The individuals had a history of receiving aluminium-containing vaccines, administered months to several years prior to observation of MMF histopathology, however this link is tenuous and unsustainable.
[1][2] It has been subsequently proposed that macrophagic myofasciitis is in fact a systemic disorder where various diseases develop in association and as consequence of vaccination with aluminium-containing vaccines in susceptible individuals, however, the World Health Organization has concluded that "[t]here is no evidence to suggest that MMF is a specific illness", and that "[t]he current evidence neither establishes nor excludes a generalized disorder affecting other organs.
"[1][2] MMF was first described in 1998 by a consortium of French myopathologists as an emerging condition of unknown cause characterised by a defining lesion observed upon muscle biopsy.
Similar lesions could be detected in babies and children upon biopsy of the quadriceps as this is the site of vaccine administration in this group.
It has been proposed that in a small portion of the population, vaccination results in persistence of aluminium-compound particles in macrophages in association with myalgia, fatigue, and cognitive dysfunction.