To contact us Click HERE
by Barbara Loe Fisher
This past spring, the FDA took a hands-off approach to Merck’s admission that DNA from a lethal pig virus is contaminating doses of RotaTeq vaccine being swallowed by millions of newborn babies.1 Now the agency responsible for making sure pharmaceutical products do not hurt people is proposing a Rule Change to give one staff employee the sole authority to allow “exceptions or alternatives” when drug companies want to change vaccine ingredients, such as preservatives (like thimerosal) or adjuvants (like aluminum) or the amount of residual protein and antibiotics in vaccines.
The FDA’s proposed change to Requirements for Constituent Materials was quietly published in The Federal Register on March 30 and the deadline for public comment is only days away - on Monday, June 28. 2
The FDA is arguing that the rule change is necessary to “reduce burdens on industry” and to provide “greater flexibility and reduced regulatory requirements.” It gives one FDA staff Director the power to give drug companies the green light to “employ advances in science and technology as they become available” when companies want to make new vaccines really fast and get more bang for the buck.
If the proposed Rule Change is put into effect, a vaccine manufacturer could request a change in the content or amount of vaccine ingredients by simply writing a “brief statement describing the basis for the request and supporting data” as part of the original license application or for a pending or approved application. There is no information about how much scientific evidence the drug companies will have to submit to prove the new ingredients are safe; or whether the FDA’s Vaccine Advisory Committee will be able to review that evidence; or whether the American public will have a chance to comment before vaccine ingredients are changed.
This does not look like the transparency, public participation and collaboration in government that President Obama said he supports. 3 It removes the checks and balances necessary for good government.
Last year when federal health officials declared a pandemic H1N1 “swine flu” national emergency, drug companies put a full court press on the FDA to fast track licensure of highly reactive oil based squalene adjuvants 4 and the use of new technology, like insect cells, 5 to make pandemic influenza vaccines. During meetings of the FDA’s Vaccine Advisory Committee, the National Vaccine Information Center opposed both the quick licensure of squalene adjuvants, 6 which hyperstimulate the immune system and have been associated with autoimmunity, 7 8 9 10 and the use of insect cells, 11 which could be contaminated with insect viruses. 12 13 14
Neither technology was licensed by the FDA last year 15 16 but there are tens of thousands of doses of squalene that the federal government bought and is stored in warehouses waiting to be used. 17 If the proposed Rule Change goes into effect, will drug companies be able to put those doses of squalene in flu vaccines by getting only one FDA employee to say “yes?” This and other risks to health are waiting for the American people if drug companies can get quick approval from one person to raise the amount of mercury, 18 19 aluminum 20 21 22 23 or residual protein in vaccines, 24 25 which have been associated with chronic inflammation, brain and immune system damage. 26
This summer the American people are watching the horrifying consequences of inadequate federal regulation of the oil industry play out in the oil soaked Gulf coast. There are legitimate questions being asked about the cozy relationship and financial conflicts of interest between federal agency regulators and big oil companies partnering with the U.S. Government to generate billions of dollars for the U.S. Treasury. 27 Calls for an independent federal safety oversight agency to monitor offshore drilling are being made in congressional hearings.
NVIC has been calling for an independent vaccine safety oversight agency free from financial and ideological conflicts of interest 28 since Congress passed a law in 1997 allowing drug companies to pay the FDA to fast track licensure of new vaccines and drugs. 29 30 During the last decade, that fast track system has seen scores of risky drugs like Vioxx and reactive vaccines like Gardasil quickly licensed, only to be followed by tragic reports of deaths and injuries. 31 32
While federal health officials are spending millions of dollars of taxpayer money to persuade every American from infancy through the last year of life to take a flu shot every year, 33 and hundreds of new vaccines are now in clinical trials, 34 35 it is no time for the FDA to make it easier for drug companies to put whatever they want in vaccines. Giving absolute power to one FDA employee, who reports to unelected political appointees, who could be subjected to heavy pressure from Big Pharma lobbyists, is not the way to regulate vaccines for safety.
