Private Eye 10 January - 23 January 2003
FLU WHAT A STINKER
A row has broken out over reports that four of the seven flu jabs on offer this winter contain thimerosal - a 50 percent mercury-based preservative which is supposedly being phased out of all vaccines in the United States and Europe because of its possible links with autism, Alzheimer's and brain damage.
Though the debate about thimerosal in vaccines is muted in Britain, in the US the preservative is at the centre of a multi-billion dollar lawsuit. Parents there maintain their children's autism and brain damage have been triggered by a build-up of mercury.
Last year a congressional hearing into the tenfold rise in autism in the US heard that a study by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicating a possible link between thimerosal and autism was never
published. This led to claims of a cover-up.
The US Institute of Medicine has said the link was not proven but ''biologically plausible''. There was insufficient evidence either way. In the meantime the US decided to phase out all thimerosal and doctors there have been advised to opt for mercury-free vaccines wherever possible. So why, when presented with a choice of flu jabs, did Britain's health department opt for some with thimerosal? A spokesman said: ''In response to your question about why the department doesn''t just buy thimerosal-free flu vaccines, flu vaccine is not purchased centrally. It is purchased directly by GPs.'' This ignores government responsibility for vaccine and medicine safety.
The spokesman added that the decision to phase out the preservative in the US and Europe was ''precautionary''. ''There is no convincing evidence of harm to anyone, including infants and pregnant women, caused by small amounts of thimerosal in flu vaccines and the benefits of flu vaccine outweigh any hypothetical risks.''
In the US the authorities are clearly more concerned - particularly about the legal action. Four clauses have been slipped into the national homeland security bill, introduced in the wake of 11 September, effectively exempting drug manufacturer Eli Lilly from the mercury lawsuits brought by parents. (Eli Lilly contributed nearly £1m to the Republicans in the latest political campaign.)
The clauses pushing the autism cases into special vaccine courts were apparently designed to protect companies in their efforts to develop vaccines to protect against biological welfare. But the ensuing outrage at provisions that have nothing to do with state security has forced promised from both the senate and the House legislative wings that the clauses will be changed to allow litigation to proceed.
Meanwhile in a separate move the justice department in Washington asked the vaccine court to block public access to government and drug manufacturers' documents in the 1000-plus autism cases it is already handling.
FLU WHAT A STINKER
A row has broken out over reports that four of the seven flu jabs on offer this winter contain thimerosal - a 50 percent mercury-based preservative which is supposedly being phased out of all vaccines in the United States and Europe because of its possible links with autism, Alzheimer's and brain damage.
Though the debate about thimerosal in vaccines is muted in Britain, in the US the preservative is at the centre of a multi-billion dollar lawsuit. Parents there maintain their children's autism and brain damage have been triggered by a build-up of mercury.
Last year a congressional hearing into the tenfold rise in autism in the US heard that a study by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicating a possible link between thimerosal and autism was never
published. This led to claims of a cover-up.
The US Institute of Medicine has said the link was not proven but ''biologically plausible''. There was insufficient evidence either way. In the meantime the US decided to phase out all thimerosal and doctors there have been advised to opt for mercury-free vaccines wherever possible. So why, when presented with a choice of flu jabs, did Britain's health department opt for some with thimerosal? A spokesman said: ''In response to your question about why the department doesn''t just buy thimerosal-free flu vaccines, flu vaccine is not purchased centrally. It is purchased directly by GPs.'' This ignores government responsibility for vaccine and medicine safety.
The spokesman added that the decision to phase out the preservative in the US and Europe was ''precautionary''. ''There is no convincing evidence of harm to anyone, including infants and pregnant women, caused by small amounts of thimerosal in flu vaccines and the benefits of flu vaccine outweigh any hypothetical risks.''
In the US the authorities are clearly more concerned - particularly about the legal action. Four clauses have been slipped into the national homeland security bill, introduced in the wake of 11 September, effectively exempting drug manufacturer Eli Lilly from the mercury lawsuits brought by parents. (Eli Lilly contributed nearly £1m to the Republicans in the latest political campaign.)
The clauses pushing the autism cases into special vaccine courts were apparently designed to protect companies in their efforts to develop vaccines to protect against biological welfare. But the ensuing outrage at provisions that have nothing to do with state security has forced promised from both the senate and the House legislative wings that the clauses will be changed to allow litigation to proceed.
Meanwhile in a separate move the justice department in Washington asked the vaccine court to block public access to government and drug manufacturers' documents in the 1000-plus autism cases it is already handling.
This article appeared in The Varsity which is the newspaper for the University of Toronto.
http://www.collegepublisher.com/thevarsity/main.cfm
/include/detail/storyid/165592.html
The Varsity - News
Issue: 01/17/02
On second thought...
By Kaisa Walker
The disturbing images of the Ontario government's "Let's Beat the Flu" ad campaign confront TTC riders with a startling plea get the flu shot, or risk infecting loved ones with a potentially deadly disease. The ads tell riders the flu can lead to pneumonia, kidney failure and even heart failure in the elderly, children and the chronically ill.
What the ads don't say is that some experts worry that flu shots could have startling long-term health effects. They say widespread vaccination could prevent people from developing natural immunities and end up making us a vaccine-dependent culture.
Meanwhile, others worry the issue isn't public heath it's public relations. And expensive public relations at that. Critics like the Ontario Health Coalition say the $44 million universal vaccination plan the only of its kind in North America is a half-hearted attempt by the government to look like it is working to remedy emergency room overcrowding.
The Ministry of Health and Long Term Care says the vaccine wards off the flu for 70 to 90 per cent of healthy adults. In the elderly, the flu shot can prevent pneumonia and hospitalization in six out of 10 people, and prevent death in eight out of 10 cases.
But Barbara Loe Fisher, president of the US-based National Vaccine Information Center, has doubts about the flu vaccine's reliability. She says that since experts formulate the vaccine based on predictions of which strains will be prevalent during a given season, there is no guarantee that a person will not get the flu.
"Sometimes they guess right, sometimes they don't guess right," said Fisher. Fisher believes vaccinating healthy young people against the flu instead of allowing them to recover naturally from the virus could lead to long-term health problems. The flu shot's protective effects last only six months, requiring re-vaccination at the start of every flu season. But if someone catches a strain of the flu and recovers from it they will develop an immunity which will stop them from getting it again.
"When more people have been exposed to the flu shot as opposed to the disease, you have fewer and fewer people who have any kind of permanent immunity to any strains of flu," said Fisher.
"We become basically vaccine-dependent."
The Ontario Health Coalition says the shot is being marketed too broadly, and argues that a campaign targeted at high-risk individuals would cost less and be just as effective. But spokesperson Natalie Mehra says the Harris government may be more concerned with public relations than with public health.
"It's so massive it bespeaks something other than just flu shots," she said. "If the real issue were prevention, [the campaign] would be targeted at those groups that most need the prevention, and it's not."
The government's all-out campaign plays well in the media and makes the government look like it is tackling serious health issues, Mehra said.
"It is a bit of a manipulative public relations exercise," she added.
And opposition has spread to parliament.
Liberal MPP and Health critic Lynn McLeod said the flu shot campaign has changed since last year, when the government placed a much greater emphasis on the goal of reducing flu-related visits to hospital emergency rooms. This year, the Ministry of Health says their goal is not only to reduce emergency room overcrowding, but to protect the vulnerable and reduce the economic lag caused by an increase in sick days during flu season.
But while the flu shot, like so many issues, becomes just one more battle in the long-raging dispute over medicare funding, experts worry that some larger issues are simply being missed. In addition to concerns about creating a society unable to resist the flu without the aid of pharmaceuticals, Fisher and the National Vaccine Information Center also worry about side effects from the ingredients in the vaccine. Flu shots contain thimerosal, a mercury derivative used as a preservative. While the Ontario government claims the flu shot is safe for pregnant and breastfeeding women, Fisher said mercury has been linked to brain injury and immune deficiencies in the developing fetus. "I do not think that there has been nearly enough study to prove that giving pregnant women the flu vaccine is a safe thing to do," said Fisher.
http://www.collegepublisher.com/thevarsity/main.cfm
/include/detail/storyid/165592.html
The Varsity - News
Issue: 01/17/02
On second thought...
By Kaisa Walker
The disturbing images of the Ontario government's "Let's Beat the Flu" ad campaign confront TTC riders with a startling plea get the flu shot, or risk infecting loved ones with a potentially deadly disease. The ads tell riders the flu can lead to pneumonia, kidney failure and even heart failure in the elderly, children and the chronically ill.
What the ads don't say is that some experts worry that flu shots could have startling long-term health effects. They say widespread vaccination could prevent people from developing natural immunities and end up making us a vaccine-dependent culture.
Meanwhile, others worry the issue isn't public heath it's public relations. And expensive public relations at that. Critics like the Ontario Health Coalition say the $44 million universal vaccination plan the only of its kind in North America is a half-hearted attempt by the government to look like it is working to remedy emergency room overcrowding.
The Ministry of Health and Long Term Care says the vaccine wards off the flu for 70 to 90 per cent of healthy adults. In the elderly, the flu shot can prevent pneumonia and hospitalization in six out of 10 people, and prevent death in eight out of 10 cases.
But Barbara Loe Fisher, president of the US-based National Vaccine Information Center, has doubts about the flu vaccine's reliability. She says that since experts formulate the vaccine based on predictions of which strains will be prevalent during a given season, there is no guarantee that a person will not get the flu.
"Sometimes they guess right, sometimes they don't guess right," said Fisher. Fisher believes vaccinating healthy young people against the flu instead of allowing them to recover naturally from the virus could lead to long-term health problems. The flu shot's protective effects last only six months, requiring re-vaccination at the start of every flu season. But if someone catches a strain of the flu and recovers from it they will develop an immunity which will stop them from getting it again.
"When more people have been exposed to the flu shot as opposed to the disease, you have fewer and fewer people who have any kind of permanent immunity to any strains of flu," said Fisher.
"We become basically vaccine-dependent."
The Ontario Health Coalition says the shot is being marketed too broadly, and argues that a campaign targeted at high-risk individuals would cost less and be just as effective. But spokesperson Natalie Mehra says the Harris government may be more concerned with public relations than with public health.
"It's so massive it bespeaks something other than just flu shots," she said. "If the real issue were prevention, [the campaign] would be targeted at those groups that most need the prevention, and it's not."
The government's all-out campaign plays well in the media and makes the government look like it is tackling serious health issues, Mehra said.
"It is a bit of a manipulative public relations exercise," she added.
And opposition has spread to parliament.
Liberal MPP and Health critic Lynn McLeod said the flu shot campaign has changed since last year, when the government placed a much greater emphasis on the goal of reducing flu-related visits to hospital emergency rooms. This year, the Ministry of Health says their goal is not only to reduce emergency room overcrowding, but to protect the vulnerable and reduce the economic lag caused by an increase in sick days during flu season.
But while the flu shot, like so many issues, becomes just one more battle in the long-raging dispute over medicare funding, experts worry that some larger issues are simply being missed. In addition to concerns about creating a society unable to resist the flu without the aid of pharmaceuticals, Fisher and the National Vaccine Information Center also worry about side effects from the ingredients in the vaccine. Flu shots contain thimerosal, a mercury derivative used as a preservative. While the Ontario government claims the flu shot is safe for pregnant and breastfeeding women, Fisher said mercury has been linked to brain injury and immune deficiencies in the developing fetus. "I do not think that there has been nearly enough study to prove that giving pregnant women the flu vaccine is a safe thing to do," said Fisher.
Flu shot leads to baffling ailment
Friday June 7, 2002
RECORD STAFF
Debra Vallee of Cambridge says after getting a flu shot she developed pneumonia, her hair fell out, and her hands and feet became numb.
WATERLOO REGION -- When Debra Vallee rolled up her sleeve for a flu shot last October, she didn't think twice about getting the routine immunization. But just days after receiving the injection to combat the influenza virus, the 39-year-old Cambridge woman suddenly became ill. "Everything just went downhill," Vallee said. Pneumonia gripped both her lungs, her hair began falling out, aches seized her body, and her hands and feet became numb and tingly. Her weakened health meant Vallee couldn't do her job in the laundry room of a Cambridge retirement home, and she moved between her sister's and daughter's homes because she often needed help with simple daily chores like dressing and eating. "It just turned my life all around," she said. "Over the last six months I've lost everything." "She just gradually, progressively got worse," her physician Dr. Brian Bloomfield said.
The Kitchener doctor was baffled by Vallee's unusual symptoms. "It was strange watching Debbie go through this and initially not find anything wrong," Bloomfield said in an interview. Vallee underwent a battery of tests, including ultrasounds, X-rays and an electromyograph to measure the functioning of her nervous system, and visited a London neurologist in March. Months after she became sick, Vallee finally had a diagnosis for her mysterious ailments, and some peace of mind. "I didn't know until a month ago what's wrong with me. I didn't know if I was dying or what," she said. The diagnosis was immune mediated sensory neuropathy. Basically, her immune system began attacking her nervous system. Although there are no direct tests to prove the connection, her doctors pinpointed the cause to be the flu shot. "The only stimulus she had to her immune system in the recent past is the flu shot," Bloomfield said. "For some reason her immune system just got carried away." But Bloomfield stressed that Vallee's terrible reaction to the influenza vaccine is "phenomenally rare," and it shouldn't stop anyone in the region from getting an annual shot. "The potential benefit of the flu shot certainly outweighs the minute risk," he said. According to Health Canada, between 500 and 1,500 Canadians die of influenza or its complications each year. Karen Quigley-Hobbs, the region's manager of immunization and vaccine-preventable disease, agreed such a severe reaction to the flu shot as Vallee's is rare. She would not comment specifically about Vallee's case. "Reactions generally to this vaccine are infrequent and mild," Quigley-Hobbs said.
"What we most commonly see is a local reaction," she said. That may include soreness, redness and swelling at the injection site that disappears within a few days. Because the flu shot isn't a live vaccine, it can't cause influenza. Rarely, she said, a person can suffer an allergic reaction to the vaccine, which would cause hives, itchiness and swelling particularly in the mouth. But that is a risk with any medication, Quigley-Hobbs said. Vallee is beginning to feel better and has returned to work and her own apartment. But she worries that her ordeal may not be over. "They don't know if I'm going to have a relapse," she said. Bloomfield suspects that because the flu shot only lasts up to eight months, Vallee will continue to improve without treatment.
Debra Vallee of Cambridge says after getting a flu shot she developed pneumonia, her hair fell out, and her hands and feet became numb.
ERS: Flu Vaccine Possibly no Better than Placebo in Preventing Exacerbations in Asthmatic Children
By Cameron Johnston
Special to DG News
http://www.docguide.com/news/content.nsf/
news/8525697700573E1885256C36004F7F80
?OpenDocument&id=03E05ADF052F2F3E852
568C000807CA5&c=Vaccinology&count=10
STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN -- September 16, 2002 -- Asthmatic children and other groups are usually encouraged to receive the flu vaccine each year as winter approaches. However, according to one study, the flu vaccine may be no better than placebo for preventing influenza-induced asthma exacerbations among children. The study by practitioners at Erasmus University Medical Center, in Rotterdam, the Netherlands was presented in a poster session here on September 15th at the 12th Annual Meeting of the European Respiratory Society (ERS).
They began with a large cohort of 3220 asthmatic children aged six to18 years, whose names were drawn from family practices in the western Netherlands. They enrolled a total of 696 of the children. The study was randomised, double blind, and placebo-controlled. One group of 347 subjects received a parenterally administered, inactivated influenza vaccine (flu shot), while 349 received a placebo throughout the winters of 1999-2000, and 2000-2001. Primary outcomes were number, duration and severity of asthma exacerbations associated with virologically proven influenza infection.
The children or their parents were asked to use a physician-derived checklist to keep track of exacerbations and to report any symptom score of four points or more. Those who had symptom scores of four or more points would be invited to the clinic to take part in further tests, mainly involving a throat swab.
Forty-four subjects in total underwent throat swabs. Those swabs that were positive for influenza were implicated in 42 asthma exacerbations. The exacerbations occurred in 24 of the patients who had received the vaccine and 17 who had received the placebo. Although more exacerbations were seen in subjects receiving the study drug, the difference was not statistically significant (p=0.44). After adjusting for confounding factors such as length of the season, presence or absence of pets in the house, and presence of antibody titres for influenza, the researchers determined that the average exacerbation lasted 3.9 days longer in the placebo group, although there were no differences in the severity of the exacerbations recorded between the two groups.
