Measles vaccine does not increase autism risk, study says

Another study has found that the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine does not increase the risk of autism and does not trigger autism in children who are at risk.

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The study, published this week in Annals of Internal Medicine, looked at more than 650,000 children born in Denmark from 1999 to 2010.

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It found that the vaccine did not increase the risk of autism in children who were not considered at risk for the disorder and did not trigger it in those who were.

More than 95 percent of the children studied received the vaccine.

Less than 1 percent of the children in the study were diagnosed with autism.

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"Parents should not skip the vaccine out of fear for autism," said the study's lead author, Dr. Anders Hviid of Denmark's Statens Serum Institut, NBC News reported.

The World Health Organization has named vaccine hesitancy, or anti-vaxxing, one of its top threats to global health for 2019. Now, more than 70 people are battling a measles outbreak in the Northwest.

Most are children under age 10 who were not vaccinated.

There were two new suspected cases reported Sunday.

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