If you want to make your voice heard and tell the FDA Commissioner, President Obama and your elected congressional representatives in Washington, D.C. what you think about the proposed rule change making it easier for drug companies to put whatever potentially dangerous ingredients they want to in vaccines, take action now. Remember, you only have until this Monday, June 28 to take action.
It’s your health, Your family. Your choice. Help send a strong message to Washington that it is time for government to stop partnering with the pharmaceutical industry and RAISE the safety bar for drug companies enjoying congressionally mandated liability protection while making big profits from selling government mandated vaccines.
Click here to watch the video
1 Fisher, BL. Vaccine Contamination: A Threat to Human Health. NVIC Vaccine E-News. May 27, 2010. 2 DHHS. Food & Drug Administration. Proposed Rule Revision of Requirements for Constituent Materials. Federal Register. March 30, 2010 (Vo. 75, No.60) 3 The White House. Memo from President Barack Obama to Heads of Executive Departments & Agencies on Transparency and Open Government. January 21, 2009. 4 FDA. Centers for Biologics Evaluation & Research (CBER). Regulatory Consideration Regarding the Use of Novel Influenza A (H1N1) Virus Vaccines. Transcript of July 23, 2009 Meeting of the FDA Vaccines & Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC). 5 FDA. CBER. Safety & Efffectiveness of Purified Recombinant Influenza Hemagglutinin Vaccine for the Prevention of Influenza. Transcript of November 19, 2009 Meeting of the FDA Vaccines & Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC). 6 Fisher BL. NVIC. Public Comment on Fast Tracking of Unlicensed Adjuvants for H1N1 Pandemic Influenza Vaccine. July 23, 2009 Meeting of the FDA Vaccines & Related Biological Products Advisory Committee. Also see Reference #4, pages 161-162. 7 Kuroda Y, Nacionales DC et al. Autoimmunity induced by adjuvant hydrocarbon oil components of vaccine. Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy 58 (2004) 325-337. 8 Carlson BC, Jansson AM et al. The Endogenous Adjuvant Squalene Can Induce a Chronic T-cell-Mediated Arthritis in Rats. American Journal of Pathology2000; 156: 2057-2065. 9 Asa PB, Cao Y, Garry RF. Antibodies to Squalene in Gulf War Syndrome. Experimental & Molecular Pathology 2000; 68, 55-64. 10 Petrovsky N, Heinzel S et al. New Age Vaccine Adjuvants: Friend or Foe? International BioPharm. August 2, 2007. 11 Fisher BL. NVIC. Public Comment on Use of Insect Cells for Influenza Vaccine Production. November 19, 2009 Meeting of the FDA Vaccines & Related Biological Products Advisory Committee. Also see Reference #5, pages 119-121. 12 Becker AL. Momentum builds for cell culture flu vaccines. Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy (CIDRAP). June 27, 2005. 13 Khan AS. Cell Substrates for Viral Vaccines: A Regulatory Update. FDA Centers for Biologics, Evaluation & Research (CBER). New Cells for New Vaccines IV: October 14, 2009. Pages 16-19. 14 Cummins J, Ho MW. Dangers of HPV Vaccine Production in Plants, Microbes and Viruses. Institute of Science in Society. July 1, 2009. 15 Miller, T. US Passes on Unlicensed H1N1 Boosters Despite Shortage. PBS NewsHour. November 9, 2009. 16 Randall T. Flu Shot Made from Caterpillars Fails Safety Vote (Update 3). Bloomberg News. November 19, 2009. 17 Ehart W. Pandemic’s workshop: Making Policy, making money, making vaccine. The Washington Times. December 7, 2009. 18 SafeMinds. Summary of Science Demonstrating the Harmful Nature of Mercury in Vaccines. Accessed June 21, 2010. 19 Egan W. FDA Statement: Additives in Childhood Vaccines. House Committee onGovernment Reform. July 18, 2000. 