According to Dr. Herman Bueving, of the Erasmus Department of Family Medicine, these findings suggest that while the flu shot does not reduce the number or severity of exacerbations in asthmatic patients, it can lead to exacerbations of a shorter duration. Nonetheless, this data also suggests that extra care should be taken each year when winter approaches because not all asthmatics will have a favourable reaction to the flu shot, and some might even be better off avoiding this form of prophylaxis altogether.
I came down with GBS on November 17, 2001 and was immediately hospitalized. I spent 55 days in the ICU and was on a ventilator and received a tracheotomy. At the worst of it, I was in critical condition and was completely paralysed (head to toe) until March. I was released from hospital (rehab) on July 18, 2002 and am now on the road to making a complete recovery.
I was told that the onset of my GBS was probably as a result of a flu vaccine I received in early November, 2001. In fact, the hospital notified the federal health authorities (Health Canada), reporting my case as a possible case of vaccine induced GBS. My question is this. Is any one aware of any successful law suits against pharmaceutical companies in such situations or any applicable case law ?
I would appreciate any thoughts any one might have on this topic. Many thanks,
Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is an unpredictable, chronic disease of the central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord) in which inflammation and breakdown in the protective insulation (myelin sheath) surrounding the nerve fibers of the central nervous system occurs. MS symptoms are highly individual and vary in both severity and duration. MS can cause blurred vision, loss of balance, poor coordination, slurred speech, tremors, numbness, extreme fatigue, and even paralysis and blindness. These problems might be permanent, or they might occur sporadically. Most people with MS are diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 50, but the unpredictable physical and emotional effects can last the rest of their lives. The progress, severity, and specific symptoms of MS in any one person cannot yet be predicted, but advances in research treatment are giving hope to people affected by the disease.
Twice as many women as men have MS. Studies indicate that genetic factors may make certain individuals more susceptible to the disease, but there is no evidence that MS is directly inherited. It occurs more commonly among Caucasians, especially those of northern European ancestry, but people of African, Asian, and Hispanic backgrounds are not immune.
There are approximately one third of a million Americans with MS, and every week about 200 people are diagnosed with the disease-more than one person every hour. Theresa Layne of Gruetli-Laager was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in January 2001. Her symptoms could be traced as far back as seven years before.
Her initial symptoms occurred soon after having a flu shot. She went to her family physician complaining of numbness and burning, and cold patches up and down her legs. The family physician passed it off as a strange reaction to her flu shot. The next year, again following a flu vaccine, Ms. Layne began having numbness in her arms. The physicians had a MRI done of her neck which was negative, and again it was passed off as a reaction to the shot.
Soon afterwards, while working in the Emergency Room at Vanderbilt, Ms. Layne began having memory loss and confusion. She though that maybe the symptoms were from the depression following the death of her father or because she was burned out from working in a trauma center. At this time, she decided to leave Vanderbilt and go to work at St. Thomas hospital. She worked there for three years. Most of her time was spent working in the nursery, until it closed. Theresa then moved to the operating room and had been there for nine months before having to leave work due to illness.
Theresa had gotten to the point where she was forgetting how to use the operating machines in the O.R., even if she had used them that same day. Her fine motor skills had gotten to the point where she could no longer open some of the sterile packs. One of Theresa's friends had memorized her locker combination for the days when she couldn't remember it herself. Her loss of work has caused her to lose her home, new truck and her Harley Davidson.She has moved closer to her family for emotional and physical support. Over the last year she has had to resort to using a wheelchair, a four-legged cane and a special walker just to get around.Symptoms of MS are unpredictable and vary greatly from person to person and from time to time in the same person. For instance, one person may experience abnormal fatigue, while another person may have severe vision problems. While one person with MS may have loss of balance and muscle coordination-making walking and everyday tasks difficult to perform-another person with MS may have slurred speech, tremors, stiffness, and bladder and bowel problems. Even severe symptoms may disappear completely and the person will regain lost functions. In the worst cases, people have partial or complete paralysis on a permanent basis.
In MS, symptoms result when inflammation and breakdown occur in myelin, the protective insulation surrounding the nerve fibers of the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord). Myelin is destroyed and replaced by scars of hardened "sclerotic" patches of tissue. Such lesions are called "plaques," and appear in "multiple" places within the central nervous system. This can be compared to a loss of insulating material around an electrical wire, which interferes with the transmission of signals. Some nerve fibers are actually severed in association with the loss of myelin.
MS is not a fatal disease. The projected life span for most people with MS is 93% of the non-MS population. People who have MS can be expected to have a normal or near-normal life expectancy. The majority of people with MS do not become severely disabled. Two-thirds of people who have MS remain able to walk, though many will need an aid, such as a cane or crutches, and some will use a scooter or wheelchair to help fight fatigue.
Genetic factors may make certain individuals more susceptible to the disease.There is not yet a cure for MS, however, advances in treating and understanding MS are achieved daily and progress in research to find a cure is very encouraging. In addition, many therapeutic and technological advances are helping people manage symptoms and lead more productive lives. There are now several FDA-approved medications known to modify or slow down the underlying course of MS.
The National Multiple Sclerosis Society recommends that you begin treatment with one of three drugs: Avonex, Betaseron, or Copaxone, as soon as you are diagnosed with a relapsing form, the most common kind of MS. (Note, the FDA recently approved interferon beta 1a-Rebif-for relapsing forms of MS.) These drugs help to lessen the frequency and severity of MS attacks, reduce the accumulation of lesions in the brain, and slow progression of disability. In addition, Novantrone has been approved by the FDA for the treatment of worsening (secondary-progressive) MS. Novantrone is the first therapy approved in the U.S. for secondary-progressive MS. The lifetime dose is limited due to cardiac toxicity. There also are many therapies available to treat symptoms such as spasticity, pain, bladder problems, fatigue, and weakness. People should consult with a knowledgeable physician to develop the most comprehensive approach to managing their MS.
In early MS, elusive symptoms that come and go might indicate any number of possible disorders. Some people have symptoms very difficult for physicians to interpret, and these people must "wait and see." While no single laboratory test is yet available to prove or rule out MS, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a great help in reaching a definitive diagnosis.
©Grundy County Herald 2002from the Toronto Star:
Oct. 3, 01:00 EDT
Paramedic union claims victory in flu shot fight Says province to back down on mandatory immunization
Vanessa Lu
Health Policy Reporter
The provincial government is expected to back down today on a long-standing feud with Ontario's paramedics by announcing they will no longer be required by law to get a flu shot, according to the paramedics' union. The move comes after a two-year standoff over the vaccination requirement, which many paramedics insist is an infringement of their Charter rights.
Brian Cochrane, president of Local 416 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents Toronto's paramedics, said behind-the-scenes negotiations have been going on for months.
"We have learned the government is moving in the direction of repealing the regulation," he said last night. "We're very hopeful." Although paramedics have been required for years to be immunized against diseases like tetanus, diphtheria and rubella under the Ambulance Act, they balked at getting an influenza shot each winter. It was made mandatory in 2000, but policing was left to municipalities.
Some paramedics said they did not want to risk potential long-term side effects from being immunized. Last year, only 8 per cent of Toronto's 790 paramedics got the flu shot. Similarly, paramedics were threatened with suspension in Peterborough, Timiskaming, Ottawa and Niagara Falls.
One paramedic, Bill Kotsopoulos, refused the immunization and ended up becoming a cleaner at a North Bay hospital while on indefinite suspension. A spokesperson for Health Minister Tony Clement refused to confirm the policy change, saying questions will be answered at a news conference this morning.
Clement, along with Colin D'Cunha, Ontario's chief medical officer of health, are scheduled to visit a Toronto Emergency Medical Services ambulance station on Davenport Rd. Paramedics were angry they were singled out for forced immunization while other health-care professionals such as doctors and nurses were only encouraged to get the shots.
The union representing Toronto's paramedics filed a court challenge, arguing that their rights were violated under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. If the government drops the mandatory requirement, union officials say they'll drop the challenge. Preliminary hearing dates were set for later this month.
Their case was bolstered in April by an arbitration board ruling that said requiring medical treatment for employees "is an assault if there is no consent." That case involved 15 staffers at a geriatric hospital in Hamilton who were suspended during a flu outbreak in January, 2000, for declining shots and refusing to take anti-viral medication.
All along, Clement has insisted that paramedics should obey the law, citing reasons that included protecting patients and reducing sick time among paramedics. In 2000, the provincial government began a universal vaccination campaign to encourage all Ontarians to get immunized, after emergency rooms were overcrowded during flu season. Influenza kills as many as 1,500 Canadians each year.
Clin Nephrol 2002 Sep;58(3):220-3
<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Display&dop
t=pubmed_pubmed&from_uid=12356192> Related Articles,
<javascript:window.showMenu(window.Menu12356192);> Links
Influenza vaccination induced leukocytoclastic vasculitis and
pauci-immune crescentic glomerulonephritis.
Yanai-Berar N, Ben-Itzhak O, Gree J, Nakhoul F.
Department of Nephrology, Rambam Medical Center, Haifa, Israel.
Influenza vaccination is a widely accepted practice, particularly among the elderly and high-risk individuals. Minor and transitory side effects following the vaccination are common, while systemic complications are infrequently reported. We describe here a case of a patient who presented to the emergency room with arthralgia, myalgias and purpura, following influenza vaccination. Necrotizing vasculitis associated with pauci-immune glomerulonephritis was observed on kidney biopsy. With increasing use of influenza vaccination, attention should be drawn to the possible expression of systemic adverse effects such as vasculitis and glomerulonephritis.
PMID: 12356192 [PubMed - in process]
http://www.sptimes.com/2002/10/07/TampaBay/Flu_shot_guidance_ren.shtml
Flu shot guidance renews old fearsAn encouragement to inoculate young children worries those who think the vaccine contributes to autism.By GRAHAM BRINK, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published October 7, 2002
TAMPA -- Last month, for the first time, the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention encouraged parents to have their young children vaccinated against the flu. To most, it seemed a sound idea for protecting youngsters. But a vocal minority of parents and doctors think such a move could be trouble. The issue: Some flu vaccines still contain the mercury-based preservative thimerosal, which they think is linked to an explosion in the number of children diagnosed with autism and related disorders in the past two decades.
The many skeptics of this theory point out that the mercury used in thimerosal has not been definitively linked to autism.
But those who think there is a connection see the CDC encouragement as a risk for children, especially those who already might have a buildup of mercury in their systems. "They continue to promote thimerosal as safe mercury and that there is no evidence of toxicity," said Dr. Jeff Bradstreet, an autism researcher in Palm Bay and the father of an autistic boy. "Eventually, they will be proven wrong. But in the meantime, one wonders how many lives may be altered."
Until last month, the CDC never had encouraged regular flu shots for healthy children six months to 23 months old.
But about 20 children per 10,000 in that age group are hospitalized each year with the flu or its complications. That rate is at least five times higher than that of 5 to 15 year olds and 10 times higher than the rate for low-risk adults, according to the CDC. Young children also are effective carriers of the influenza virus, often passing it on to relatives and friends. The CDC said vaccinating children would help improve the societal armor and cut down on the number of adults who get the flu.
The CDC is only encouraging parents to vaccinate their young children, not recommending it. But a formal recommendation could come as early as next year. Dr. Scott Harper, an infectious disease specialist with the CDC in Atlanta, said the risks of complications from flu shots for young children are minimal, especially when compared with the benefits. "In every decision that we make in life, there is a risk and a benefit," Harper said. "This decision was based on facts, facts that show that many children will avoid getting sick, not unproven theories."
Other health care giants -- including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Network for Immunization Information -- also are skeptical of a link between vaccines and autism. They say the theory is based more on coincidence and hope than hard data.
Even the Autism Society of America isn't convinced.
"(We) strongly support research to determine if, in fact, there is a correlation," the society says. "Until that research is performed and replicated, vaccines continue to be indicated."
Thimerosal has been used as a preservative in vaccines since the 1930s, but it became more common in the past 15 years as pharmaceutical companies began to produce more multidose vials to cut costs. Without the preservative, a multidose vial can become tainted once its seal is broken. The increase in the use of thimerosal coincided with an increase in the number of vaccines administered to children. Children today can receive about 36 doses of 11 vaccines by age 5.
And those two trends corresponded with a surge in autism rates throughout the country, say supporters of the mercury/autism theory. They fear that some children can't flush all the mercury from their systems, so it builds up and triggers autism, a neurological disorder that affects communication and socialization. Many doctors and scientists say such fears are unwarranted. But if the theory is so full of holes, the supporters ask, why did the government direct vaccine manufacturers in 1999 to remove thimerosal and other mercury from common childhood vaccinations, including hepatitis?
They say the CDC encouragement means children might again be given vaccines containing mercury. Flu shots have not traditionally been childhood vaccines, so many multidose vials still contain thimerosal. It is unclear exactly how much of the flu vaccine supply contains the preservative. "Promoting flu shots for healthy children concerns me a great deal," said Miami lawyer Roberto Villasante, co-chairman of the vaccine litigation group for the Association of Trial Lawyers of America. "I think the big question should be: Is this vaccine absolutely necessary?"
Kim Dabney was shocked when she heard the news from the CDC last month. Her son Drew had suffered from earaches and flulike symptoms. They weren't serious, but they were enough for her pediatrician to recommend that Drew receive a flu vaccination last year. He was 15 months old. "After that shot, that was the end of Drew as we knew him," Dabney said. Drew stopped making eye contact, stopped having fun, stopped making sense.
He had had some trouble after a round of shots administered a few months earlier, Dabney said, but the flu shot "put him over the edge." Drew's pediatrician, like some other doctors, had never heard of thimerosal or theories about a link between vaccinations and autism, Dabney said. But when Dabney researched Drew's vaccination record, she found it loaded with shots containing mercury.
The Dabneys, who moved from Miami to Charlotte, N.C., last year, have spent close to $50,000 on therapy and other treatments for Drew, who is showing marked improvement. "No one wants the flu, but no one wants mercury poisoning either," she said. "Now that these links are showing up, I cannot believe they aren't screaming to get this stuff off the shelves." Most members of the medical community think such a move is unnecessary. They note that many children with risk factors such as cystic fibrosis have received flu shots for years. If there were a link, many more of those children would have autism, they say. Some children don't show signs of autism until they are a few years old. The vaccinations don't cause it, the doctors argue, they just happen to be given around the same time.
Barbara Fisher is co-founder and president of the National Vaccine Information Center, a nonprofit group that advocates reforming the mass vaccination system. She encourages parents of children in the 6- to 23-month age group to arm themselves with as much information as possible before they decide whether to vaccinate their children against the flu. Even if science never finds a definite link between thimerosal and autism, it's worth considering, Fisher said.
She recommends that parents who want their children vaccinated against the flu read the manufacturer's insert that comes with the vaccine to determine whether it contains thimerosal or any other mercury. "Parents should not rely solely on their doctors, who don't always have all the information themselves," she said. "Whatever decision is made, it should be made from a position of knowledge, not a position of ignorance."
-- Graham Brink can be reached at (813) 226-3365 or brink@sptimes.com.
Article
by Jay Patrick
President of Alacer Corp
Three Great Medical Hoaxes
HOAX I
In 1974, I wrote in Let's Live Magazine of the Great American Deception: The Swine Flu Vaccine: Hog Wash. Over 43,000,000 trusting Americans were innoculated with this makeshift vaccine rounded up for a non-existent epidemic. Over 128 died immediately from its effects. Untold numbers may have had their lives shortened. That's because the vaccine will probably remain in their bodies for their entire lives. Science magazine commented: There can be few graver opportunities for man-made disaster than the mass immunization campaigns that are now routine in many countries. Should the vaccine preparations become contaminated with an undetected agent present in the host cells, a whole generation of vaccines could be put in jeopardy. This, of course, is no science fiction writer's horror story--It has already happened once; millions of people have been injected with a monkey virus known as SV40, which was found in 1961 to be contaminating polio and adenovirus vaccines. The virus causes cancer in hamsters; no one yet knows what it may do in man.
Leading Expert Questions Flu Vaccine Benefits
A leading epidemiologist writes in the January 9, 2001 issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal that claims there is no proof that Ontario, Canada's $38 million universal flu vaccine program has limited the spread of the illness.
Last year, the Ontario government initiated an attempt to vaccinate every one of its citizens against the flu, based on one of its own studies that said each vaccination would save the Ontario health system $40. Dr. Vittorio Demicheli, chairman of the regional epidemiological unit in Alessandria, Italy says "there is absolutely no evidence that universal vaccination has ever achieved such a goal.."
