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News- Page 3
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Health : Parents don't know who to trust on vaccinations
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Posted by Sylvia on Sunday, May 15, 2005 (19:11:25)
Pittsburgh Live 12/04/05
By Anne Michaud
So many parents are worried today about the side-effects of vaccinations, and many more are likely to be anxious soon.
A book released at the start of this month, "Evidence of Harm" by David Kirby, raises questions about the controversial link between autism and mercury in childhood vaccines.
Besides the mercury-autism link, parents question the benefits of the hepatitis B vaccine, which is administered three times before the age of 18 months. The risk of an adverse reaction from the vaccine -- hospitalization or death -- is roughly the same as the lifetime risk of contracting the disease.
Does it seem right, on balance, to put your child's life at risk when he or she could be hit by a car long before sharing an infected needle?
Some 26 vaccinations are recommended for children before age 2, and while doctors keep telling us they are safe, more parents (and doctors) are fighting for the right to decline vaccinations and still enter children in school, day care centers and summer camps.
The debate reflects our fears of polio and smallpox receding into history, even while our confidence in medical professionals and science plummets. What parent believes it's an acceptable risk that his or her 2-year-old could be brain damaged by a DPT (diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus) shot -- as was the son of the founder of the National Vaccine Information Center, Barbara Loe Fisher? Has anyone worried about their kid contracting diphtheria for a good three generations or more?
As our fear of these diseases recedes, as vaccines bring the illnesses under control, what we fear more are the pharmaceuticals themselves.
Alison Fujito of McCandless, a member of the parenthood panel, which contributes to this column, has a son who was born with a mild form of autism known as Asperger's syndrome. She lives with the torment that a vaccine could have contributed to his condition. The past 40 years have witnessed a rise in mass-vaccination policy in the United States, along with a skyrocketing of autism cases to where 1 in 500 children are afflicted.
Alison points out that mercury that was formerly present in nearly all childhood vaccines -- and can now still be found in flu and chicken pox shots -- has been proven to harm the nervous systems of young children, even babies in the womb.
"Look up acrodynia, a condition written about in the early 1900s that sounds exactly like autism and was shown to be caused by teething powder containing mercury," Alison writes. "The disease disappeared when the teething powder was taken off the market."
Medical authorities make mistakes. The rotavirus vaccine, to prevent severe diarrhea, was introduced in August 1998 and withdrawn less than a year later, when it appeared to cause bowel obstructions. Thimerosal, a preservative in many vaccines, has been removed because it is suspected of causing mercury poisoning in infants. Although a link between thimerosal and autism has been disproved in many studies, other studies say the link is real, and Congress has held hearings on the issue.
While medical researchers may find a risk of 1 in 100 acceptable -- or 1 in 1 million -- how can that 1 millionth parent rationalize the risk? Don't the elimination of the rotavirus vaccine and thimerosal demonstrate that immunization policy is imperfect?
In this environment, I think parents should have a right to refuse vaccines. Another parenthood panel member, Sue MacDonald of Cincinnati, a journalist who writes about health issues, says that some vaccines seem more worth having than others. For example, she says, chickenpox means a week of sickness without the vaccine. With it, a child can be sick for five to six days.
"Bottom line," Sue writes, "is it's more income for the drug company and not much health benefit for society."
Another panel member, Donna Wright of Gibsonia, says that alternative health professionals are willing to write letters exempting children from school requirements for vaccines. Presumably, this works for day care and summer camp as well.
It's a lot to ask of parents that we second-guess the medical community. But we have learned to be suspicious. Scientific assessments of acceptable risk don't play well when your child's life is in your hands. It's a lot easier to sign a waiver before surgery saying you know you might die, as an adult, than to sign over that same responsibility for your child.
A newswire story about the Kirby book recommended that anyone with questions visit the Web site www.immunizationinfo.org. So, I did. It is reassuring, but in such a naïve way that I just had to laugh. The site, sponsored by the National Network for Immunization Information, says it is backed by the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society and a host of other mainstream medical organizations. The naivete of the site is that many of us don't take mainstream medical advice at face value any more.
Too bad. The organization's Web site is quite comforting. All that's required is that we trust the authors.