20 Gherardi M et al. 2001. Macrophagaic myofastitis lesions assess long-term persistence of vaccine-derived aluminum hydroxide in muscle. Brain, Vol 124, No. 9, 1821-1831. 21 Redhead K. et al. 1992. Aluminum-adjuvanted vaccines transiently increase aluminum levels in murine brain tissue. Pharmacol.Toxico;70: 278-280. 22 Kawahara M et al. 2001. Effects of aluminum on the neurotoxicty of primary cultured neurons and on the aggregation of betamyloid protein. Brain Res. Bull. 55, 211-217. 23 Sahin G. et al. 1994. Determination of aluminum levels in the kidney, liver and brain of mice treated with aluminum hydroxide. Biol. Trace. Elem. Res. 1194 Apr-May;41 (1-2):129-35. 24 Gandy A. Report of Motor Neuron Disease After HPV Vaccine. ALS TherapyDevelopment Institute. October 28, 2009. 25 See Reference #13. 26 Orbach H. Vaccines and Autoimmune Diseases of the Adult. DiscoveryMedicine. February 4, 2010. 27 Efstathiou J. Oil-Spill Agency Fetches $13 Billion Amid “Cozy” Ties (Update 4). May 11, 2010. Bloomberg Business Week. 28 NVIC. Public Engagement Group Reviews U.S. Vaccine Safety System. NVIC E-News. April 16, 2010. 29 FDA Modernization Act of 1997 (full text). 30 Find Law. The FDA Modernization Act of 1997 (Summary). February 22, 1999. 31 Burst S, Muhtadie L, Walters J. Dangerous Medicine: Blind Faith (What happens when drugs, science & money mix). The Hamilton Spectator. June 27, 2005. 32 NVIC. Gardasil: The Damage Continues. Gardasil & HPV Infection Information. 33 Stobbe M. Panel recommends flu shots for nearly every American. Associated Press.February 25, 2010. 34 Rosenthal KS, Zimmerman DH. Vaccines: All things considered. Clin VaccineImmunol. 2006 August; 13(8): 821-829 35 NIH. Vaccine Clinical Trials. Accessed June 21, 2010.
30 Eylül 2012 Pazar
Whooping Cough Outbreaks & Vaccine Failures
To contact us Click HERE
UPDATE: CLICK HERE TO VIEW NVIC'S PERTUSSIS VACCINE & DISEASE PAGE
by Barbara Loe Fisher
Reports of whooping cough outbreaks in California1,2 and in other states this summer are nothing new. Every four to five years – no matter how high the vaccination rate is - there are reports of whooping cough increases.
Whooping cough is a respiratory disease. Toxins in Bordetella pertussis bacteria stimulate the production of large amounts of thick, sticky mucus that can clog the airways of tiny babies and children, making it difficult for them to take a breath without vomiting, choking and making a whooping sound3 as they struggle to breathe.
There is an acellular pertussis vaccine – DTaP - which was licensed for American babies in 1996.4 DTaP replaced an older, very reactive whole cell pertussis vaccine - DPT - that was associated with more cases of high fever, collapse/shock, convulsions, brain inflammation and permanent brain damage.5,6
It is well known that pertussis vaccines, which can contain various amounts of bioactive toxins7,8,9,10,11 and also aluminum12,13,14 and mercury15 additives, have killed and brain injured some children. Over half of the 2,480 awards for vaccine injury and death totaling $2 billion dollars made under the 1986 National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act involve pertussis vaccine.16
Pertussis vaccination rates are very high in the U.S. According to the CDC, 84 percent of children under age three have received four DTaP shots.17 By the time American children enter kindergarten nearly every child has gotten all the CDC recommended pertussis shots.18 In 2009, the CDC said that the proportion of totally unvaccinated children in America is only six hundredths of one percent (0.06).19
Even with super high pertussis vaccine coverage in America and other countries like the Netherlands, Australia, Finland and Canada, whooping cough disease cannot be prevented.20 There are two main reasons for this fact.