"I wonder whether the program should, instead, serve as a warning to other governments. The 'Let's see what happens' approach to public health should not be emulated. Recent reports seem to bolster Dr. Demicheli's assertions. On December 6, 2000 at the Fourth National Immunization Conference in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Dr. Eleni Galanis of Health Canada reported that almost 1000 Canadians have suffered adverse reactions to the flu vaccine since October, 2000. That's nearly 80 times as many as for the same period last year. For more information on the dangers of vaccination, the National Vaccine Information Center maintains an extremely informative website at http://www.909shot.com or they can be reached at 512 W. Maple Avenue, #206, Vienna, VA 22180. Their phone number is 1-800-909-SHOT (7468).
Report:
Vaccines to ruffle flu's feathers
Investigators: Jaqueline Katz and Kanta Subbarao
http://news.bmn.com/conferences/list/view?fileyear=2002&
fileacronyn=ESWI&fileday=day3&pagefile=story_2.html
22 October 2002
by Julie Clayton
Researchers are closing in on the genes responsible for enabling flu viruses to leap straight from birds to humans. Identifying those genes could aid vaccine development and protect against killer infections such as the 1997 Hong Kong flu outbreak. The 1997 outbreak shocked virologists because it showed, for the first time, that flu could jump directly from birds to humans, rather than have to go through an intermediate host, such as pigs.
Avian influenza viruses of the H5N1 type, which were circulating in the live bird markets and poultry farms around Hong Kong, infected 18 people, killing six, between May and December 1997. Fortunately for the contacts of the victims, the viruses could not spread from person to person: each case involved direct transmission from birds to humans.
But it may only be a matter of time before an avian virus evolves the capacity to spread from person to person, particularly if the infected people also harbor human influenza viruses with which the avian strains could reassort. The 1997 cases had no protective immunity against the viruses. These events have given rise to two new lines of research. The first is to understand the genes responsible, and the second, to produce vaccines that could serve as prototypes for the protection of people against future infection.
Jaqueline Katz, section chief at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, today revealed the identity of at least one of the genes - coding for an internal virus protein, PB2- that might have been responsible for the severity of the 1997 Hong Kong outbreak.
Katz compared the action of two different strains of the 1997 virus. The first strain, HK483, was found in a 13-year old girl who had died, and in whom an autopsy revealed that the virus had spread to many organs, including her brain. The second strain, HK486, came from a five-year old girl who had suffered a milder form of disease and recovered.
By reverse genetics, Katz's team used plasmids to isolate and capture individual viral genes, and swap these between the two strains. Inserting the PB2 gene from the "high-pathogenicity" strain HK483, into the background of the "low-pathogenicity" strain HK486, produced a recombinant virus with the same features as the wild-type parent HK483 strain, at least in mice. In particular, the recombinant virus spread easily to multiple organs. By contrast, placing the PB2 gene from strain HK486 into strain HK483, yielded a hybrid virus that did not spread beyond the place where it was inoculated - whether the lungs or elsewhere.
Meanwhile, Katz's colleague Kanta Subbarao, chief of the Molecular Genetics section at CDC, is producing the first vaccines against avian flu strains that continue to circulate among birds in Hong Kong and China, including the H5N1 type. Using human viruses as backbones, Subbarao's team has created hybrids by substituting in avian counterparts of the genes for hemagglutinin and neuraminidase. As surface glycoproteins, these form the targets for protective antibodies.
Following inoculation into mice, the hybrid viruses not only triggered good antibody responses, but also protected the mice against challenge with the wild-type avian viruses, suggesting that avian-derived strains have good potential as future vaccines. Subbarao told delegates that she was keen to begin collaborating with industrial partners to exploit the potential of the vaccine "seeds". Her vaccine-development strategy is moving away from previous approaches, she says, because the rapidly changing antigenicity of flu viruses makes it pointless to prepare a vaccine until an outbreak occurs.
"What we have learnt since 1997 is that it's taken a very long time to even have vaccine candidates," said Subbarao. "We also know that it's going to probably take two doses per person to immunize." From now on, she said, the approach will be to say: "Let's get some experience, let's make some vaccine so that maybe the first dose can be with something of the right subtype, maybe it's not the exact strain, and by the time of the second dose we might have the right strain."
A MEASURE OF COMFORT
The Health Sciences Institute e-Alert
October 30, 2002
Dear Reader,
It happens every autumn - the days grow cooler and shorter, Halloween decorations appear in shop windows, and someone always asks this question:
"What is your advice on getting a flu shot?"
This year, that question came from an HSI member named Karen. And my answer to Karen, and to everyone who asks that question, is that I'm not in a position to give advice about flu shots. Only a doctor or other qualified health care provider should offer such advice. So while I'm not going to recommend or discourage you from a yearly flu shot, I do have information you can use to weigh the pros and cons of the vaccine, along with some useful insights about how to help your immune system prepare for the seasonal attack of virus and bacteria.
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No extra charge for the antifreeze
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There is no doubt that many thousands of the people who receive flu shots this season will make it from Labor Day to Memorial Day without coming down with a case of influenza. So taken at face value: if it works, it works - enough said. But you should stop reading now if you'd like to remain unaware of the complete contents of a flu shot. I'll tell you this: it's not pretty.
Each year the flu vaccine is newly redesigned, using several strains from different types of flu that were common the season before. So basically you're getting a vaccine that is, in theory, ideal for protecting you from last year's primary flu types. Meanwhile, vaccine developers cross their fingers and hope that whatever new flu mutation comes our way this season is not much different than last year's flu.
But that shot at your doctor's office contains much more than just flu strains. The vaccine is prepared with chicken embryo fluid, inoculated with the living flu strains. The fluid is then treated with formaldehyde to inactivate the virus. Thimerosal, a mercury derivative, is injected to help preserve the mixture. Ethylene glycol (better known as
antifreeze) and another chemical called phenol are added to disinfect. And because animal cells are used for this process, animal viruses are sometimes introduced into the vaccine, undetected. This has happened as recently as 1995.
Now ask yourself: If you were intending to purchase a dietary supplement, and the label offered this warning: "May contain traces of formaldehyde, thimerosal, phenol, ethylene glycol, and animal cells," would you buy it?
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A "shot" of antioxidant
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If you pick up a flu virus, you won't necessarily come down with the flu. Whether or not you become ill will depend on how well your immune system deals with the virus. So you might say that a virus doesn't give you the flu - an immune system that doesn't defeat the virus is what gives you the flu. The key is immunity.
In 1999 HSI sent out a Members Alert titled "Super-immunity Against Mutating Flu Bugs." In that Alert we told you about N-acetylcysteine (NAC) - an amino acid that naturally stimulates your body to produce glutathione, a powerful antioxidant enzyme. Previous studies have shown that patients with ailments associated with a breakdown in the immune system are often deficient in their levels of glutathione.
NAC has been used for many years to treat chronic respiratory ailments with its ability to break up and dissolve the mucus that contributes to pneumonia, bronchitis, asthma and sinusitis. And just a few years ago, an Italian study found that supplementation with N-acetylcysteine (NAC) significantly increased immunity to flu infection. Over a six-month trial, only 29% of those taking NAC developed symptoms of the flu, vs. 51% of those taking a placebo. Of the 262 people taking part in this study, three-quarters were over the age of 65.
As I told you in an e-Alert earlier this month ("Storm of the Eye" 10/9/02), 300 mg of NAC per day is probably both effective and safe for most people. But it's always a good idea to consult a trusted health care provider before beginning any new supplement regimen.
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Wolf on the run
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In addition to NAC supplements, there are a number of other supplements that may help keep the flu away from the door. Vitamin C, vitamin E, and beta carotene have all been shown to help fight colds and flu. And for several years HSI members have known about the advantages of selenium - a naturally occurring mineral with antioxidant properties. In an e-Alert I sent you last year ("Popular Supplement Now Shown to Stop Deadly Epidemics" 6/22/01) I told you about a study that concluded that selenium may stop viruses from mutating and becoming more potent.
And finally, we have echinacea - the herb that's become so well known in recent years for its apparent ability to help reduce the length and severity of colds and flu. How this is done is not yet known, although some studies have indicated that echinacea may stimulate the production of white blood cells that are necessary to effectively manage viruses. Just last week I found a new study on echinacea from the Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine in Tempe, Arizona. Purported to be one of the first human studies of this herb, the researchers concluded that the effectiveness of echinacea may lie in its ability to strengthen a specific part of the immune system that is known to attack viruses.
So if the idea of getting a flu shot is reassuring to you, don't let me stop you. But there's a very good chance that all the flu protection you need can be achieved by getting the right amount of sleep, eating a balanced diet, maintaining a light to moderate exercise regimen, and supplementing with a few proven helpers in the yearly fight between us and the flu bug.
Cranberry Juice Blocks H. influenzae Activity in Vitro
By Bruce Dixon
CHICAGO (Reuters Health) Oct 28 - A laboratory study presented here Saturday at the annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America suggests that a component of cranberry juice has an inhibitory effect on Haemophilus influenzae.
"We found that both cranberry juice and active chemicals in cranberry juice called proanthocyanidins bind to and block... Haemophilus influenzae in the test tube," said lead author, Dr. Kirk McCrea of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Dr. McRae and colleagues tested a 30% cranberry juice cocktail and found that it inhibited the hemagglutination of piliated H. influenzae by 78%. Cranberry juice also inhibited binding of H. influenzae pili to buccal cells to approximately the same extent.
"Because this was a laboratory study, human research is needed to confirm that drinking cranberry juice reduces the risk of respiratory infections in children. We know that eating fruits and vegetables is healthful. This is really on the fringe of looking at one of those health benefits and giving us more of an edge over infections. We've got
a long way to go, but this study is a start," Dr. McRae commented.
Dr. McRae cautions parents not to jump to the conclusion that giving their children cranberry juice will prevent or treat illness. The American Academy of Pediatrics has made official their concerns over the excessive consumption of fruit juices by young children. The AAP recently stated that drinking too much fruit juice can contribute to
obesity, the development of cavities, diarrhea and other gastrointestinal problems, such as excessive gas, bloating and abdominal pain. ***
>From http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/443673?mpid=5761
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20021118a3.htm
DRUG FIRMS TO ADD WARNING
Flu vaccination linked to muscle-wasting disease
Five people in Japan suffered Guillain-Barre syndrome -- a disorder ofprogressive muscle weakness -- after receiving influenza vaccinations betweenJanuary 2000 and April 2002, health ministry officials said Sunday. Theofficials said the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry ordered the pharmaceuticalcompanies that make the vaccines to state clearly that the disease is a possibleadverse effect of the products.
Guillain-Barre syndrome is namedafter the French physicians, Georges Guillain and Jean Barre, who first describedit. The disease can cause immune system abnormalities, often inducing seriousrespiratory paralysis resulting from muscle weakness.
The annual incidence of the disease worldwide is about one or two per 100,000.
According to the ministry, three cases of the disease were reported inJapan in 1999, two in 2000 and two in 2001. Three were reported between December2001 and April this year. Three of the recent victims have been childrenunder the age of 10. Before 1999, Japan had no reports of the disease developing following flu vaccinations, the ministry said.
There is no established theory for the cause of the disease, but many doctorsassume it is brought on when the auto-antibody produced by a virus or bacteriainfection damages the peripheral nerve system.
A report in the United States indicates the incidence of the disease goes up slightly after flu vaccinations.
The Japan Times: Nov. 18, 2002
(C) All rights reserved
From globeandmail.com, Monday, November 18, 2002
Flu shot left executive paralyzed
ANDRE PICARD
PUBLIC HEALTH REPORTER
As an executive with a big Bay Street company, Brian Claman does not "have the time to waste being sick." So, when flu shots were offered at the office a year ago, he was quick to head to the boardroom and get vaccinated. "I've had the flu a couple of times and it's nasty, so I figured it was a win-win situation," Mr. Claman said. Two weeks after his flu shot, Mr. Claman awoke with a pounding headache and a strange feeling in his feet. The doctor was reassuring, telling the 47-year-old businessman that the symptoms were probably related to stress.
His condition deteriorated, so he made his way to a hospital emergency room. His body was gradually going numb. Doctors immediately recognized the tell-tale signs of Guillain Barre syndrome, a baffling, potentially fatal condition that resembles polio. By afternoon, Mr. Claman was completely paralyzed. He was placed in intensive
care and put on a respirator.
He spent the next eight months in hospital and now, a year after his flu shot, is just beginning to walk unassisted again. "It's been a harrowing experience," Mr. Claman said in an interview. "Never in my wildest dreams -- or maybe I should say nightmares -- could I have imagined almost losing my life to the flu shot," According to Health Canada, there have been 37 cases of GBS since 1987 where a link to the flu vaccine is suspected. But it cautions that because reporting is not mandatory, the number of cases is probably underreported, and that because GBS occurs for a number of other reasons, it is often difficult to make a causal link.
The mundane medical term for what happened to Mr. Claman is "adverse reaction."That usually means a little fever and maybe some swelling at the injection site, but a small minority suffer severe reactions such as Guillain Barre syndrome, an inflammatory disorder of the peripheral nerves (those outside the brain and spinal cord).
While the exact cause is unknown, GBS appears to be an autoimmune disease in which the body's disease-fighting system mistakenly attacks the covering of the nerves. At least half the cases seem to be triggered by a microbial infection. Mr. Claman suffered a severe reaction; usually GBS will reverse itself within a few months.
The link to vaccines was first made in 1976, when hundreds of people in the United States developed Guillain Barre after getting the swine-flu vaccine. Mr. Claman's experience, getting sick suddenly two weeks after the shot, is typical.
Public-health officials are quick to point out that while GBS is a devastating condition, it is rare, and getting the flu is a far more dangerous prospect. In a paper published in the Canada Communicable Disease Report, Philippe De Wals, an epidemiologist in the department of community health services at the University of Sherbrooke, calculated that for a person over the age of 65 (those at greatest risk from the flu) the risk of dying of GBS after a flu shot is about one in 10 million, while the risk of contracting influenza and dying if a person is not vaccinated is about one in 1,000. In other words, the fear of GBS should not dissuade people (seniors, at least) because the risk of dying from not getting the shot is 10,000 times greater.
Mr. Claman knows the math all too well, but said it is meaningless to someone in his position. "The rareness of complications means nothing if you're the one suffering from the adverse reaction," he said. "It's like the lottery: The odds mean nothing because everyone thinks they're going to win. With the vaccine, it's the opposite: Nobody thinks this can happen to them." Despite his experience, Mr. Claman is not opposed to the flu vaccine or the public-health campaigns urging everyone to get a shot. But he thinks the message is too sugarcoated.
"Let's talk about the real risks of influenza and the real risks of the flu shot and let people make an informed decision," he said. "But let's not pretend that because a flu shot is generally a good idea that nothing bad is ever going to happen." Mr. Claman said his biggest loss was personal -- staying in hospital and away from his family, in particular a teenage son. Being off work for months during the prime of his earning power also took a financial toll.
http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/index.cfm?id=1902003
Dose of danger dressed up as protector
FRASER NELSON
WOULD you like your flu vaccine with mercury or without? Anyone familiar with a toxic metal would not hesitate in their answer. But it's not a question that anyone will be asked this winter.
How about your child's immunisations? Would you like a preservative-free vaccine - or one which contains a substance which a US government's medical adviser says has a "biologically plausible" link to autism? This is the thimerosal debate. In the US, a it is huge storm involving congressmen, medics, some £30 billion in lawsuits and a cover-up which has left Washington mystified. But in the UK, the storm has yet to break.
Thimerosal is not new. It has been used since the Thirties to kill any bacteria in vaccines - but by hugely controversial means. Its toxic power is drawn from its main ingredient: mercury, second only to plutonium as the most toxic element. Once injected in the body, thimerosal breaks down into ethyl mercury - a substance liable to bind with body protein and, most ominously, brain tissue. Once lodged in the body, mercury traces are exceptionally difficult to remove.
Worse, mercury is a proven neurotoxin - that is, even small doses have been linked to brain defects including fibromyalgia, lupus and depression. It has not taken US lawyers long to extend this trail to autism. Other scientific studies have found that mercury placed next to brain tissue leads to deformities associated with Alzheimer's disease. This is the substance which the government believes is safe to put in flu vaccines. There must be a good reason for this, is the immediate response. But this is the most staggering part of the debate. Mercury is not needed in these vaccines - indeed, mercury-free jabs are available across the NHS now. So why is no-one being told?
