June 16th, 2007 at 7:58 pm
The entire day Thursday was Dr. Vera S. Byers, MD, PhD, board certified in Internal Medicine, who has done research in tumor immunology, immunodermatology, and medical toxicology. She is also a consultant to biotech companies, specializing in biologics.
Dr. Byers had been asked to review Michelle’s medical records and opine why the measles virus had persisted in her. She had concluded that it was a combination of genetics, the MMR, and the thimerosal-containing vaccines she had received. Her immune system was out of balance: in addition to being deficient in clearing out the measles virus, it was also causing an autoimmune reaction via the chronic bowel inflammation. Michelle was showing a protein in her system that had indicated that her immune system had been activated and was unable to clear the infectious agent.
Upon doing a differential where diseases are listed with their potential causes, Dr. Byers found that the thimerosal Michelle had received in injections before and after the MMR vaccine were responsible for her dysregulated immune system. There’s an extensive list of the types of toxicities for mercury, including immunotoxicity. Mercury can differentiate autoreactive T-cells and is toxic to regulatory T-cells. It affects the ability of dentritic cells to behave normally and clear viruses. The persistent virus would continue the inflammatory response and lead to an autoimmune condition.
The respondent made Dr. Byers lay out step by step her theory as to how the autism occurred. She started generally that an autistic child has an immune system that is easily damaged by environmental stimuli. The mercury introduced in the vaccines provided the stimuli, but Michelle escaped symptoms until her MMR vaccination. The depressed immune system could not clear the measles virus, which persisted in Michelle’s gut. The virus triggered an autoimmune response in Michelle’s bowel. The measles virus likely triggered other autoimmune responses, such as in the brain, causing autism.
Dr. Byers was careful to say not all autism was caused by thimerosal. Her opinion was case-specific. She would not refuse to evaluate a child who had persistent measles but had no thimerosal vaccines.
The special masters asked Dr. Byers to please generalize, one way or the other, so that they could apply her knowledge in the other 5000 cases. She refused but said that similar cases with similar thimerosal and measles situations would be similar. She didn’t know what the other 5000 cases looked like.
Byers also stated that she was not qualified to state whether MMR causes autism. That question is for a pediatric neurologist. She did say that the presence of irritable bowel syndrome, an autoimmune condition, could be an indication of autoimmune responses elsewhere. The persistent measles virus after the MMR is another gross indicator.
Cross then went on to examine Byers c.v., mainly corrections of old data. Respondent then went back to trying to determine how important immune suppression is in clearing the virus. Byers commented that it was possible that viruses could still clear but it depended on how the immune system was suppressed. She relied on Dr. Aposhian for the effects of mercury on the body; she was only testifying to the effect of mercury on the immune system. Cross quizzed the witness on the elemental and bonding composition of thimerosal and complained that it didn’t have the material in evidence that Byers relied on.
The special masters asked several questions. Byers stated that she thinks that proinflammatory cytokines produced during the fight with the persistent measles are responsible for the gut symptoms and the central nervous system symptoms.