First, pertussis vaccines widely used since the 1950’s have not prevented whooping cough disease from circulating in vaccinated populations. Unknown numbers of children and adults, who have gotten all government recommended pertussis shots, can and do develop whooping cough or are carriers without symptoms.21,22
Because pertussis vaccine immunity is only temporary and does not last, health officials are now telling teenagers and adults to get more booster shots.23 But that is not going to matter if scientific evidence that B. pertussis organisms have mutated and become vaccine-resistant turns out to be correct.24
A second important reason is that another Bordetella organism – parapertussis – also can cause whooping cough.25 B. parapertussis symptoms, while often milder, can look exactly like B. pertussis. But doctors rarely recognize or test for parapertussis.26 And there is NO vaccine for parapertussis.
The DTaP vaccine given 5 times to children under age 6 and booster doses for teenagers and adults does not protect against whooping cough caused by B. parapertussis. In highly vaccinated countries like the U.S., parpertussis is on the rise and it is estimated that perhaps 30 percent or more of whooping cough disease is actually caused by parapertussis!27
So which bacterial organism is causing much of the whooping cough being seen in California, Nevada,28 Oregon and other states this summer? Is it B. pertussis or B. parapertussis? Has there been any attempt by health officials to do expensive PCR lab tests on suspected whooping cough cases to find out?29
Another question: Are public health officials being transparent with the public about just how many children and adults reported to have whooping cough have been fully vaccinated? In 1985 there was a lot of publicity about whooping cough outbreaks in eight states and all the blame was put on parents of DPT vaccine injured children calling for a safer pertussis vaccine. But 25 years ago I investigated those whooping cough outbreaks and found 50 to 80 percent or more of the children and adults with whooping cough symptoms had been vaccinated.30
Bordetella organisms causing whooping cough disease live in animals like sheep, pigs, cats and dogs, as well as humans, and have been part of the earth’s ecosystem, evolving to survive, for thousands of years. 31 32 Yet, mass vaccination of humans with pertussis vaccine is only 60 years old.
So why are the unvaccinated being blamed for whooping cough outbreaks in California,33 Oregon34 and other states? The majority of Americans alive today have gotten 3 to 5 pertussis shots.
The truth is that, whether you are vaccinated or not, you can get a mild or serious case of whooping cough from B. pertussis or B. parapertussis organisms. And both whooping cough disease and pertussis vaccines carry a risk of injury or death, which can be greater for some than others.
There are no guarantees.
It is time for public health officials and doctors to look at themselves and stop pointing fingers at those, who have examined pertussis vaccine benefits and risks and come to a different conclusion.
After my precocious two year old son suffered a convulsion, collapse/shock and brain inflammation following his fourth DPT shot in 1980 and was left with multiple learning disabilities and attention deficit disorder, in 1993 my two youngest children, then 5 and 10 years old, came down with whooping cough. They coughed violently and spit up huge amounts of thick mucus for 8 weeks before fully recovering and going on to become honor roll students.
The profile on whooping cough in the 1985 book I co-authored with medical historian Harris Coulter, “DPT: A Shot in the Dark,”35 is about my sister and her family, who were fully vaccinated. Her newborn baby almost died of whooping cough but survived and attended college on a full academic scholarship. Even so, other babies who get whooping cough do not survive.
There are no guarantees.
A quarter century later, DPT: A Shot in the Dark still stands as the most comprehensive, referenced analysis of whooping cough and pertussis vaccine risks and why America’s mass vaccination system is in urgent need of reform. Become a family donor supporter of the National Vaccine Information Center and you will receive a complimentary copy of that historic book. Protect yourself and your child by making educated vaccine decisions. It’s your health. Your family. Your choice.