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Health : Parents' fury over MMR jab
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Posted by sylvia on Friday, February 18, 2005 (15:32:21)
Shropshire Star 22/01/2005
By Dave Morris
An angry Shropshire couple are today demanding an explanation from medics after their baby was given an MMR jab which was four months out of date.
James and Emma Quinn-Lock of Shrewsbury spent weeks agonising over whether to have their daughter injected with the triple vaccine. They consulted a number of sources before allowing doctors, at Claremont Bank Surgery, to give 19-month-old Eloise the jab.
But to their dismay the couple, from Telford Estate, received a phone call the very next day from the surgery to say that the vaccine, which protects against measles, mumps and rubella, had expired last September, and that Eloise would need another injection.
"We feel very upset about what has happened," said Mr Quinn-Lock of Conway Drive.
"With all the concern about the MMR jab we gave a lot of thought as to whether Eloise should have it.
"We made sure we were informed before deciding and researched the subject through books and the internet.
"But now all that seems to have been pointless and we don't know whether she should have another jab or not."
The surgery has refused to comment publicly on the case.
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Health : Epidemic fears
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Posted by sylvia on Sunday, January 23, 2005 (14:53:32)
IC Cheshire 12/01/2005
By Jamie Oliver And Julia Thorley
An outbreak of mumps in Sandbach is alarming health chiefs, who are calling on teenagers to have the MMR jab.
Scores of young people in the town are believed to have contracted the debilitating disease since the out-break in Sandbach School's sixth-form began in November.
Five students at the school's sixth form have been confirmed as having the highly infectious virus, but many more young adults in the wider community have sought medical help for the condition, which can have serious complications.
Both Sandbach School and Sand-bach High School had to cancel their BCG tuberculosis immunisation programmes because of the outbreak.
Healthcare professionals are warning the outbreak could reach epidemic proportions among students.
Young people aged between 16 and 25 are particularly vulnerable to infection.
Central Cheshire Primary Care Trust director of public health Wendy Meredith said: 'When the infection gets into an unprotected student community it will spread, unless we do something to prevent it.'
Sandbach School headteacher Peter Wiles said: 'We were supposed to be doing the BCG immunisation programme but, because of the mumps, it had to be stopped.
'Five pupils have been home because they had mumps. The youngest case we have had was in Year 9.'
A spokesman for all-girls Sandbach High School would not confirm how many there had been infected but said: 'The problem has meant that we have postponed our BCG programme, which is not a particularly happy state of affairs and has left many people concerned.'
One pupil of Sandbach School said worries of the spread of infection had caused fellow students to stay away from the classroom.
A-level student Craig Oliver said: 'I caught the infection a couple of weeks before Christmas and there were a few people I knew who had it.
'But when I got better people were still a bit worried and didn't turn up to lessons because they thought they might catch it.
'There are normally between 15 and 20 people in my English lesson, but I turned up to find just two there.'
Jean-Marc Leemanyan, 21, of Grange Way, Sandbach, has the virus and said: 'My neck is really inflamed and it is really uncomfortable. Unbearable is probably a better word.'
The former Sandbach School pupil added: 'My neck movement is restricted and I haven't had a good night's sleep in days.'
In a bid to slow the spread of the virus, which has increased six-fold in the space of a year, professionals from the Health Protection Agency (HPA) are visiting schools in South Cheshire offering vaccination jabs.
Dr Nick Phin, consultant in health protection with the HPA's Cheshire and Merseyside Unit, says children who did not take the double dose of individual vaccines against measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) in the late 1980s are under the biggest threat.
He said: 'With notifications of mumps continuing to rise, I hope people will seize the opportunity to do something. It is a very unpleasant condition.
'Those who reach the age of 25 and have not had mumps are at a lower risk, but those who are worried should contact their GP.'
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Health : Commonly Prescribed Antibiotic Implicated in Autism
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Posted by sylvia on Thursday, January 20, 2005 (21:18:57)
Arrive Net 05/01/2005
In a study released this week, the antibiotic Augmentin TM has been implicated in the formation of autism. The study strongly suggests the possibility of ammonia poisoning as a result of young children taking Augmentin.