This is being treated as a scandal in the US, where the House of Representatives has set up a committee to investigate the issue. Suspicion has been fuelled by the behaviour of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the supreme decision-making body on vaccines. It decided to phase out mercury in three years ago. The FDA has adopted a somewhat contradictory attitude. "Lead, cadmium, and mercury are examples of elements that are toxic when present at relatively low levels," it advises chemists. But this is the same FDA which approves the intravenous injection of such mercury in infants and pensioners.
It does not take a medical expert to spot something amiss. Mercury is a neurotoxin - no-one disputes that. Its use in child vaccines was greatly increased during the Nineties - a decade where autism spiralled. Mercury in the brain induces deformities common to Alzheimer's. Might the two be related?
The House of Representatives committee has produced two booklets of evidence pointing to the danger of mercury in medicine. Meanwhile, the lawyers, scenting a tobacco-style payout, have produced their own facts. The US government has laid down what a "safe limit" of mercury for infants. The committee found that the vaccination programme could leave children with 41 times more mercury than that laid down by this limit - a key finding which fuelled calls for its abolition from medicine. This safe limit is based on studies of 900 children born in 1987 in the Faroe Islands whose mothers had eaten mercury-contaminated whale meat. When they grew up, these children had slower reaction times and diminished attention spans.
The amount of mercury in their umbilical cord blood was minute - 0.1 micrograms per kilo. But even this trace of was enough to trigger a set of neurological conditions commonly associated with autism. Mercury is, after all, strong enough for the amount in a thermometer to pollute a small lake. So how can any amount be considered safe? This is the conclusion of Dan Burton, a congressman and the chairman of the special committee, who asked that all mercury-containing vaccines be discontinued, given that mercury-free substitutes are now available.
"To ignore an avoidable risk and to put 8,000 children a day in harm's way is not only inhumane, it may be criminal," he said in a report to George Bush, the US president. The Department of Health does not use the term "avoidable risk". It simply says its committee for safety of medicines (CSM) has reviewed the issue and "concluded that the risk- benefit balance of thimerosal-containing vaccines remains overwhelmingly positive". This is a trick statement. The CSM, it says, believes that a mercury vaccine is safer than no vaccine at all. This is true - but is a mercury-free vaccine safer than a thimerosal-based vaccine? There is no answer on this point.
But the choice facing Britain is between a complete portfolio of mercury-free vaccinations - including three out of the seven flu jabs being made public this winter - or those still using thimerosal. The question is why GPs are not advising patients that one vaccine contains mercury and the other does not. The latest statement was made last month by Lord Hunt, a health minister, who said the CSM has its findings backed up by the Institute of Medicine (IoM) in the US.
He said: "The IoM published a detailed review of the evidence relating to possible neurotoxicity of thimerosal in vaccines in October 2001. The IoM findings were consistent with the CSM conclusions." Lord Hunt is not telling the whole story. This was the same IoM report which said the link between thimerosal and autism is "biologically plausible" - and that the mercury may well kill enough brain cells to scramble children's thinking.
Dr Marie McCormick, who chaired the IoM expert panel, advised parents to ask doctors for mercury-free vaccines if they are available. Wise advice - available from absolutely no-one in Britain. The Department of Health says that the IoM report "concluded that the evidence did not support a causal association between thimerosal contained in vaccines and neurodevelopmental disorders."Here, for the second time, is a slightly misleading statement. No evidence? Compare this to the FDA's summary of the same IoM report into thimerosal safety.
"It concluded that the evidence is inadequate to either accept or reject a causal relationship between thimerosal exposure to childhood vaccines and neurodevelopmental disorders of autism," it said. It is, in other words, a grey area. Mercury may lead to autism; it may not - we don't have the evidence to accept or reject this. We just don't know.
So why is the Department of Health not admitting this doubt? It may be connected to the 200 lawsuits which were filed, claiming a total of £30 billion on behalf of parents of autistic children. This was seen off by the US government when it passed the anti-terrorist homeland security bill last month - guaranteeing Eli Lilly & Co, a former maker of thimerosal, protection from multi-million-dollar lawsuits.
What had this to do with terrorism? Not very much - but it is a sign of how seriously the link between thimerosal and autism is being taken in the United States. The Department of Health is falling increasingly victim to the compensation culture. There is one final aspect to the IoM report which is not being reproduced in the UK. It urged that "full consideration be given to removing thimerosal from any biological product to which infants, children and pregnant women are exposed".
The Scottish Parliament has the power to ban all mercury from vaccines now. Health is devolved, the vaccines are available and GPs have the freedom to order what they want. It can be an example of Holyrood using its smaller size to innovate. The medical evidence is mounting. One study suggests it is hypersensitivity to thimerosal, not necessarily mercury poisoning, which triggers autism. A new study into mercury and Alzheimer's is expected later this year.
In the mean time, being injected with traces of ethyl mercury is a risk that no-one in Britain needs to take. The latest, mercury-free vaccines are freely available on the NHS - for those who know how to ask for them by name. Sooner or later, the government will tell us about it.
http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/index.cfm?id=1912003
Autism fears over mercury in flu jabs
FRASER NELSON
FOUR of the seven flu jabs being issued by the government this winter contain a mercury-based preservative which is being withdrawn in the US amid fears of its links to autism. The Department of Health has confirmed that most of the flu vaccines being issued through the National Health Service contain thimerosal, a preservative which is 50 per cent composed of ethyl mercury.
Thimerosal is already being withdrawn in the US, where a government health authority has warned that it has a "biologically plausible" link to autism and should not be given to pregnant women. The UK government has this year chosen seven vaccines to combat three expected strains of the flu virus, and is aiming to vaccinate 70 per cent of people aged over 65 in a UK-wide programme.
The Scotsman can today name the four which, according to the Department of Health, contain thimerosal - and, therefore, mercury. They are Fluvirin, Fluarix, Influvac and Agrippal. The mercury-free vaccines are Inflexal V, Begrivac and this year's flu vaccine from Aventis Pasteur. Officials have said they do not recognise any health risk posed by the mercury in thimerosal. As a result, patients - whether pregnant or not - are not being advised which vaccines contain mercury. "There is no evidence of long-term adverse effects due to the exposure levels of thimerosal in vaccines," a Department of Health spokeswoman said.
"The risk-benefit balance of thimerosal-containing vaccines remains overwhelmingly positive."
She added that the Institute of Medicine in the US had looked at the issue and had "concluded that evidence does not support a causal association between thimerosal contained in vaccines and neuro-developmental disorders". The IoM's exact conclusion, however, argued that such a link was "biologically plausible" - and said there is not enough evidence to accept or reject a link between thimerosal and neurological disorders. In a statement which fuelled fears about thimerosal safety, it urged that "full consideration should be given to removing thimerosal from any biological product to which infants, children and pregnant women are exposed".
Pregnant women are advised to avoid thimerosal because the mercury affects the foetus to a greater extent than the mother. For the same reason, pregnant women are advised against having silver dental fillings fitted as the amalgam is 50 per cent composed of mercury. However, the Department of Health does not include pregnant women among the categories of people at risk from the flu vaccine. It instead lists those with heart problems and people allergic to hen's eggs, because the vaccines are incubated in a similar substance. The Department of Health said its decision to buy mercury-free vaccines is "a purely precautionary measure", which is part of "a move in both the US and Europe to minimise the exposure of infants to mercury". Robert McKay, a Scottish co-ordinator of the National Autistic Society, said he was astonished that dangers about mercury in vaccines have not been spelled out by the government. "We need access to the same information given to parents in other countries."
"If we have a choice in vaccine, we would like to know about it. This information should be given to families in this country so they can make decisions for themselves." Mercury's links to autism and neuro-developmental disorders have been well documented. Children born in the Faroe Islands in 1987 were found to have developmental disorders after their mothers ate mercury-contaminated whale meat. Two years ago, the Journal of Neurochemistry ran a study showing brain cells exposed to even minute levels of mercury developed the exact set of neuro-deformations associated with Alzheimer's disease.
Last year, Canadian research reinforced the suggested link between exposure to mercury and Alzheimer's.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/01/03
/ED142303.DTL
Richard Pitt Friday, January 3, 2003
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The concern over a possible link between mercury and the growing number of autistic children in America has once again focused attention on U.S. vaccination policy. Alarm about the amount of mercury in our bodies has been growing for years. One of the major ways this has occurred is through vaccination. Many of the common childhood vaccines, including DPT (diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus), hepatitis B and meningitis, contain the preservative Thimerosal, a form of mercury compound. Although the amounts used seem to be minuscule, there are worries that the cumulative effect of the mercury in these vaccines is a factor in the increase in autism.
Enough concern has arisen for pharmaceutical companies to begin eliminating Thimerosal from certain vaccines. Also, in June 2000, a number of medical groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, recommended the removal of Thimerosal. During a recent federal hearing, the FDA admitted that children are being exposed to unsafe levels of mercury through vaccines containing Thimerosal.
Underlying much of the scientific debate are the political and financial consequences of American vaccination policy. If mercury is found definitively to have been a factor in causing autism, then vaccine manufacturers and the government could be held legally responsible. There have been attempts in the last year to pass bills exonerating vaccine manufacturers from legal responsibility, even though they already enjoy some immunity from individual liability. This culminated in a rider slipped into the legislation that created the Homeland Security Department that exempted vaccine manufacturers from liability from any damage from any vaccines, not just the smallpox vaccine.
The controversy over mercury does not stop with vaccines. For many years, the use of mercury in dental fillings has been questioned, and there is ample scientific evidence of the risk in eating deep-sea fish due to mercury toxicity. The FDA recommends eating only a few ounces of such fish each week, and for pregnant women to be especially cautious.
As with other heavy metals such as lead, it is clear that exposure in relatively small amounts can lead to developmental damage, and that the most vulnerable are babies in the womb and young children. It is becoming increasingly clear that while evidence accumulates linking mercury to autism and other conditions, vaccine manufacturers, dental organizations and others are fighting a rear-guard action, denying any link until they escape legal responsibility.
Given the evidence, why is there now a movement to give babies and pregnant women the flu vaccine, which still contains Thimerosal? (Thimerosal has not yet been removed from all vaccines.) Two to three years ago, the vaccine was recommended only for those at risk of complications from the flu, predominantly the elderly. Now, it is being given routinely to virtually everybody. In the last 20 years, the number of vaccine antigens (disease agents) recommended for children has already increased from 25 to 77. What is the rationale and what are the scientific data to justify another one?
Although the official policy is to give the flu vaccine only to high-risk babies susceptible to other diseases, such as asthma, the vaccine is now being given routinely to many other children. The recommendation for pregnant women to get the vaccine is equally questionable, and no adequate studies have been conducted to monitor safety for mother and child. Even the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have said that "additional data are needed to confirm the safety of vaccine during pregnancy."
From a commonsense point of view, young babies are not at risk from the flu, especially when healthy and when being breast-fed. It is ironic that while manufacturers are taking Thimerosal out of some vaccines, doctors are increasing by giving the flu vaccine containing it.
Richard Pitt is a San Francisco-based homeopath and health educator.
Posted at 10:29 AM on Sunday, January 19, 2003
http://www.saljournal.com/stories/011903/lif_fluShot.html
Painful Shot
Flu vaccination suspected in emergency director's illness
By TIM UNRUH
The Salina Journal
Gail Aills is walking with a cane these days and reminiscing about a holiday season he'd have rather skipped.
Excruciating leg and hip pain marked the end of 2002 for the director of Saline County Emergency Management. Neurologist Trent Davis diagnosed it as Guillian-Barre Syndrome, which may have have been a reaction to the flu vaccination Aills received Nov. 15.
"You want to cry and scream and yell," said Aills, 62, describing the agony that invaded his lower body. "I thought I had a pretty high threshold of pain. That, I couldn't handle." He spent 23 days in Salina Regional Health Center and is faced with a long recovery, including physical therapy, and isn't expected to return to work until sometime next month. Until then, Bryan Armstrong, deputy director, is running Saline County Emergency Management.
"I'll never top him with childbirth again," quipped Jo Ann Aills, his wife, referring to the pain.
A former Salina firefighter who has headed Emergency Management since 1990, Aills said he received a flu shot when it was offered to all city and county employees at the Saline County Health Clinic, 125 W. Elm. He's been vaccinated every year for two decades. Aills came down with a cold afterward and jokingly blamed it on the vaccination. It lasted a couple of days. But on Dec. 2, he started experiencing discomfort after a Thanksgiving trip to Enid, Okla.
"I'd had a little pain in my hip and attributed it to the long ride," he said.
But it became worse Dec. 2 and continued when he went to work in the basement of the Law Enforcement Center. A heating pad provided some relief, but it persisted, so he left work at noon, thinking he might find a comfortable sitting position in a recliner at home. Next he moved to lying on his back in a sort of fetal position on the living room floor.
"It was hurting bad enough that we called the doctor, which is enough to know," Jo Ann Aills said. "He never calls the doctor." Their family physician, Dr. Mark Krehbiel, prescribed muscle relaxers, but they weren't adequate. Aills still was sleeping on the floor and groaning. He attended the Saline County Commission meeting Dec. 3 to deliver the monthly Emergency Management report and then returned home.
"That's when we started real serious pain," Jo Ann Aills said.
It continued Dec. 4, spreading from Aills' left hip down his leg and to his toes. At 10 that night, they headed to the emergency room at Salina Regional. He asked for an ambulance, but eventually opted to try the back seat of their family car. Once at the hospital, however, Jo Ann, requested a gurney.
"There was no way he could get out of the car and stand," she said.
Addressing the pain
In the hospital, Aills was put on morphine, but the powerful drug had no effect on him. "I told them to find something else for pain relief," Gail Aills said. Davis kept him on morphine, but he also prescribed three anti-seizure medications, which he said have proved to decrease nerve injury pain. "I'm sure it was a miserable month for him," Davis said. After a full round of tests, including two painful spinal taps, Aills was diagnosed with Guillian-Barre Syndrome. Davis started Aills on two treatments, first an intravenous infusion of gamma globulin, or antibodies that are pooled from thousands of blood donors. "We hope these will attack the antibodies in his system which are attacking his nerves," the neurologist said. But that didn't work for Aills, so Davis tried plasma pheresis -- commonly known as blood cleansing or plasma exchange -- on a device similar to a kidney dialysis machine.
"It's filtering of the blood where the protein and fluid in the blood are drawn off and discarded, leaving only red cells," he said. Other fluid and blood protein are added.
"That worked," Davis said.
Aills received six treatments -- lasting three hours each -- during 12 days.
Not rare, but not common
Guillian-Barre Syndrome is not exactly rare, occurring in one in 100,000 people, the neurologist said, and a flu shot reaction is one cause. "As diseases go, it's nowhere near as common as stroke or (multiple sclerosis)," he said, "but we see cases of it every year." Guillian-Barre usually surfaces during the viral seasons in the spring and fall, he said. Symptoms include varying combinations of muscle weakness and numbness, tingling, and/or pain. "It tends to progress from nothing to full strength over a few days to a week," Davis said. Weakness can be severe enough to hinder respiration and swallowing, he said.
"Sometimes people have to be on a ventilator for awhile," Davis said. "It's rarely fatal. In fact, excellent recovery is more the rule than the exception, but it may take anywhere from a few weeks to 18 months."
Aills' symptoms included numbness and sharp burning pain.
"We were afraid it would creep up into my vital organs," Aills said, but it didn't. He developed a staph infection from the blood cleansing and spent Christmas in the hospital. With low blood pressure and a 103.2-degree fever, it set Aills' recovery back three days. Also a Type II diabetic, his blood sugar levels shot up from the various drugs he was taking. The couple celebrated Christmas on the following Saturday with their four children, eight grandchildren and two stepgrandchildren.
Slow recovery
Aills left the hospital Dec. 27 and began physical therapy about 10 days ago at Salina Regional to regain leg strength, knowing he faces weeks to months of recovery. "This week has been a little bit rough," Jo Ann Aills said, so her husband has taken a break from therapy. "He has to get a little better before he tries it again." Aills' physical strength has diminished, cutting short daily walks that are essential in controlling diabetes. "My left leg is still so weak," Aills said, adding that he's fallen several times. "Taking a shower can be exhausting."
No reason not to get flu shot
While Aills won't likely take another flu shot, Davis said the yearly inoculations are worth the risk, even for other members of the Aills family. "It was just a particular sensitivity he has to the shots," Davis said, pointing to 1977 when swine flu vaccines brought about a number of Guillian-Barre Syndrome cases across the nation. He speculated that the particular viruses targeted by this year's flu shot may have triggered a reaction in Aills.