References
1 California Department of Health. Press Release: Whooping Cough Epidemic May Be Worst in 50 Years. June 23, 2010. 2 Scheck J. Whooping cough afflicts region. Wall Street Journal. June 24, 2010. 3 Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Pertussis (Whooping Cough) Sounds. Accessed June 6, 2010. 4 CDC. FDA Approval of a Second Acellular Pertussis Vaccine for Use Among Infants and Young Children. MMWR. 1997;46:110-111. 5 Gold, R. Pertussis: The Disease & the Vaccine. Canadian Family Physician. Vol 32, January 1986, pp. 79-83. 6 Legido A, Tenembaum SN, Katsetos CD, Menkes JH. Autoimmune & Postinfectious Diseases (Chapter 8). Child Neurology – 7th Edition. Lippencott Williams & Wilkins, 2006. Pages 631-634 (Neurologic Complications of Immunizations). 7 Sidney M, Furman BL, Wardlaw AC. Effect of hyperreactivity to endotoxin on the toxicity of pertussis vaccine and pertussis toxin in mice. Vaccine. Vol. 7, Issue 3. June 1989. Pages 237-241. 8 World Health Organization (WHO). Requirements for Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis 7 Combined Vaccines (Revised 1989). Technical Report Series, No) 500. 1990. 9 Steinman L, Weiss A et al. Pertussis toxin is required for pertussis vaccine encephalopathy. Proc Natl Acad Sci, 1985. December; 82(24) 8733-8736. 10 Businesswire. Chiron Biocine Genetically Engineered Acellular Pertussis Vaccine Proves Superior to Currently Licensed Vaccine. Chiron Press Release: July 13, 1995. 11 Hofstetter HH, Shive CL, Forsthuber TC. Pertussis Toxin Modulates the Immune Response to Neuroantigens Injected in Incomplete Freund’s Adjuvant: Induction of Th1 Cells and Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis in the Presence of High Frequencies of Th2 Cells. The Journal of Immunology, 2002. 169: 117-125. 12 Gupta RK, Relyveid EH. Adverse reactions after injection of adsorbed diptheria – pertussis – tetanus (DPT) vaccine are not due only to pertussis organisms or pertussis components in the vaccine. Vaccine. Vol. 9, Issue 10. October 1991. Pages 699-702. 13 Bergfors E, Trollfors B, Inerot A. Unexpectedly high incidence of persistent itching nodules and delayed hypersensitivity to aluminum in children after the use of adsorbed vaccines from a single manufacturer. Vaccine. Vol. 22, Issue 1. December 8, 2003. Pages 64-69. 14 Rimaniol AC, Gras G et al. Aluminum hydroxide adjuvant induces macrophage differentiation towards a specialized antigen-presenting cell type. Vaccine. Vol. 22, Issues 23-24. 13 August 2004. Pages 3127-3135. 15 Waly M, Olteanu H. Activation of methionine synthase by insulin-like growth factor – 1 and dopamine: a target for neurodevelopmental toxins and thimerosal. Molecular Psychiatry (2004) 9, 358-370. 16 HRSA. National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP). Claims Filed and Compensated or Dismissed by Vaccine. (up to May 5, 2010). and Statistics Report: Awards Paid (as of June 7, 2010). 17 CDC. Immunization Rates Remain Stable at High Levels Among the Nation’s 19 through 35 month old children. CDC Press Release: August 27, 2009. 18 CDC. Vaccination Coverage Among Children Entering School – United States, 2005-2006 School Year. MMWR. October 20, 2006. 55(41); 124-1126. 19 See Reference #17. 20 Mooi F R, van LooIHM, King A. Adaptation of Bordetella pertussis to Vaccination: A Cause for its Reemergence? Emerging Infectious Diseases. Vol. 7, No. 3 Supplement June 2001. 21 Grilc E, Pirnat N. Pertussis outbreak in recently vaccinated children in a kindergarten in Ljubljana during a resurgence in pertussis incidence. Eurosurveillance. Vol. 10, Issue 33. 18 August 2005. 22 Srugo I, Benilevi D et al. Pertussis Infection in Fully Vaccinated Children in Day-Care Centers, Israel. Emerging Infectious Diseases. Vol. 6, No. 5 September-Oct. 2000. 23 Brooks DA, Clover R. Pertussis Infection in the United States: Role for Vaccination of Adolescents and Adults. Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine 19:603-611. 2006. 24 See References #20 and #21 25 Kheief N, Danve B etal. Bordetella pertussis and Bordetella parapertussis: two immunologically distinct species. Infection & Immunity. 1993 February; 61(2): 486-490. 