Early Measles Infection Linked to Inflammatory Bowel Disease
More information on the link between measles and other diseases than don’t show up until much later in life. Although the researchers were hesitant to suggest a link with the measles vaccine, the link does seem to come up again and again in research circles.
Am J Gastroenterol 2000;95:1480-1485 Early measles infection may increase the risk of developing Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, according to researchers from the Mayo Clinic. In the study, they identified individuals who had been diagnosed with measles before the age of 5 years from 1950 to 1966 through the Mayo Clinic and the Rochester Epidemiology Project. Of this initial group of 1,164 eligible cases, 662 completed a questionnaire to determine if the patient had subsequently developed Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis, or symptoms of undiagnosed disease. Overall, the researchers found six cases of Crohn’s disease and six cases of ulcerative colitis that could be confirmed by the patients’ physicians. Based on the incidence of cases in Olmsted County, Minnesota, they would have expected significantly fewer cases: 1.9 for Crohn’s disease and 2.0 for ulcerative colitis. Seventy-five percent of the cases had measles before the age of 2 years, the authors note, but this did not reach statistical significance. The investigators also emphasized that their study did not consider the effect of measles vaccination, and “unless more compelling data become available to implicate measles vaccine as a risk factor for inflammatory bowel disease, we fully support the current recommendation for universal vaccination against measles.”