"It's an uncomfortable condition to have. It disrupts life and work, but it rarely kills," Davis said, adding that he's been flu-free for the 10 years he's taken the annual shot. "When you look at the figures of people dying from influenza, it's well worth it." The neurologist can't be totally sure the flu shot had anything to do with Aills' condition, but given that symptoms began within 10 to 15 days, it's a "typical interval" between the shot and the onset of pain
"It would, at this point, be my best guess," Davis said. "There's no way to prove it." A report of Aills' experience has been sent to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. "It's not in the administration of the vaccine or the vaccine itself," said Yvonne Gibbons, interim director of the Saline County Health Department. "The percentages of this happening are low, but it's not uncommon with immunization programs." The reaction can occur after a viral infection or from other immunizations, and some women have the symptoms after childbirth, she said.
"It's your own immune system attacking the body," Gibbons said. "People should not be discouraged. We would not encourage (Aills) to get a shot again." Jo Ann Aills said she is planning to get a flu shot this coming fall. "I don't want people not to get their shots," she said. "Some people really need them."
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20030205a4.htm
Side effects of influenza vaccines kill seven in two years
The side effects of influenza vaccines killed seven people in the two years through last March, and more than 80 people suffer from the adverse effects of such shots each year, the health ministry said Tuesday. The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, which gave the data to the Diet at the request of a Democratic Party of Japan lawmaker, said the number of reported side effects totaled 82 cases in fiscal 2000, rising to 87 the following year.
The symptoms include fever, vomiting and shock. Most have recovered, but 21 people who took the vaccines are still suffering side effects. The seven people who died after being injected with flu vaccines were all older than 60, the ministry said. The causes of death included acute hepatitis and acute pneumonia. In fiscal 2001, according to health ministry data, 10 million flu shots were shipped and 6.4 million people aged over 60 were vaccinated.
Influenza vaccines are extracted from virus cultures implanted in chicken eggs. Unlike polio and other preventive vaccines, influenza vaccines do not give total immunity to recipients. However, they are effective in reducing the chances of contracting the illness as well as preventing serious complications, including pneumonia.
The Japan Times: Feb. 5, 2003
12 million doses of flu vaccine for the current season remain unsold. 2002
MAJOR ARTICLE
Oculo-respiratory Syndrome: A New Influenza VaccineAssociated Adverse Event?
Danuta M. Skowronski,1 Barbara Strauss,1,4 Gaston De Serres,5 Diane MacDonald,1 Stephen A. Marion,2 Monika Naus,1 David M. Patrick,1 and Perry Kendall3 1University of British Columbia Centre for Disease Control and
2Department of Health Care and Epidemiology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, and 3Office of the Provincial Health Officer, Ministry of Health Planning, Victoria, British Columbia; 4Health Canada, Population and Public Health Branch, Field Epidemiology Training Program, Ottawa, Ontario; and 5Institut National de Santé Publique de Québec, Quebec, Canada
During the 20002001 influenza immunization campaign in Canada, a new adverse event, oculo-respiratory syndrome (ORS), was noted in association with administration of vaccine supplied by one manufacturer. The original case definition for ORS specified bilateral conjunctivitis, facial edema, or respiratory symptoms beginning 224 h after influenza vaccination and resolving within 48 h after onset. To characterize the spectrum, severity, and impact of ORS, we contacted persons who had reported any influenza vaccineassociated adverse event in British Columbia, Canada, during the 2000 2001 vaccination campaign. With use of a standardized telephone interview, we collected information from 609 (79%) of 769 eligible persons. Thirteen percent of ORS-affected persons reported onset 2 h after vaccination, 27% experienced symptoms for >48 h, and 42% considered the symptoms to be severe. The surveillance case definition for ORS for 20012002 was revised to include onset 24 h after vaccination, with no restriction on duration. ORS should be incorporated into annual influenza vaccine safety monitoring.
Received 7 October 2002; accepted 25 November 2002; electronically published 5 March 2003. Financial support: University of British Columbia Centre for Disease Control.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?&storyID=2382522
US Panel Probes Safety of Flu Vaccine
Fri March 14, 2003 11:14 AM ET
By Todd Zwillich
WASHINGTON (Reuters Health) - A government-sponsored panel of experts held its final public deliberations this week in preparation for an upcoming report detailing the safety of the nation's most widely used vaccine.
Experts from the Institute of Medicine will report sometime this summer on the scientific evidence surrounding the influenza vaccine, amid evidence that it can, in rare cases, cause severe reactions including a debilitating
neurological disorder. Approximately 80 million doses of flu vaccine were distributed in the 2002-2003 flu season, making it the most common form of immunization in the U.S. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends flu vaccines for all adults over age 50, patients in nursing homes or other facilities, many children between 6 months and 18 years old, and virtually anyone else who wants to avoid coming down with the virus.
Growing safety concerns among consumers over immunizations in general have spread to the flu vaccine, which has been linked to several outbreaks of a neurological disorder known as Guillain-Barré syndrome. The syndrome is
caused by destruction of the protective sheath around nerve cells, and can lead to muscle weakness, sensory loss, or paralysis. The CDC recorded approximately 70 cases of Guillain-Barré in vaccinated people in 1996-1997, though scientists believe that many more cases could have actually occurred. Cases have dropped steadily since 1997, and 15 were reported during last winter's flu season.
The agency now estimates that Guillain-Barré affects one to two persons for every million vaccinated, Dr. Robert T. Chen, head of the CDC's immunization safety branch, told the IOM committee. But researchers still do not know how many of the cases are directly linked to the vaccine or how it might cause neurological problems.
"Parents are asking me all the time, 'What should I do," said Dr. Lawrence Palevksy, a pediatrician based in Reston, Va. "The questions keep mounting and the answers aren't there." Bacterial contamination from eggs, which are used to manufacture the vaccine, was thought to be the source of an outbreak in the 1976-1977 flu season in which 581 Guillain-Barré cases were found in people immunized against swine flu.
People were sickened by flu vaccines made by all four manufacturers who produced them at the time. Yet, smaller Guillain-Barré outbreaks have occurred since then, even without apparent contamination, much to the confusion of scientists. Chen told the committee that researchers suspect that genetic differences may play a large role in determining who is vulnerable to the disorder following vaccination.
"We have this one year (1976) that sort of sticks out like a sore thumb," responded Dr. Christopher Wilson, a member of the panel who is also a professor of immunology at the University of Washington. Another study looking at a possible link between the flu vaccine and an increased risk of multiple sclerosis failed to produce a reliable
connection, according to CDC researcher Frank DeStefano.
Causes of the flu vaccine's side effects are more difficult to determine than those of other vaccines, partly because the vaccine's components change every year. Manufacturers constantly alter the viral contents of the vaccine
to keep up with shifting strains of flu viruses.
Deciding what to do about potential side effects is also complicated by the fact that just one company, Aventis-Pasteur, currently manufactures the vaccine in the United States. Some witnesses warned that an IOM report that
paints the flu vaccine as risky could jeopardize a domestic supply of the product. "Please don't frighten the manufacturer away from manufacturing vaccine," said Dr. Robert G. Webster, a professor of virology at St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. Webster told the committee that deciding whether or not to get immunized against the flu should be "a no-brainer" for most people since its benefits outweigh its risks.
While Guillain-Barré remains relatively rare, influenza is responsible for approximately 20,000 deaths and 115,000 hospitalizations in the U.S. each year, according to CDC figures. The committee is expected to issue its report sometime in the next three months, said Marie C. McCormick, the panel's chair. The report will be the last in a series of immunization safety reviews that began in 2001.
British pharmaceutical company Medeva's Liverpool plant was found by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to be producing vaccines in filthy conditions. The FDA report found that Medeva neither maintained nor cleaned its equipment. It also reported that Medeva was unable to prove that its vaccines were not contaminated with bacteria or fungi. Because it exports flu vaccine to America, Medeva got a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) “warning” to clean up its act. However, in a report dated October 22, 2000, The Observer noted that the FDA had not re-inspected the filthy Medeva factory since it sent the warning letter earlier this year and has given the company the green light to sell an estimated 20,000,000 doses of its “Fluvarin” flu vaccine in the U.S. during this cold and flu season. FDA approval of the potentially contaminated Fluvarin for sale in the U.S. was likely influenced by a shortage of flu vaccine here this season. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Immunization Program Director Dr. William Atkinson, the A-Moscow-1099 strain of flu virus did not incubate properly this year and, therefore, did not produce "serum" in large enough quantities to produce sufficient doses of flu vaccine to meet demand. So, despite Medeva's history of contamination and production blunders, FDA has authorized the distribution of Fluvarin to clinics and hospitals all over the nation. According to The Observer, the FDA claims that the vaccine is safe. The FDA also, at one time, claimed that silicone breast implants and Phen-Phen were "safe" -- and those are just two of many FDA-approved products that have ultimately been linked to serious health side-effects that include chronic degenerative disease and death. Fluvarin is currently on the shelves of doctors' offices and health departments all over the country and is being administered to the public. Medical personnel in the northwest U.S. who confirm that they have administered Fluvarin are unaware of the Medeva scandal or the likelihood that the triple-antigen flu vaccine is contaminated.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20030225/hl_nm/italy_flu_dc_1
Consumer Group in Italy Urges Flu Patients to Sue
Tue Feb 25, 5:37 PM ET Add Health - Reuters to My Yahoo!
By Rossella Lorenzi
FLORENCE (Reuters Health) - Italy's main consumer association, Codacons, has urged people who catch the flu after being vaccinated to take legal action, saying the government allowed this year's version of the vaccine to be released prematurely. Because the influenza virus is so variable, each year the World Health Organisation and other groups advise governments on what viral strains the vaccine should protect against. This year, WHO-recommended vaccines include the same influenza A (H1N1) and influenza B strains included in the previous flu season. But a decision on
the third component was delayed until March 14.
The US Food and Drug Administration said last week that its own decision whether to include the influenza A/Panama/2007/99 (H3N2) strain had also been postponed after late-breaking data showed that the current vaccine is not effective against some emerging H3N2 viruses. "The pharmaceutical companies may have put the vaccine on the market too early, mapping the influenza strains too far in advance. We wonder how the health ministry could have allowed the marketing of the vaccine so early," Codacons said in an official statement.
The group invited those who develop flu symptoms after being given the vaccine to file a complaint via its legal offices, asking for compensation up to 1,100 euros ($1,120 US). "The suit will be directed against the pharmaceutical companies and the health ministry, if its responsibility is proved. We have asked Turin prosecutor Raffaele Guariniello to investigate on this case. The consumers should have known on what strains the vaccine has been tested," Carlo Rienzi, the Codacons president, told Reuters Health.
But according to Italy's National Health Institute, this year's vaccine works well in 70-80% of the cases. "A flu vaccine doesn't offer a 100% protection," said Dr. Donato Greco, director of the Laboratory of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the National Institute of Health. "This year the efficacy of the vaccine is within the average. Our data shows that among the elderly who took the vaccine, a very low percentage got the flu," he told Reuters Health.
http://www.mdlinx.com/AllergyImmunoLinx/thearts.cfm?artid=550464&specid=21&
ok=yes
Clinical & Experimental Dermatology
Volume 28 Issue 2 Page 154 - March 2003
Clinical dermatology Concise report Leucocytoclastic vasculitis and influenza vaccination S. Tavadia, A. Drummond>*, C. D. Evans>* and N. J. Wainwright>*
Summary
Influenza vaccination is recommended for all people over 75 years of age and for an expanding range of other indications. Side-effects of influenza vaccination are usually mild but we describe four cases of leucocytoclastic vasculitis following influenza vaccination. The four patients, who were all elderly, presented with cutaneous vasculitis but all had abnormal urinalysis suggestive of associated renal involvement. Since 1974 only 10 cases of vasculitis following influenza vaccination have been reported in the literature. The clinical features of these cases are reviewed. As the use of influenza vaccination is likely to increase, dermatologists should be aware of the possible association with vasculitis.
http://curezone.com/art/read.asp?ID=32&db=12&C0=735
FLU JAB KILLS RITA (66)
Tuesday, November 21, 2000
Doctor tells her family it caused lethal brain bug A SCOTS pensioner has died after being given a flu jab. Just two days after the injection, Rita Gillooly, 66, was struck down by the same bug which hospitalised Celtic star Morten Wieghorst. Doctors have told Rita's family there is "no doubt" that the jab brought on Guillain Barre Syndrome - a condition affecting the nervous system which paralyses sufferers.
Last night, her son John said: "I wouldn't want anyone to die the way my mother did. She couldn't even talk at the end. People aren't aware that the injection can cause death." Rita, of Milton, Glasgow, was struck down with the condition 48 hours after getting the injection at her local GP's surgery on November 7.
Although most people, including Danish midfielder Wieghorst, make a full recovery, Rita's heart was already weakened by a triple-bypass operation she underwent last year. She first complained of numbness in her legs and her husband John, 67, took her to Stobhill Hospital in Glasgow before she was transferred to the neurological unit of the city's Southern General Hospital where eventually died. Her son and three daughters could only watch helplessly at her bedside as the paralysis crept up her body. But last night one of Britain's leading Guillain Barre experts urged the public not to panic.
Dr Hugh Willison, of the Southern General, said: "In Scotland, between 50 and 100 people will develop the condition every year. Of that number only one or two per cent of cases will have been connected to the flu vaccination." Rita's son John said: "I know it's selfish but if my mum had to die, I'd rather she'd have gone really quickly. "We had to watch her deteriorate every single day. "She seemed okay after the injection but a couple of days later she said she couldn't feel her legs and collapsed. "We took her to Stobhill first but the doctors were baffled and transferred her to the Southern General. "She started getting much worse but the doctors said it was a viral infection and they had to let it run its course.
"Then her blood pressure dropped dramatically last Tuesday and they gave her adrenaline. "We were warned that if the pressure dropped again they couldn't give her any more adrenaline because it would bring on a heart attack. "Mum was taken to intensive care the same night. Morten Wieghorst was in the next ward and was passing by to have tests when she was wheeled down. "He said not to worry and he would see her when she got back to the ward. "But two days later, we were told mum had just 24 hours to live. Her kidneys and liver had failed. "She'd lost her voice totally with the paralysis and she took a chest infection.
"We were all with her when she died and we couldn't understand it. "Mum was a fit woman who walked the Giant's Causeway only a few months after her heart operation. "I suppose if the condition can leave a young, fit footballer on the brink of death there was no chance for my mother." Doctors have told the family Rita's illness was triggered by the flu jab. But Dr Willison said: "One of the biggest outbreaks of GBS in the 1970s was thought to be following influenza vaccinations. "I would advise people to see their doctor if they are worried about the affects of the injection but I would have no qualms about having it myself. The risks are minimal. "The flu can be devastating. It kills a large number of people every year and many people have to take weeks off work." Gordon Peebles, spokesman for the Guillain Barre Syndrome support group, counsels families whose loved ones fall victim to the condition.
He said: "I saw three women last January who fell ill with GBS following the flu vaccination. The condition always follows infection and vaccinations work in a similar way in that people are being injected with bacteria. It is very unusual that someone actually dies from GBS. "People usually make a recovery and are able to get on with their lives again." John said: "I would never advise anyone not to get the flu injection but I will never have it myself. "I had no idea when my mother went to the doctors for a simple jab she would end up dead two weeks later."
Reprinted from:
http://www.record-mail.co.uk/shtml/NEWS/P1S3.shtml
U.S. IMMUNIZATION NEWS
"Flu Shots: Safer, but Less Effective for Older People"
Los Angeles Times (www.latimes.com) (09/22/03) P. F3; Roan, Shari
The influenza vaccine is being urged for those over the age of 50 years once again, because that population is the most vulnerable to flu. Yet the vaccine is at its lowest effectiveness among the elderly, with Laura
Haynes, an immunologist at the Trudeau Institute in New York, saying that the vaccine can be as much as 60 percent less effective. Researchers are trying to figure out how to change that percentage without changing the
safety profile of the influenza vaccine. Made up of proteins from a variety of flu strains, the vaccine is unable to cause flu, but its high safety profile means that it does not provide coverage against every kind of flu, which leaves patients vulnerable--especially the elderly, who are less able to fight off the disease.
http://www.sundaypost.com/news1.htm
Vaccine doubts for new flu virus
By Iain Harrison
DOCTORS bracing themselves for an outbreak of a deadly flu virus are still not certain whether it can be countered by the currently available vaccine. The Fujian strain of the bug, which has claimed the lives of at least four British children already this winter, is not present in the stocks being used for the vaccination programme.
