According to a study published this week, the Measles-Mumps-Rubella (MMR) vaccine doesn’t raise the risk of developing autism. This way, by dispelling the bond between the childhood vaccine and the disorder, a decade-long debate should come to an end.

In 1998, researcher and surgeon Andrew Wakefield published a study in The Lancet, insinuating the fact that MMR vaccine led to gastrointestinal problems, which triggered autism.

Some adhered to the theory, claiming that the measles vaccine is a main cause of the increase in number of autism cases.

Nonetheless, "we are certain that there's no link between autism and the MMR," according to Dr. W. Ian Lipkin, director of the Mailman School of Public Health Center for Infection and Immunity at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.

John O'Leary, co-author of Wakefield's studies, which sustained the autism connection, and also co-author of the new study, searched for evidence of the MMR vaccine in children's intestines following their vaccination. In order to establish if their gastrointestinal problems and autism symptoms happened before or after the vaccines were administered, O’Leary and other researchers looked at samples collected from 28 children who had bowel disorders, 25 of whom also had developed autism. Only one child in each group was found to have had evidence of the measles virus.

So, as Lipkin said, there was found no solid proof linking the vaccine to either the brain development disorder or gastrointestinal problems.

Each year, measles kills an estimated 250,000 people worldwide, the largest part being represented by children in poor nations, Reuters reported.