they) realize that this is a developing story, it can only
get bigger."
The Pox series centered on several autistic children in Olympia, Wash., whose
families had problematic histories with chickenpox and related herpesviruses.
All of the children got the MMR and chickenpox vaccines, in most cases at their
12-month checkups; two of the children were in Merck & Co. clinical trials of
investigational chickenpox vaccines in combination with the MMR.
John Duncan said that like the Olympia families, he also had unusual reactions
to viral infections and experienced a monthlong outbreak of pox-like spots just
after Anna was born. He took photographs at the time to document the spots,
which spread diffusely from his abdomen.
"I believe her response to the MMR while infected with chickenpox was due to her
genetic makeup from myself," Duncan wrote in a posting on the British Web site
jabs.org.uk.
"Anna's normal response to a benign childhood illness, for which recovery was a
formality, was interrupted by the MMR vaccine, which due to her understandable
immunosuppression resulted in the replication of the measles virus -- 'virus
replication,' an accepted and understood medical event in relation to vaccines."
It will be weeks before laboratory tests confirm whether Anna had chickenpox and
health authorities rule on cause of death. But authorities in both Britain and
the United States assert there is no association between the vaccines and
serious health problems. They say the real risk is foregoing vaccinations based
on unfounded fears.
The Daily Mail reported in June that "Britain is now in the grip of the biggest
measles outbreak since the vaccine's introduction in 1988. Doctors have reported
hundreds of cases of measles since January in just three areas of the country,
including the death of a 13-year-old boy."
Last week "a group of Britain's leading pediatricians and childhood vaccination
experts ... warned that more children will die unless a line is drawn under the
autism and MMR vaccine controversy," according to Britain's Guardian newspaper.
"In an open letter, 30 scientists, including some of the country's most eminent
child health experts, say that an overwhelming body of evidence shows the
vaccine is safe. They add that urgent immunizations are necessary to prevent
potentially devastating outbreaks among schoolchildren."
The MMR vaccine Anna received was Priorix, manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline.
Chickenpox vaccine is not routinely administered in Britain; in the United
States it is recommended by health authorities for all children beginning at age
12 months.
John Duncan provided this sequence of events leading up to Anna's death.
Wednesday, April 26 -- Anna attended the party with her mother, Veronica, where
one child was getting over chickenpox and that child's younger sister had all
the symptoms of chickenpox.
Friday, May 5 -- Anna got her MMR shot at Haylodge Health Centre, Peebles,
Scottish Borders; her mother questioned whether Anna's runny nose and exposure
to chickenpox was a cause for concern. The healthcare worker said it was not.
Tuesday, May 9 -- Anna developed signs of chickenpox with spots appearing and a
slight fever. This developed into what appeared to be classic chickenpox.
Sunday, May 14 -- Anna died around 9 a.m. with what appeared to be a seizure,
with evidence of blood on her lips and on sheets in close proximity to her
mouth.
"When Anna had chickenpox we gave her (a fever reducer) to bring her temperature
down when it spiked," John Duncan said. "Her temperature according to her
mother, who is a nurse, seemed to stabilize on the Saturday night through to
Sunday morning, but Anna became restless early on Sunday morning and had two
very smelly nappy (diaper) changes. A tired mother put Anna in her cot at around
6 p.m. as she seemed to be more contented on her own.
"Anna's death came as a major shock to us all because at no time did we think
that she was going to die. The seizure would have been undetectable in the
circumstances. I was with (son) Cameron that morning downstairs because I
thought Anna had turned the corner."
Duncan said a doctor who came to the house to confirm the death told his wife it
appeared "Anna had chickenpox." She may also have started developing new spots
characteristic of measles, he said.
"I would say at time of death there were more measles-like spots appearing
around her neck. But I cannot be too sure."
Duncan asked on the Jabs site: "Could this scenario cause autism? Is there a
genetic susceptibility in some children to deal with the herpesvirus in a
different way to the normal response, making these children more at risk to a
bad reaction from MMR at the time of herpes infection? ...
"Had Anna survived her bout of seizure 10 days after her MMR, her brain very
possibly could have been damaged and a diagnosis of autism eventually given."
Next: Chickenpox and measles -- a troubling combination.
E-mail: dolmsted@upi.com
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