Now scientists admit they cannot be sure how effective the vaccine will be in protecting the population if the new virus strain becomes rampant. World-renowned flu expert, Professor John Oxford, of Barts and the London, Queen Mary’s School of Medicine, says vaccines currently being used to immunise at-risk groups were cultivated to protect against the Panama strain. It is a distant relative of the Fujian form of the bug — named after an eastern province of China — which caused widespread chaos in Australia earlier this year.
“The Fujian and Panama strains of flu are related to each other but unfortunately, they are not brother and sister, they are cousins,” explains Professor Oxford. “Therefore, we can’t say for certain what level of protection the current vaccine will provide, though it’s bound to give some. “The decision on which strains the vaccine should protect against is a difficult one as it’s taken very early in the year.
Question marks
“It’s impossible to predict what will happen and, although the Fujian strain was on the radar screen when the decision was made, we didn’t have it in the laboratory. “At that stage there were question marks over it and I think the correct decision was made to go with the current vaccine.” Dr Jim McMenamin, of the Scottish Centre for Infection and Environmental Health, is hopeful the vaccine will offer protection from Fujian flu. And he urged people in at-risk groups who have yet to be inoculated to get the jab urgently. “What we know is that the Fujian strain that appears to have been identified so far is very similar to the strain types contained in the vaccine,” he
explains.
“In the southern hemisphere they saw increased levels of flu activity, but not an epidemic. Therefore, the vaccine must be working to some level.” Dr McMenamin added that all the health boards in Scotland had reported cases of flu this winter but said he couldn’t predict how the outbreak would spread. “What we do know about flu is it’s unpredictable and when it arrives it usually stays for at least six to eight weeks.” NHS Tayside is currently finalising its winter planning initiative. A spokeswoman for NHS Tayside said flu levels in the region stand at between 60 and 70 per 100,000 people, which is normal seasonal activity. If this changes, plans which can be put in place include having additional staff and beds in the Intensive Care Unit and High Dependency Unit at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee. “We are not aware of any cases of the Fujian strain in Tayside, but the message is that if you are over 65, or under 65 and in the at-risk group, then get a vaccine,” the spokeswoman added.
http://app1.chinadaily.com.cn/2003cad/index.shtml
Vaccine side effects hit children
( 2003-11-10 22:49) (China Daily)
The health bureau of the city of Fushun, in Northeast China's Liaoning Province, has issued orders stopping the using of a flu vaccine that may cause infants to suffer fever and even twitching after vaccination. Zhou Yi, an official with the city's health bureau said in a phone call that four babies had had serious side effects to a vaccine, including twitching and high fever. Fortunately, they had recovered by Friday after emergency treatment and two
days in the hospital, the official added.
Though the precise reasons for the side effects are as yet unknown, the bureau has banned use of all vaccines of the same type, he said. The vaccines were part of a supply of more than 1,000 vials of domestically made flu vaccine that the bureau purchased through legal channels, said Zhou, who refused to reveal the name of the producer. "The supply of flu vaccine was limited, and there was a huge demand for shots among local parents who wanted their babies safe from flu,'' he said.
During the past week, at least 100 infants were vaccinated at the hospital, Su Junyan, a doctor with Fushun No 2 Hospital, was quoted as saying by the Shenyang-based Huashang Morning Post. Last Wednesday evening, at least 10 infants who had been vaccinated against flu in the Fushun No 2 Hospital that morning, were brought back to the hospital running a fever, the newspaper reported. The local disease prevention and control centre has investigated the accident. Wu Jiang, an expert with the Beijing municipal disease prevention and control centre said no similar cases have ever been heard of in the capital.
But he stressed that research results show the smaller in age children are, the stronger will be their reaction to vaccinations. "The reaction of people to vaccination depends on the kind of vaccine, their age and the dosage,'' said Wu, adding the side effects of flu vaccines can be somewhat mitigated by drinking lots of water. In September, the city's vaccination service prepared a supply of flu vaccines specially designed for infants under three years old, which were either imported or produced by joint-venture pharmaceutical firms.
http://www.ajc.com/friday/content/epaper/editions/friday/metro_f36c2f0
8f58250020028.html
Longtime dream spurs fight against paralysis
Washington County sheriff in 2nd term
Associated Press
Friday, November 28, 2003
Sandersville --- One morning more than a decade ago, Thomas Smith woke up and his feet wouldn't move. Twenty minutes later, he had trouble breathing. Soon he was in the hospital. So much for his lifelong dream of becoming a sheriff, Smith thought. But today, he's reached that goal. Smith, 43, has twice been elected sheriff of Washington County, midway between Macon and Augusta. Last month, Gov. Sonny Perdue gave him the sheriffs' 2003 Public Safety Award for achievements including offering a GED program for county inmates.
''The best thing you can say about Thomas is he overcame adversity and he helps his people,'' said Terry Norris of the Georgia Sheriffs' Association, of which Smith will become president next summer. ''He's tougher than a lightered knot. He has been through so much adversity.'' In 1991, Smith was so paralyzed he had to wink once for yes, twice for no. If a friend hadn't arrived at Smith's house when he did, Smith believes he would have died.
''I couldn't figure out why this had happened to me,'' Smith said. ''It got to a point where I asked God to take me away.'' Smith was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare but rapid onset of weakness or paralysis in which the body's immune system typically attacks the body itself. The syndrome can be triggered by vaccinations and it has no known cause or cure. In Smith's case, a flu shot sparked the disease.
Smith was paralyzed from the neck down, and he spent five months on a ventilator, at times feeling ''like somebody's driving nails into you.'' The day after he prayed for his life to end, he began to get better. ''That's when my feelings became so strong about God,'' said Smith, who has turned one room of his jail into a chapel.
Now he's nearly completely recovered.
He wears ankle braces, has lost some grip in his right hand and speaks with a gravelly voice because of scar tissue that built up on his vocal cords. Smith said he had wanted to be a sheriff ever since he was a child. He went so far as to skip school so he could spend time at the police station. As sheriff, he decided to help inmates better themselves. Smith and Sandersville Technical College started offering the GED program about two years ago. Because inmates spend a relatively short time in jail, those who want a GED are given an evaluation exam, and the program focuses only on what they need.
Some critics have told Smith they think criminals ought to be working on the side of the road, not taking classes. ''That was on my mind when I was thinking about these programs,'' he said. ''But I know it's the right thing to do.'' The jails also offer weekly Alcoholics Anonymous sessions and will find drug treatment programs for misdemeanor offenders awaiting trial.
http://www.medilexicon.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=5067
USA - Flu vaccine stampede offers preview of pandemic 30 Dec 2003
State health departments scrambled to connect those in need of a flu shot with dwindling supplies.
Washington (USA) -- There could be a silver lining to this season's widespread shortage of flu vaccine. v After the panic caused by last fall's severe and early flu outbreak, people may in future years place a higher priority on rolling up their sleeves for that annual pre-Thanksgiving shot, thus providing manufacturers a more predictable market and cutting down on the estimated 36,000 deaths attributed to the flu each year.
'We've tried to scare people for years to get them to get their flu shots. But they didn't respond until this year,' said Richard Raymond, MD, chief medical officer for the Nebraska Health and Human Services System. (wonder what that entailed? Scaring us?)
Nebraska, like many other states, was faced with a run on vaccine supplies when residents were frightened by reports of flu deaths of several children in neighboring Colorado. As the news traveled, resulting shortages prompted health officials in several locations to take creative steps to redistribute meager supplies so those at highest risk had a better chance of finding the vaccine.
Dr. Raymond used his state's Health Alert Network, which was developed using federal bioterrorism dollars, to collect information from physicians, pharmacists and others who still had vaccine. The responses to the alert began at 8 a.m. on Dec. 8, 2003. By 5 p.m. that night, every local health department had faxed the total number of doses they had in their districts. 'We were able to do something so that those people who called knew where to go to get flu vaccine,' said Dr. Raymond. Ultimately, though, 'all we did was help everybody run out by Wednesday rather than by Friday.' Kansas set up a toll-free phone line to do much the same thing, said state deputy epidemiologist Gail Hansen, DVM, MPH. Dr. Hansen was also hoping that vaccine manufacturers had held a supply in abeyance that could still be tapped by the states -- a scenario that came to pass on Dec. 11, 2003, when Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson announced that 250,000 doses of vaccine had been purchased from Aventis Pasteur.
Of the extra doses, 100,000 were adult vaccine and were quickly shipped to state health departments. The remaining 150,000 doses were pediatric. These supplies are expected to be shipped to states this month. The vaccine in short supply was the inactivated version given via injection. Supplies of the live, inhaled vaccine were more readily available -- at least in mid-December.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that the inactivated vaccine be reserved for children and adults at the highest risk of serious complications from the flu and that the live vaccine be used by healthy people older than 5 and younger than 65.
Although several children have died in the current flu season, which got off to an early start in October, it's not yet clear whether the siege will ultimately prove to be more deadly than in other years, or the strain of virus more virulent than strains that have come before, said CDC Director Julie Gerberding, MD, MPH, during a Dec. 11, 2003, briefing. 'It's just too early in the course of the outbreak to say for sure how this will compare overall,' she said. 'But obviously the early start and the early widespread activity have given us a great deal of concern. And obviously it has concerned a lot of people and that's why there's been such an interest in getting the vaccination this year.'
Meanwhile, the widespread vaccine shortage coupled with the vaccine's lengthy annual production schedule are increasing worries in the public health community that the nation is not prepared for a flu pandemic that some believe is inevitable and overdue.
While public health surveillance is better and antivirals that mitigate flu symptoms are available in limited amounts, the flu vaccine is still developed using technology from the 1940s and 1950s, said Greg Poland, MD, director of the Mayo Vaccine Research Group at Mayo Clinic's College of Medicine in Rochester, Minn. 'New technologies are in the works, but they have to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration,' Dr. Poland said. 'In a pandemic phase it's likely that there's not going to be any vaccine,' said Jonathan Temte, MD, PhD, associate professor of family medicine at the University of Wisconsin. In addition, the current supply of antivirals is not nearly enough to treat the number of people likely to be ill, he noted.
The Infectious Diseases Society of America, a group of 7,000 infectious diseases physicians and scientists, urged Secretary Thompson to begin work now on an international research strategy to ensure global access to a pandemic influenza vaccine. While the United States has committed substantial resources toward research and control of several serious emerging infectious diseases and potential bioterrorism agents, the IDSA views pandemic influenza as representing a far greater threat to the United States and other countries.
In an August letter to Thompson, the society recommended that greater attention be paid to reverse genetics -- a technique that more rapidly prepares strains of influenza viruses for use in vaccine production. 'The extraordinary importance of reverse genetics was demonstrated recently by the preparation of a candidate vaccine strain derived from an avian influenza virus isolated a few weeks earlier in Hong Kong,' according to the letter.
Dr. Poland suggests a broadening of the vaccination policy as a way to ready the nation's health system for a pandemic. 'We have a big problem in this country,' he said. 'The public is fickle. In normal years they don't get the vaccine and we make 70 million doses of it and waste 12 million. Now all of a sudden it's a bad year and everybody's angry that they can't get the vaccine.' Dr. Poland would like to see the development of an influenza vaccination policy that includes everyone. 'The reason being, if we can develop the infrastructure now to do it, pandemic planning becomes a lot easier.'
Who to vaccinate
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in an attempt to target the scarce flu vaccine to those who need it most, recommends that the following groups be given priority:
- Healthy children ages 6-23 months.
- All those over age 2 who have underlying chronic conditions.
- Pregnant women in their second or third trimester.
- Adults age 65 and over.
Out of shots
Because of the vaccine shortage, many people are likely to not get flu shots. In those cases physicians can:
- Encourage healthy people ages 5 to 49 to be vaccinated intranasally with the live, attenuated influenza vaccine.
- Encourage good hygiene that includes hand washing and staying home when symptomatic with a fever and respiratory illness.
- Provide antiviral medications to treat the flu, or as a chemoprophylaxis, especially for those at high risk for complications.
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
VACCINES: INFLUENZA
FLU SHOT REACTIONS WORRY OFFICIALS
Thu, 07 Dec 2000
From:
http://www.healthmall.com/newsletter.cfm
Almost 1,000 Canadians have suffered adverse reactions to the flu vaccine in the past two months, Health Canada has revealed. That's nearly 80 times as many as for the same period last year. While the outbreak, dubbed oculo-respiratory syndrome, is well under control resulting in only four hospitalizations and no deaths it has set off alarm bells among public-health experts, who worry about the country's ability to respond to a genuine crisis. "Safety, and the perception of safety, is key to our immunization programs,"
Dr. Greg Hammond, director of public health for Manitoba Health, said yesterday at a conference in Halifax. But the syndrome has highlighted some glaring shortcomings in Canada's vaccination infrastructure, he told more than 800 delegates attending the Fourth National Immunization Conference. The most troubling is an absence of immunization registries. This means public-health officials do not know how many doses of the flu vaccine have been administered. The lack of bar-code numbering on the products means it would also be impossible to trace individuals if there turned out to be a serious problem with a vaccine, Dr. Hammond said.
(More than 20 million vaccine doses are administered annually in Canada, making vaccination the most frequent medical act.)
In addition, a lack of communications strategy means public-health officials would not be ready to issue timely warnings, and the lack of research money means it has been a strain to get experts to turn their attention to this issue, he said. "This is serious stuff. We must get it right," he told delegates. Oculo-respiratory syndrome is characterized by conjunctivitis (red eyes), respiratory symptoms (cough, sore throat or wheezing) and occasionally a facial rash that occurs in the hours after inoculation with the flu vaccine. The symptoms clear up within 48 hours.
Dr. Eleni Galanis of Health Canada said that 921 cases have been identified since October. Last year, 12 people receiving the flu vaccine reported respiratory problems. (Another striking contrast is that the United States has recorded 200 cases of this sort of reaction in the past decade.) More than half the cases of oculo-respiratory syndrome (472) were in Quebec, and virtually all of the reactions (911) have been in people receiving Fluviral, a vaccine manufactured by BioChem Pharma Inc. of Laval, Que. The company has shipped 3.8 million doses of the product, largely in Quebec and British Columbia. Another manufacturer, Aventis Pasteur Inc. of Toronto, has shipped 5.6 million doses of two other flu vaccines but the two account for only 10 cases of oculo-respiratory syndrome.
Researchers are not certain, however, whether the reaction might affect how well the vaccine works. Data presented at the conference yesterday revealed that more than three-quarters of the reactions have been in women and 80 per cent of sufferers are in the 30-59 age group. ttp://www.healthmall.com/newsletter.cfm
http://www.insightmag.com/news/582237.html
Insight on the News - National
Issue: 02/03/04
FROM INSIGHT MAGAZINE
Flu Secrets You Should Know
By Kelly Patricia O Meara
Early in the 20th century an influenza known as the "Spanish Flu" claimed the lives of an estimated 20 million to 40 million people worldwide. It has been called the pandemic of 1918-1919, one of the most devastating in recorded history, claiming more lives than the "Great War" of 1914-1918, and even topping the death toll of the Black Death, or bubonic plague, that swept from far China in the 1330s across the face of Europe well into 1352.
Given the deadly history of the highly contagious flu virus, it comes as little surprise that governments and their public-health agencies pay keen attention to influenzalike illnesses arising even in the most remote corners of the world, or that news organizations cover the topic with a virulence rivaling that of the bug itself. In fact the 2003-2004 flu season has been remarkable in that it hit earlier than in recent years and forced government health officials publicly to acknowledge that the influenza vaccine produced to protect against the virus doesn't protect against the strain of flu making its way across the country, leaving the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to cavil that, after all, the vaccine "may provide some protection or lessen the symptoms." The operative words being "may" and "some." Another CDC spokesman has said that "the vaccine doesn't offer foolproof protection." What "may" and "some" and "foolproof" mean in this context apparently is as difficult to divine as it is for health officials accurately to predict the influenza strains circulating from year to year.
The identification of the virus that is the target of inoculation from year to year is based on reported influenzalike illnesses throughout the world that a handful of international and government health agencies, including the World Health Organization (WHO) and the CDC, monitor. Periodically a group of doctors and experts, known as the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee of the Food and Drug Administration, meet to discuss the ambient cases. Usually by May of each year, they vote on the strain of influenza virus from which to formulate the year's vaccine. Some years the advisory committee picks the right virus, and sometimes (like this year) it guesses wrong.
