Dear editor, Thank you, Napa Register, for printing an article about the vaccine-autism lawsuit recently won by the parents of an autistic child in federal court.

You have printed a couple of articles about autism in the past, and I am grateful that we are raising awareness about autism in our community. I’d like to briefly comment about the article, “Vaccine settlement no slam dunk for autism advocates; girl not typical,” written by AP medical writers.

I find it interesting that Julie Gerberding, the head of the Centers for Disease Control, says that this case “does not represent anything other than a very special situation.” It has been said that the girl (whose vaccines led to her autism) represents only one child who had a rare condition to begin with. If it was indeed a rare condition, surely the government would not have conceded so easily that vaccines contributed to her autism. The Department of Health and Human Services could have proven that her current neurological condition was the result of the mitochondrial disorder. But the U.S. assistant attorney and other justice department officials conceded that Hannah was a healthy, normally developing child until her 18-month well-baby visit. Her descent into autism came after that.

There are hundreds of parents out there who have an eerily similar story to share about their child with autism. With 4,900 autism cases pending in federal vaccine court, the story of the Poling family decision certainly carries weight. Ms. Gerberding prefers to think that children like Hannah are few and far between, but the truth is that there are many children out there for whom this story rings true.

Keri-Lin Horon / Napa