Augmentin has been given to children since the late 1980's for bacterial infections. Composed of amoxicillin and clavulanate potassium, Augmentin has proven a potent antibacterial, especially for ear infections which quickly become resistant to amoxicillin alone.
The manufacture of AugmentinTM involves the fermentation of clavulanic acid. The fermentation process involves large amounts of urea/ammonia. Ingested ammonia can potentially injure the intestines of small children as well as brain and nervous tissue. Even a small residue of urea/ammonia can potentially induce a substantial brain inflammation or abnormality.
The study, published in Medical Hypotheses, (2005 64, 312–315) examines 206 children under the age of 3 diagnosed with autism. These children were found to have a significantly higher number of ear infections than the general pediatric population. These same children received, on average, 12 courses of antibiotics representing a sum total number of 2480. Of the 2480, 893 of these courses were Augmentin with 362 of those given under the age of 1 year.
Dr. Joan Fallon, scientist, autism researcher and author of the study, states that, "Augmentin is one of the most widely prescribed drugs for children. Its introduction into the marketplace for use in the treatment of childhood illnesses corresponds with the significant increase in the incidence of autism.
It is possible that some children, especially those with immaturity, or others at risk for developmental disorders can be injured by taking this drug. It is imperative that further research be undertaken to determine if a subset of children are at risk for neurotoxicity due to the use of clavulanate or clavulanic acid in pharmaceutical preparations - especially Augmentin."
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Health : Officials fear parent revolt over new baby vaccine
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Posted by sylvia on Thursday, January 20, 2005 (21:15:03)
The Guardian 05/01/2005
By James Meikle
Health officials are preparing to add another jab to the national baby immunisation programme which already sees infants given two injections containing six vaccinations by the age of four months.
Government advisers have given their support in principle to a vaccination against bacterial meningitis, septicaemia and pneumonia, infections which strike about 550 under-fives in England and Wales each year and may kill between 50 and 100.
But they are seeking assurances that parents would accept another jab for very small babies who already receive a five-in-one injection against a range of infections and one against meningitis C. Further work is also being done to determine the dosage and timing of the injection against pneumococcal infections, although there have already been trials giving infants this vaccine alongside the others at two, three and four months.
The Department of Health is anxious to allay what it regards as unfounded fears that babies might face immunisation overload if another jab were added to routine programmes for which about 550,000 infants are called into GP surgeries each year. Failure to do so could reignite disputes such as those which have blighted attempts for blanket coverage against measles, mumps and rubella through the triple MMR jab.
Latest figures suggest 94% of children under two in the UK are immunised against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, polio, and Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib).
Just over 80% nationally have the MMR, usually at 13-15 months, but take-up has been disrupted by rows over the safety of the three-in-one MMR vaccine. In some parts of the country, it is only around 70%, and lower in parts of London, even though the research suggesting a link between the triple jab and autism, first posited by Dr Andrew Wakefield seven years ago, has been discredited. Officials want more than nine in 10 babies to have inoculations to ensure dangerous diseases do not make a comeback.
A thousand parents of newborn babies and 800 health professionals are to be questioned on the information they would need to reassure them about the jab so materials can be prepared in advance of any national programme. The vaccination is now given only to children regarded as at particular risk of infection.
The health department said: "The immune system of a baby has got huge spare capacity and can respond to thousands of bacteria and viruses to prevent them from causing harm. The concept of a vaccine 'overload' has been studied carefully and the science says this does not happen. A baby's immune system could actually tolerate over 1,000 vaccines."
The joint committee on vaccination and immunisation has endorsed the addition of the vaccine against a bacterium called Streptococcus pneumoniae. The committee saw no medical reasons not to offer the vaccination to babies routinely. It is already given to many older people. But the committee "recognised that some parents may have concerns and that health professionals may need additional information and training".
Introducing the jab might mean babies having three separate injections per visit to GP surgeries. The limited evidence available suggested "parents are willing to accept additional injections if they believe that these are of benefit".
Simon Nadel, a researcher at Imperial College London, and a consultant in paediatric intensive care at St Mary's hospital, London, suggested that 20%-25% children who suffered pneumococcal meningitis died. Between a 10th and fifth of those who developed septicaemia from that source might die too.
He understood some caution among government advisers but said it was "very frustrating" seeing children whose disease might have been prevented.
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