During voting for the 2003-2004 formulation a majority of participants believed that the influenza A Fujian (H3N2) would be the appropriate strain. But apparently due to complications with isolating the A Fujian strain, and additional manufacturing concerns, the committee decided to stay with the influenza A Panama (H3N2) strain that has been used since the 2000-2001 flu season.
Attempting to make sense of what "may" and "some" and "foolproof" mean, Roland A. Levandowski, a doctor with the FDA's Medical Center for Biologics and a member of the advisory committee, tells Insight that "the inactivated influenza vaccines - the protective efficacy of vaccine - is never 100 percent. We know from previous experiences with inactivated influenza vaccines that the best efficacy - the highest level of efficacy - is between 70 and 90 percent in healthy adults, and this occurs when there is a perfect match between the vaccine component and the circulating influenza virus."
Levandowski euphemizes, "This year the strain that is in the vaccine is not a perfect match, but the Fujian strain is represented in this class of virus [H3N2] and it's not so far off that we wouldn't expect to see some protection. If I had to guess, I'd say there is a 50 percent [chance] of protection, but even any guess depends on the outcome and what's happening out there in the real world." So this year the level of protection the vaccine offers is in doubt.
Indeed, by Jan. 15, the CDC issued a press release admitting that ongoing testing showed that this year's vaccine "was not effective or had very low effectiveness" in the test subjects. Yet up to that time the official edict from federal health agencies had been to charge ahead and vaccinate anyway. Then, as most now are aware, there wasn't enough of the "wrong" vaccine to meet the hysteria-induced demand. So the CDC turned to the recently approved Washington-based MedImmune's FluMist, an influenza live-virus intranasal spray that is not approved for use on children younger than 5 or adults older than 49 - two of the at-risk groups for whom vaccination is recommended.
So with the reported shortage of inactive influenza vaccine and a limited use of the live intranasal spray, large portions of the population remain unprotected. How serious a problem is that? By Dec. 20, 2003, CDC Director Julie L. Gerberding replied: "I think when you look at a map that shows wide-spread influenza activity in 36 states that we can regard it, from a commonsense perspective, as an epidemic." Although the flu was widespread, according to the CDC the actual number of flu cases did not surpass the "epidemic" threshold until week 52 of the flu season.
The CDC Website (www.CDC.gov) offers weekly reports on the number of influenza cases. For the week ending Dec. 27, 2003, or week 52, the CDC reported that "since Sept. 28, WHO and NREVSS [National Respirator Enteric Virus Surveillance System] laboratories have tested a total of 50,743 specimens for influenza viruses and 14,942 were positive with 9.0 percent of all deaths reported by vital-statistics offices of 122 cities due to pneumonia and influenza." The epidemic threshold is 7.9 percent.
According to the CDC, influenza is the most frequent cause of death from a vaccine-preventable disease in this country. From 1990 through 1998, an average of 36,000 flu-related pulmonary and circulatory deaths occurred each season in the United States.
But how does the CDC arrive at its numbers of deaths related to influenza? "Tracking the flu is done through sentinel physicians who test cases for the influenza virus," CDC spokesman Curtis Allen tells Insight. "But in most cases a person would go to their physician and the doctor would make a clinical diagnosis based on the influenza symptoms. The number of reported deaths [due to complications of the influenza virus] is based on a mathematical model and not actual swabbing of the nasal cavity."
Allen continues, "The CDC gets the information from the sentinel physicians, which basically is a random sampling where there are physicians in a community or health department who will be seeing patients and will swab their noses. There are a couple problems with determining the number of deaths related to the flu because most people don't die from influenza - they die from complications of influenza - so the numbers are based on mathematical formulas. We don't know exactly how many people get the flu each year because it's not a reportable disease and most physicians don't do the test [nasal swab] to indicate whether it's influenza."
Thus the reported average of 36,000 deaths annually associated with influenza is based on estimates rather than actual figures. But what about the growing number of people concerned about the amount of mercury (thimerosal) in the inactive influenza vaccine?
It turns out that, at the very time government health officials were warning of the influenza epidemic, they also were putting out unrelated warnings about the quantities of tuna and other fish that could be ingested safely in view of the high levels of mercury in their flesh. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommends ingesting no more than 0.1 micrograms of mercury, while the FDA recommends no more than 0.4 micrograms per kilogram per day. What this amounts to is a recommendation by the EPA and the FDA that women and small children eat no more than 12 ounces of tuna or other fish or shellfish per week. This is because, according to the EPA, "mercury consumed by a pregnant or nursing woman or by a young child can harm the developing brain and nervous system."
Yet the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices has issued a warning, passed along by the CDC, that "all children aged 6 [months] to 23 months and pregnant women in their second and third trimester" receive the inactive influenza vaccine - which contains a full 25 micrograms of mercury - 250 times the limit the EPA recommends for tuna-lovers.
Nevertheless, the CDC Website says, "the benefits of influenza vaccine with reduced or standard thimerosal content outweighs the theoretical risk, if any, of thimerosal," which is of course the source of the mercury. The CDC Website also states: "Based on guidelines established by the FDA, the EPA and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, no child will receive excessive mercury from childhood vaccines regardless of whether or not their flu shot contains thimerosal as a preservative."
Is there a disconnect in communications between federal agencies? Certainly the EPA and the FDA don't think the risk from exposure of children to high levels of mercury is "theoretical." Does mercury injected directly into the bloodstream of a small child stop at the neck, whereas mercury ingested from a tuna-fish sandwich does not? If EPA and FDA mercury limits are 0.1 and 0.4 micrograms, how can the CDC believe the 25 micrograms contained in the influenza vaccine is not "excessive mercury"?
According to Raymond Strikas, a spokesman for the CDC National Immunization Program, "At this point there is no confirmed proof that anyone has been harmed by mercury in vaccines. I'm not arguing that mercury isn't a neurotoxin - you're right. No one argues that point. It's got to do with the amount in vaccines - it's very small and has been eliminated in the vast majority of childhood vaccines. There is thimerosal-free or reduced-thimerosal influenza vaccine available." Then the "commonsense" factor cited by CDC Director Gerberding about influenza being at epidemic levels kicks in to point out that if you ingest mercury and it causes neurological problems, then it's just common sense that when you inject it into the bloodstream it will do the same.
Thimerosal is a preservative that has been used in multi-dose vials of vaccines. It contains 49 percent ethylmercury. The CDC says "there is no convincing evidence of harm caused by low doses of thimerosal." However, in July 1999, the Public Health Service and the American Academy of Pediatrics agreed thimerosal should be eliminated "as a precautionary measure." And Strikas is correct when he advises that there is a thimerosal-free influenza vaccine. The problem, critics say, is that of the 85 million doses produced for this flu season only 3.2 million were thimerosal-free. Which lucky kids, they ask, weren't exposed to potential mercury risks?
Len Lavenda is a spokesman for Adventis Pasteur, one of three pharmaceutical companies producing this season's influenza vaccine. He tells Insight, "We produce flu vaccines in several different presentations. We have three of these: a 10-dose vial [multidose], single-dose prefilled syringes and the pediatric preservative-free dose. Based on prebooking we determine how many of each will be produced." Lavenda explains that "for the 2003-2004 season Adventis produced 43 million doses of the influenza vaccine." The pharmaceutical spokesman was unsure of how many were free of thimerosal or even of how many thimerosal-free doses might be produced for the next flu season. The FluMist intranasal spray is free of thimerosal, remember, but cannot be given to children younger than 5.
Mark Geier is president of the Genetic Centers of America. He and his son David Geier, president of Medcon Inc., are consultants on vaccine issues and longtime opponents of thimerosal in vaccines. Certainly the Geiers don't accept the concept that mercury somehow is less poisonous to the human body when injected rather than ingested. They are alarmed about the presence of mercury in millions of doses of influenza vaccine being used to fight an epidemic.
"The ethyl mercury in the influenza vaccine," insists Mark Geier, "assuredly does not stop at the neck. Yes, there is something called the blood/brain barrier, which prevents some toxins from entering the brain. But ethyl mercury, which is what is in the influenza vaccine, crosses that barrier. The influenza vaccine has 25 micrograms of mercury, which means that to be at the recommended level of safety, and assuming that you get no mercury from any other source, you'd have to weigh 550 pounds to be safe."
But, Geier says, "that is only one aspect of this influenza virus that concerns us. There is a further risk to the health of this country because the current vaccine doesn't match the current influenza strain. You understand that they have been wrong about the strain about half the time and we've been screaming about this for years. Finally, this year, they even admitted it was the wrong strain. But they say you should continue to get the vaccine because 'it may give you some protection.' The truth is it is unlikely to give you a significant amount of protection because it is the wrong strain."
He continues, "Now let's talk about what can be done. It turns out that this is not going to be a terribly deadly year and the created panic has succeeded in selling the vaccine. But there is no joking about influenza. What if the 1919 strain comes back? Every year we try to make a vaccine, and let's hope the year it comes back we have a good one. In its best year the influenza vaccine is probably about 70 percent efficacious, which means we'd still lose tens of millions of people, so what do we do? The next thing out of their mouths is: 'Well, if it gets really bad we're going to quarantine states.' Wait. This isn't 1919, and we have three FDA-approved drugs that prevent influenza. What happened to them?"
"Tamiflu," Geier says, "is made by Roche [Pharmaceuticals]. Taking one pill a day prevents up to 90 percent of flu. So explain to me why our [Department of] Homeland Security has stocked millions of doses of Cipro in case we're attacked with anthrax - unlikely on a wide-scale basis - but has not put away Tamiflu for a major outbreak of influenza that could go worldwide? Tamiflu ... can be taken within 48 hours of the onset of flulike symptoms and will shorten the case. Two, it is approved for prophylactic use - taking one pill a day for the flu season - and it will prevent any type of influenza A or B, no matter what strain, and it is graded in the 90 percent range."
Geier insists that "it should be put away for both uses and, God forbid there is a major outbreak, every city should have this stocked. Homeland Security is supposed to protect us not only from terrorists but also natural disasters - and this would be a real natural disaster. Why aren't public-health officials telling people there is an alternative? Instead, what we've got is people fighting to get the wrong vaccine, fully approved by the FDA. What kind of leadership is this?"
"Suppose for a moment," he says, "that there were a 1919 swine-flu outbreak tomorrow. Do you think they could just pass out Tamiflu to everyone then? No. That would mean producing tens of millions of doses. I went to a local pharmacy to get Tamiflu and asked the pharmacist how many he had on the shelf. He had just 20 Tamiflu pills - not even enough to fill my prescription. Look, this is serious. If the 1919 strain should return tens of millions of Americans could die, but our health officials are doing nothing, even though the FDA has approved the antivirals for exactly this use. The vaccine in its wildest dreams never works in the 90 [percent range], so why aren't they actively promoting Tamiflu?"
Kelly Patricia O'Meara is an investigative reporter for Insight.
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Autism's whisperer
Sandra McLean and Leanne Edmistone
03apr04
WHEN Brisbane mother Tracy Bester found out she was autistic it was a huge relief. Finally, at 19, she understood why she had been reprimanded as a child for her unsocial behaviour and clumsiness. At 13 the mounting criticism and her own confusion led her to attempt suicide. At 16 she left home. At 17 she had a baby.
The child, Jessica, was the first of four children Bester has with her husband of 12 years, Pete. Jessica, 11, also is autistic, as is Bester's fourth child Julian, 5. Fortunately for both children their autism was diagnosed early. Early intervention and years of careful coaching by Bester have meant Jessica leads a normal life, has friends and goes to a mainstream school. Last year she was awarded an international prize, the Temple Grandin Award, for achievements in autism. This year the prize stayed in the Bester family, when mum Tracy was announced the 2004 winner last month. The award is an indication of how Bester's life-changing work with her own daughter and the educational programs she developed has gained national and international recognition. Cause unknown. No effective cure
What is Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)? A neuro-biological disorder that significantly affects how the person communicates, socialises with others, processes information and adapts to their environment. It covers five different conditions: autism, Asperger's syndrome, Rett's, pervasive development disorder and childhood disintegrative disorder. Who does it affect? Estimates vary but most recent studies place the incidence at one in 500, and it is four times more prevalent in males. World-wide incidence has risen 17 per cent a year for the past 10 years. People of all intellectual abilities – from severely impaired to gifted – can be affected.
What is the cause? A cause has not been identified and there is no cure. It can be hereditary, and genetics and environmental factors are thought to contribute. What is the treatment? Every person with autism is different, therefore treatment centres on individualised, highly structured therapy and treatment. This includes speech therapy, occupational therapy, physiotherapy and communication skills. How is it diagnosed? A diagnosis is based on the existences of a number of characteristics and the absence of others, under strict guidelines.
Source: Autism Australia
So much so that over the past decade Bester has, increasingly, become a saviour to many parents desperate to understand and help their autistic children. They have dubbed her autism's own "horse whisperer" because of her innate ability to understand and work with autistic children. "She was the first person I had listened to who had truly seemed to understand and know how autistic children think and function," says Madge Brown, Gold Coast grandmother to Gavin, 3, who is autistic. "She made sense of the difficulties the children have and the approach we need to take as parents and carers." Bester's understanding stems from her own experience of autism. Her evangelical approach to treating the disorder is the result of her own childhood in a household that did not understand.
"I can understand what it's like to be autistic," she says. "It is almost like two different cultures living together. People who aren't autistic can't read autistic people. I can. "I grew up believing I was dumb, stupid, bad, clumsy and all those bad things. People thought I was rude, obnoxious, badly behaved but were not aware of what was happening (to me). "This condition is more disabling than any other physical disability, it impacts on every aspect of life." In the past two years, demand for Bester's expertise has accelerated as a result of the alarming rise in autism among children. According to Bester, the increased rate of children diagnosed with autism is 17 per cent a year. Experts such as Dr Tony Attwood, who is based on the Sunshine Coast and has 30 years' experience working with autism, says over the past 10 years the incidence of children with autistic spectrum disorders has increased fourfold. The incidence in boys can be four times higher than in girls.
"Four or five years ago it was one in 1000, now I would say it could be one in 500. There is better diagnosis, however I believe there is also a genuine increase just as there has been a genuine increase in diabetes and asthma." Bester's modest Bray Park home is the headquarters for Autism Australia, the organisation she has set up to spearhead her campaign to change the way people work with autistic children to help them communicate, learn and thrive.
Bester's energy is boundless. As well as her work with autism she is mum to Jessica, Natalie, 9, Georgina, 7, and Julian. Husband Peter, a qualified electrician, is always by her side. Bester often survives on several hours' sleep a day, the little sleep she does get frequently interrupted by phone calls from desperate parents. Five years ago Bester was left a paraplegic after an adverse reaction to a flu vaccine. She has refused to let this disability curb her single-minded drive. There is little time in her life for self-pity, although Bester has considered the challenging hand life has dealt her. "I question every day my life and why I do the work that I do. "It is so hard being on stage and to be rung at four in the morning by crying parents and not give them help. Of course, you do."
Bester travels as a motivational speaker and educator at conferences for parents, teachers and health professionals. She has had so much success that parents of autistic children have moved from the US and Ireland to Australia to work closely with Bester. This year she launched Signature, a state-wide autism awareness campaign in schools which culminates in a conference at the University of Queensland as part of Autism Awareness month in May. Her big ambition is to open the world's first sensory integration centre to provide training facilities, respite and expert intervention to advance the skills and talents of people with autism.
"I am desperate to change the perception of autism," Bester says. "I want people to be able to work effectively beside people who have autism so that they can understand the cultural differences." Bester knows full well the impact of autism on family life as a result of her own experiences as a child and as a mum. Jessica was diagnosed with autism as a toddler and Bester quit her studies to focus on her daughter. "When she was five days old she started screaming and she just didn't stop," Bester says. "When she wasn't screaming she was ripping things apart. There was no eye contact, no touching. "She was a really difficult baby. But being my first and being so young I was sure it was me so I just kept loving her and working with her." So what did she do with Jessica? "I did what I do with every kid who comes through my door," she says. "I work according to their brain pattern – they are right-brain kids and you can't work with them on an auditory level. Everything I do with them is visual."