26 He Q, Vijanen MK et al. Whooping Cough Caused by Bordetella pertussis and Bordetella parapertussis in an Immunized Population. JAMA. 1998; 280: 635-637. 27 Liese JG, Renner C. Clinical and epidemiological picture of B pertussis and B parapertussis infections after introduction of acellular pertussis vaccines. Archives of Diseases in Childhood 2003; 88: 684-687. Also see Reference #26. 28 Magin K. Low vaccination rates cause worry over whooping cough. The Union (Nevada). June 15, 2010. 29 LabCorp. A Technical Review: Bordetella pertussis and Bordetella parapertussis Detection using Real-time PCR. 2007. 30 Fisher, BL. Presentation to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, Centers for Disease Control, May 12, 1986. 31 Preston A. Bordetella pertussis: the intersection of genomics and pathobiology. Canadian Medical Association Journal. July 5, 2005. 173 (1) 32 Diavatopoulos DA, Cummings CA et al. Bordetella pertussis, the Causative Agent of Whooping Cough, Evolved from a Distinct Human-Associated Lineage of B. brohchiseptica. PLOS Pathogens. December 2005: Vol. 1, Issue 4. 33 Weerasekara P. California Mulls Mandatory Shot for Whooping Cough. New American Media. July 3, 2010. 34 The Oregonian. Putting other kids in harm’s way. July 4, 2010. 35 Coulter HL, Fisher BL. DPT: A Shot in the Dark. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. 1985.
Click here to watch video commentary
by Barbara Loe Fisher
Reports of whooping cough outbreaks in California1,2 and in other states this summer are nothing new. Every four to five years – no matter how high the vaccination rate is - there are reports of whooping cough increases.
Whooping cough is a respiratory disease. Toxins in Bordetella pertussis bacteria stimulate the production of large amounts of thick, sticky mucus that can clog the airways of tiny babies and children, making it difficult for them to take a breath without vomiting, choking and making a whooping sound3 as they struggle to breathe.
There is an acellular pertussis vaccine – DTaP - which was licensed for American babies in 1996.4 DTaP replaced an older, very reactive whole cell pertussis vaccine - DPT - that was associated with more cases of high fever, collapse/shock, convulsions, brain inflammation and permanent brain damage.5,6
It is well known that pertussis vaccines, which can contain various amounts of bioactive toxins7,8,9,10,11 and also aluminum12,13,14 and mercury15 additives, have killed and brain injured some children. Over half of the 2,480 awards for vaccine injury and death totaling $2 billion dollars made under the 1986 National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act involve pertussis vaccine.16
Pertussis vaccination rates are very high in the U.S. According to the CDC, 84 percent of children under age three have received four DTaP shots.17 By the time American children enter kindergarten nearly every child has gotten all the CDC recommended pertussis shots.18 In 2009, the CDC said that the proportion of totally unvaccinated children in America is only six hundredths of one percent (0.06).19
Even with super high pertussis vaccine coverage in America and other countries like the Netherlands, Australia, Finland and Canada, whooping cough disease cannot be prevented.20 There are two main reasons for this fact.
First, pertussis vaccines widely used since the 1950’s have not prevented whooping cough disease from circulating in vaccinated populations. Unknown numbers of children and adults, who have gotten all government recommended pertussis shots, can and do develop whooping cough or are carriers without symptoms.21,22
Because pertussis vaccine immunity is only temporary and does not last, health officials are now telling teenagers and adults to get more booster shots.23 But that is not going to matter if scientific evidence that B. pertussis organisms have mutated and become vaccine-resistant turns out to be correct.24
A second important reason is that another Bordetella organism – parapertussis – also can cause whooping cough.25 B. parapertussis symptoms, while often milder, can look exactly like B. pertussis. But doctors rarely recognize or test for parapertussis.26 And there is NO vaccine for parapertussis.
