Mishael Ennis, Cristina Guajardo, Krista Williams Name ________________________________________________________________ 20 Group # __________ Case Study: Tragic Choices 1. What do we know about the characters? (Background, expertise, concerns, information sources) Anne Carly Kristen - Mother of Carly & Kristen - Single mother, working two jobs - Enrolled in Nursing program - Increasing expertise in health issues - Does not think there is a link between MMR and Autism - Older sister - Always supportive/helpful - Graduated from ETSU - Married - 4 yr. old son, Ian = has austin - Graphic artist in Dallas - Believes there is a link between MMR and Autism - Her source was from famous people/talk shows - Younger sister - BA in marketing - Sales manager for the TimeWarner Cable in Austin - Married - 14 month daughter, Alissa - Conflicted on giving Alissa the MMR vaccine 2. Search- What is Autism? Refers to a broad range of conditions characterized by challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviors, speech and nonverbal communication. 3. Search- What is the MMR Vaccine? MMR vaccine is a vaccine that fights against measles, mumps, and rubella. 4. Use the graph on Page 79 to complete questions. a. What are the independent and dependent variables? Independent = year; Dependent = cases/1000 children b. Summarize the information Autism numbers have increases in the span of 20 years. c. What can you discern from this information? Cases of Autism have continued to increase d. What can’t you discern from this information? Why more children are being diagnosed; Can’t assume the MMR vaccine has caused more autism cases. e. List 2 alternative explanations for why there is more autism being diagnosed today than a few years ago. I. More technology to be able to “see” beyond the surface II. We know more about the disease and properly diagnose someone 5. Look at the table in your lab book (From the Wakefield Publication)- Pg. 81 Work with your group to analyze the data. a. What are some good things about this data? The data can support the theory that autism could come from MMR vaccine. b. What are some errors in this data? The error with the data is that the exposure identified could be coming from the parent or doctor. There is no guarantee that the diagnosis comes from a medical professional. The data is mainly looking at children who have had exposure to the MMR vaccine. The data should have been more diverse by including different types of cases related to autism. c. Would you trust this research? I would not trust this research. 6. What were some consequences of the Wakefield paper published in 1998? More people were scared that MMR and Autism were connected, which caused mass hysteria. 7. What is herd immunity? This occurs when a large portion of the community b a. What happened in the UK that has led to so many new cases of measles? People were scared of recieveing vaccines, which lead to a decrease in the number of people who were being vaccinated 8. Using FiLCHeRS, consider whether the results presented by Wakefield et al. (1998) merited the dramatic public response. There are children with Autism who may have not displayed symptoms until years after the MMR vaccine, so there is not enough evidence that the two events are connected. F-______________________ The premise that autism is caused by the MMR vaccine is not 100% true. L-______________________ The research presented was limiting the available evidence and should have been more diversified to take in all evidence in consideration C-______________________ They were decreasing there dissonance by only using evidence that supported their claim. Wakefield was paid to do this study, which was not disclosed in his study. H-______________________ Most people who reacted dramatically probably did not consider the fact that this was epidemiological not experimental, meaning is cannot be repeated. There is not a clear way to determine from this paper that MMR vaccine directly causes Autism. R-______________________ The data has been altered since it was originally recorded. The claim that MMR vaccine causes autism is profound. The evidence to support that needs to be strong. S-______________________ 9. What did the Madsen et al (2002) publication show regarding the incidence of autism and vaccination? There was no increase of autism due to the MMR vaccine. Since more people have been vaccinated, there has been a decrease in austin since there are at lower risk. a. What type of research study was this? The study was a retrospective cohort study. 10. In Japan, the MMR vaccine stopped working (the virus mutated rapidly). Children were not given the vaccine until a new one could be developed from 1992-1996. a. IF autism were linked to the MMR vaccine, what would be the expected results of autism in a population with no MMR vaccine? Increase If vaccination is reducing then autism should: _______________________________ b. What trends in the data were actually observed by the researchers Honda et al. (2005)? This showed that there was a connection between vaccinations and autism. 11. How would you advise Kristen? I would recommend Kristen to give Alissa vaccines. Over the years, there has been studies that prove vaccinations are helpful for preventing the disease intended. There also has been no proof of a correlation between vaccinations causing autism.