Her work with Jessica led Bester to develop the Jesse.ka learning curve series of developmental programs for families to implement themselves. Ironically Bester, who is dyslexic and can't read facial expressions or body language, still can't fully understand how she can function so effectively as a communicator. "How come any other kid who is brought to me who has parents who were not capable of working with them are worse than me," she says. "I talked about this to a colleague and asked him: 'Why on earth am I like I am?'. My colleague said: 'Just put it down to strength of character."
More health reports in Life, with your Saturday Courier-Mail.
© Queensland Newspapers
Colorado Springs Gazette
June 23, 2004
Pg. 1
Carson Soldier Gave Illness A Tough Fight
By Tom Roeder, The Gazette
It may have been the confidence that Cpl. Adam White always exuded.
Even when he was in a hospital bed, unable to speak or move for half a year, his wife and family never thought White would lose his battle with encephalitis, a disease the Fort Carson soldier contracted in Iraq. But that hope turned to tears Saturday when the 24-year-old died.
"He was just a lovely person," said his wife, Dorit, of Colorado Springs.
Doctors still don't know why White got sick and still can't explain why he never got better. Theories range from insect-carried diseases to an adverse reaction to a flu shot.
He's the 46th Fort Carson soldier whose death is attributed to service in Iraq.
White planned a surprise Christmas visit home to see his bride. But Dec. 7, after eight months in Iraq, he awoke unable to control the left side of his body.
Doctors found swelling in White's brain. The soldier came home from Iraq paralyzed.
Flu vaccine is worthless and damaging!
It is impossible to prevent disease by artificial means.
by Vivian Virginia Vetrano, D.C. hM.D.,M.D.,PH.D.
<vvvetrano@rionet.cc>
Does the influenza virus vaccine really protect us from the flu? Hygienic doctors proclaim “DEFINITELY NOT.”
Physicians hypothesize: “Yes, Maybe and No! It depends.” Yet, they still recommend that persons of selected groups take the newly concocted flu vaccine. Those targeted for the vaccine range from babies six months or older; to persons age 65 or older; special groups, such as those with chronic disorders of the pulmonary or cardiovascular systems, and others too numerous to mention. Actually, the list takes in practically everybody.
The Hygienic theory of the development of influenza is the antithesis of medical orthodoxy. Physicians believe the disease is due to various and numerous bacteria or viruses. Hygienists realize that the development of any disease is dependent on the lifestyle of the individual. Hygienists live in such a clean manner that their bodies retain no excess toxins and their Defense Mechanisms are in perfect condition!
It is impossible to prevent disease by artificial means. You are a living creature and your body will develop disease when the physical, mental and environmental conditions are so unsatisfactory they force the body to initiate an acute elimination crisis, such as influenza--which, if cared for properly, is not the dreaded disease as pictured by the purveyors of vaccinations. Vaccines add to the toxicity of the body and hence, cause disease. You can't make a healthy person a sick one unless you overwhelm him with poisons. And vaccines are poisons!
Former flu virus vaccines, using “live” viruses, produced too many serious, adverse reactions, so a new one had to be concocted. The latest 2002-2003 formula for flu vaccines is called the “subvirion.” This is a mutilated virus “blended, spliced and macerated” until nothing but bits and pieces of the virus are left. However, splitting the virus makes it no less harmful. The toxic antigens, usually protein or carbohydrate in nature, are still present and are still poisonous. If they were not poisonous they would not cause the body to produce antibodies in self-defense. Medically speaking, this is why they are thought to produce immunity. Physicians are trying to cause a mild disease based on the ancient idea that if you suffer the disease once you won’t get it again. We very well know that flu, colds, pneumonia and other acute diseases can develop in the same individuals multiple times. Although the split virus is purported to be less toxic than former flu vaccines, after scrutinizing and analyzing its components and their chemical attributes, I have serious doubts.
Should We Be Vaccinated?
Is the 2002-2003 influenza virus vaccine helpful or detrimental? Will it protect us or will it cause a great ruckus in the body? Studying the effects of the components of the influenza virus vaccine is not as enjoyable as drinking a delicious mango-banana smoothie, but it will help answer your questions. In fact, learning the contents of this new vaccine may make you want to either retch or shout: “No thank you!”
The flu vaccine contains a variety of other substances besides the molecules of the subvirion that wreck havoc with your health. I am sorry to have to tell you that it is grown in an embryonic chicken or in the allantoic fluids that surround it in the egg. All flu vaccines are manufactured a little differently, and contain slightly different components, but they all contain hemagglutinin antigens that can cause clumping of the red blood cells. If this happens in the bloodstream, it will cause an even greater blockage of circulation than an accident on a busy freeway. The hemagglutinin antigens coupled with the body's antibodies against them can block arteries, killing cells by the thousands. The cells in vital organs will be starved for air, food and water, just as they are in serious cardiovascular diseases. In short, this could easily lead you to premature death and a beautiful but gloomy casket.
It may be difficult to understand how this little 0.5 milliliter dose could be so devastating, but this will become clearer as we explore the disruptive effects of each component of the vaccine on your body. The 2002-2003 influenza vaccine contains 15 ug hemagglutinin antigens of different viruses thought to cause influenza, such as New Caldonia, Panama, Moscow, and Hong Kong. In addition to the “jet-set” hemagglutinins, the vaccine also contains the enzyme neuraminidase. The hemagglutinins are the factors that are supposed to engender antibodies to render you immune to influenza. Both hemagglutinins and neuraminidases are on the surface of the virus and end up as toxic molecules in the split virus, the subvirion.
Neuraminidase is an enzyme that catalyzes chemical reactions of N acetylneuraminic acid and other neuraminic acids, which are members of a group of substances classed as sialic acids. Neuraminic acid is one of the major species of sugars found in humans and it is a component of practically all the glycoproteins. N-acetylneuraminic acid and other neuraminic acids are the predominate sugars in glycoproteins. Glycoproteins consist of a spine of protein with carbon chains of oligosaccharides jutting off its sides like centipede legs. The enzyme neuraminidase, found in the flu vaccine is very damaging. It can cut out neuraminic acid from any or all of the glycoproteins in the cell membrane just like a good cutting horse cuts out the exact calf wanted by his master. Cutting out one calf weakens the herd. Cutting out neuraminic acid from the cell membrane weakens the cell membrane.
Glycoproteins: Our Lives Depend on Them
Glycoproteins are complex carbohydrates that are practically omnipresent and needed everywhere for very crucial functions. All the plasma proteins are glycoproteins, except for albumin. Glycoproteins are in all cell membranes; in bone and cartilage, in the brain, etc. If they are disrupted or destroyed by vaccines containing neuraminidase, untold detrimental effects occur throughout the entire body! Like a Jack Of All Trades, glycoproteins perform many VIP functions. Similar to private limousines that transport VIP people to special places, glycoproteins transport VIP substances such as vitamins, lipids, minerals and trace elements throughout the body. Additionally, glycoproteins are produced by cells when exposed to viruses, bacteria, and experimental chemicals. They actually become antiviral substances themselves, and are called “interferons” because they interfere with viral multiplication.
To damage glycoproteins in any manner can be compared to the demolition of a huge building by pulling out several of the basic parts of its foundation. The whole body falls apart, as does the building. That is what neuramidases can do to you when you allow them to be injected in the form of "immunizations." Actually, rather than immunizing you, they do just the opposite; they give you false hopes of protection and then slash away at you with enzymic knives.
The liver recognizes and destroys all glycoproteins that are missing their sialic acids, inactivating the glycoproteins.
The pharmaceutical companies say that neuraminidase aids the virus to leave the cell, but this is at the expense of cellular life itself. The cell has that lost its glycoproteins is now functionally crippled, because its glycoproteins are damaged. If one pile of a bridge is damaged, this leads to a weakening of the whole bridge, which becomes a hazard to those crossing it; just as our cell membranes are a hazard to us when their glycoproteins are functionally damaged.
Medical Theory of Vaccination is Flawed
Medical theory holds that increased levels of antibodies against specific antigens by vaccination will prevent the development of a particular disease, such as influenza. On the other hand, Hygienists hold that our susceptibility to disease increases with the number of vaccinations. This includes the dreaded demon disease, cancer.
Red blood cells and all cells have antigenic properties because all have both protein and carbohydrates in the cell wall, as we have just learned. Research has demonstrated that N-neuraminidase causes red blood cells to lose their antigenicity. It follows then that the virus hemagglutinins in the vaccine also lose their antigenicity because of N-neuraminidase, and consequently those who are vaccinated cannot form antibodies against the hemagglutinins! If antibodies can’t be formed then according to medicine, the vaccine is useless, because it is the antibodies that, in medical thought, create immunity to influenza. If the pharmaceutical companies think they are producing immunity with this vaccine they had better rethink their hypothesis. The small oligosaccharides in glycoproteins of mammalian tissues are formed with just a few monosaccharides and neuraminic acid is the predominate one. Furthermore, neuraminidases also split off other sugars from glycoproteins, producing as much damage as cutting off neuraminic acid. These oligosaccharides are found in the glycoproteins of all cell membranes. So the vaccine is worthless as well as very damaging to all the tissues in the body.
The Growing and Preparation of Influenza Virus Vaccine
The allantoic fluids in which the flu vaccine is grown, contain a white crystalline substance called allantoin. As an animal waste product, it is not usable and hence it is toxic. Allantoin has a high nitrogen content, which is why it is used as fertilizer. Allantoin is broken down to dirueidoacetic acid. Diureidoacetic acid can be further broken down to another product that is partly responsible for the development of kidney and bladder stones.
Five hundred micrograms of gentamicin, a broad spectrum antibiotic, is added to each embryonated chicken egg to inhibit the growth of bacteria. Formaldehyde, which is often used as a preservative, and thought to be carcinogenic in humans, is used to inactivate the virus.
Two chemicals, tri butylphosphate and Polysorbate 80, USP are added to the subvirion to inactivate and disrupt a significant proportion of the virus. Then, resin is added to eliminate “substantial portions” of these two chemicals, tri butylphosphate and Polysorbate 80. You can be certain that some of these chemicals are still components of the vaccine when injected. Still, more purification is required because of the presence of undisclosed other “undesirable materials” in the vaccine.
So, at this point, we see that the vaccine contains: Allantoin and its breakdown products; various egg proteins; gentamicin, an antibiotic; formaldehyde; resin, and tri butylphosphate, as well as polysorbate 80, which is used as an excipient in formulating tablets. In other words, polysorbate 80 is the vehicle or carrier for most drugs, and it is also found in ice creams and other fabricated fake foods. To preserve this witches' brew, thimerosal, a mercury derivative, is used. Therefore, each 0.5 milliliter dose influenza vaccine contains 25 micrograms of mercury. Do you want all that in your body?
Some companies use polyethylene glycol and Isooctylphenyl for various reasons when producing the subvirion. Such chemicals cannot produce health. Polyethylene Glycol is a relative of ethylene glycol (antifreeze) which is often used to poison dogs and other predators of sheep. The body has a very difficult time expelling it because it is resistant to biodegradation. Isocctylphenyl ether is a compound of ether and has anesthetic properties. Isooctylphenyl ether is a teratogen, causing abnormal prenatal development. It also induces testicular atrophy in animals, and possibly in people.
I wish to caution you that animal reproductive studies have not been conducted with influenza virus vaccine. It is also not known whether influenza virus vaccine can cause fetal harm when administered to a pregnant woman or if it might affect reproductive capacity.
Vaccines Guarantee Nothing
Please be aware that the vaccinating profession does not proclaim complete immunity for you, but states that it merely "reduces the likelihood of infection; or if you do develop the disease it will be a milder case.” Listen to another confession: “It is known definitely that influenza virus vaccine, as now constituted, is not effective against all possible strains of influenza virus. Any protection afforded is only against those strains of virus from which the vaccine is prepared or against closely related strains.” Our body’s defense mechanisms do better than that! It has natural killer cells that attack all strains of viruses and bacteria.
The 2002-2003 vaccine is not “effective” against any other strain of influenza virus or some that are closely related. You are not protected even if you are vaccinated! So many different viruses and bacteria supposedly cause influenza that it is a wonder people don’t see that there is something wrong here! How can one be artificially immune to any disease when hundreds of different viruses and bacteria “cause” the same disease? How can we even believe that they cause disease in any case, since they are always present in health and disease? Most of the time they are our benefactors–they actually help us rid the body of toxins.
Vaccines Build Disease!
Perhaps you have been assured by your physician that Influenza virus vaccine contains only dead viruses and that it cannot cause influenza. This is nonsense. Influenza vaccine contains the proteins found in the RNA of the virus. These proteins, like egg or chicken protein, are alien to our bodies. Our bodies can only use the proteins and carbohydrates we make ourselves. All others are toxic and must be degraded and tossed out. Therefore, when you take vaccines, the foreign proteins and carbohydrates increase the toxicity of your body sufficiently to warrant an elimination crisis. Not only could you get influenza but you could get any other disease to which you have a physical tendency. This is why physicians state that “...coincidental respiratory disease unrelated to influenza vaccination can occur after vaccination.” Excuses, excuses...
The most frequent “side effect” of vaccination is soreness at the site of the vaccination site for up to two days. Does that sound like something that is good for you? Your body tissues become red, swollen and inflamed because of the toxic vaccine. Other injection site reactions are: pain or tenderness, erythema, inflammation, skin discoloration, induration, a mass or lump; and hypersensitivity reactions including puritus and urticaria. In addition, the following types of systemic problems have occurred after vaccination: Fever, malaise, myalgia, and other systemic symptoms such as arthralgia, asthenia, chills, dizziness, headache, lymphadenopathy, rash, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, pharyngitis, angiopathy and vasculiltis, as well as anaphylactic shock. Many asthmatics have severe reactions from taking flu virus vaccines and anaphylaxis is one of them, sometimes ending in death within one hour.
The human body learns to tolerate poisons if given to them often enough and long enough. But the price is dear, because changes in tissues are taking place that are detrimental to your health, ending up in one or more degenerative diseases. The only way out is to live healthfully so you do not tolerate toxins!
Getting vaccinated builds disease–not immunity! All vaccines are poisons and every new vaccine is a new poison!
Why We Get the Flu
Sickness already exists before the virus or bacteria can propagate in large numbers. The body’s toxic tissues are the basic cause of the disease; not the bacteria. When your body finds itself overflowing with excess waste, like a stopped up toilet, it flows over too, with mucus exuding from one or many body parts. You may find yourself leaking from the nose, or throat, or lungs, or eyes and ears, and sometimes all of these at once; or the inflammation may march along like a band going from one block to the next, until the toxic level has come down to the toleration point of the individual. You are apparently well, and you are indeed free of symptoms because the body ceases its eliminations upon reaching your particular toleration point. However, you are not really healthy until your body tolerates only the normal amount of wastes, as in a genuinely healthy individual. It takes time and right living to get to that point. Fasting hastens this process.
An acute disease, such as influenza, is a necessary pathophysiological process instituted by the body itself, designed to eliminate the excess body wastes by way of the mucous membranes. The bodily intelligence decides which area is the most appropriate and best avenue to rid itself of certain waste products, and when these are so overwhelming that the ordinary avenues of elimination such as the kidneys can't handle them all, they are then pushed out through other channels such as the skin and mucous membranes. When cared for Hygienically, influenza never becomes a deadly disease.
The point is that the body is self-protecting and self-healing. If we all gave up the idea of "cures" and lived correctly, there would be no need for medications to suppress our symptoms or vaccines to give us a false idea that we are “protected.”
Keeping Well
Neither healthy nor sick persons need to be vaccinated. The healthy person should continue on with a healthful lifestyle, and the sick individual should find out what in his or her lifestyle is causing the sickness, eliminate it; and then work towards a more healthful lifestyle. If you desire to keep well it certainly helps to know what can make you sick and avoid it.
Medical treatments of all kinds can predispose you to influenza. In short, anything that enervates, or saps energy, can exacerbate any tendencies we may have toward disease. All “enervators,” i.e., those things which rob you of nerve energy and weaken you physically and mentally, will predispose you to an acute disease. Some of the greatest enervators are all drugs, medications, and poison habits such as indulging in coffee, tea, alcohol, and smoking. All bad health habits are enervating, but the greatest enervators of all are pharmaceuticals, including vaccines.
It is difficult for individuals to see all this clearly, because for 24 hours a day they are under the barrage of medical propaganda and coercion. They fear for their lives and know nothing about the healing powers of the living organism. The ill-fated individual does not know what to think or do, being lost in the hazy woods of the mysticism of medicine. What we need in this world is truth and enlightenment! To quote Dr. Herbert M. Shelton’s favorite slogan: “Let us have the truth though the heavens may fall."
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