The DTaP vaccine given 5 times to children under age 6 and booster doses for teenagers and adults does not protect against whooping cough caused by B. parapertussis. In highly vaccinated countries like the U.S., parpertussis is on the rise and it is estimated that perhaps 30 percent or more of whooping cough disease is actually caused by parapertussis!27
So which bacterial organism is causing much of the whooping cough being seen in California, Nevada,28 Oregon and other states this summer? Is it B. pertussis or B. parapertussis? Has there been any attempt by health officials to do expensive PCR lab tests on suspected whooping cough cases to find out?29
Another question: Are public health officials being transparent with the public about just how many children and adults reported to have whooping cough have been fully vaccinated? In 1985 there was a lot of publicity about whooping cough outbreaks in eight states and all the blame was put on parents of DPT vaccine injured children calling for a safer pertussis vaccine. But 25 years ago I investigated those whooping cough outbreaks and found 50 to 80 percent or more of the children and adults with whooping cough symptoms had been vaccinated.30
Bordetella organisms causing whooping cough disease live in animals like sheep, pigs, cats and dogs, as well as humans, and have been part of the earth’s ecosystem, evolving to survive, for thousands of years. 31 32 Yet, mass vaccination of humans with pertussis vaccine is only 60 years old.
So why are the unvaccinated being blamed for whooping cough outbreaks in California,33 Oregon34 and other states? The majority of Americans alive today have gotten 3 to 5 pertussis shots.
The truth is that, whether you are vaccinated or not, you can get a mild or serious case of whooping cough from B. pertussis or B. parapertussis organisms. And both whooping cough disease and pertussis vaccines carry a risk of injury or death, which can be greater for some than others.
There are no guarantees.
It is time for public health officials and doctors to look at themselves and stop pointing fingers at those, who have examined pertussis vaccine benefits and risks and come to a different conclusion.
After my precocious two year old son suffered a convulsion, collapse/shock and brain inflammation following his fourth DPT shot in 1980 and was left with multiple learning disabilities and attention deficit disorder, in 1993 my two youngest children, then 5 and 10 years old, came down with whooping cough. They coughed violently and spit up huge amounts of thick mucus for 8 weeks before fully recovering and going on to become honor roll students.
The profile on whooping cough in the 1985 book I co-authored with medical historian Harris Coulter, “DPT: A Shot in the Dark,”35 is about my sister and her family, who were fully vaccinated. Her newborn baby almost died of whooping cough but survived and attended college on a full academic scholarship. Even so, other babies who get whooping cough do not survive.
There are no guarantees.
A quarter century later, DPT: A Shot in the Dark still stands as the most comprehensive, referenced analysis of whooping cough and pertussis vaccine risks and why America’s mass vaccination system is in urgent need of reform. Become a family donor supporter of the National Vaccine Information Center and you will receive a complimentary copy of that historic book. Protect yourself and your child by making educated vaccine decisions. It’s your health. Your family. Your choice.
References
1 California Department of Health. Press Release: Whooping Cough Epidemic May Be Worst in 50 Years. June 23, 2010. 2 Scheck J. Whooping cough afflicts region. Wall Street Journal. June 24, 2010. 3 Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Pertussis (Whooping Cough) Sounds. Accessed June 6, 2010. 4 CDC. FDA Approval of a Second Acellular Pertussis Vaccine for Use Among Infants and Young Children. MMWR. 1997;46:110-111. 5 Gold, R. Pertussis: The Disease & the Vaccine. Canadian Family Physician. Vol 32, January 1986, pp. 79-83. 6 Legido A, Tenembaum SN, Katsetos CD, Menkes JH. Autoimmune & Postinfectious Diseases (Chapter 8). Child Neurology – 7th Edition. Lippencott Williams & Wilkins, 2006. Pages 631-634 (Neurologic Complications of Immunizations). 7 Sidney M, Furman BL, Wardlaw AC. Effect of hyperreactivity to endotoxin on the toxicity of pertussis vaccine and pertussis toxin in mice. Vaccine. Vol. 7, Issue 3. June 1989. Pages 237-241. 8 World Health Organization (WHO). Requirements for Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis 7 Combined Vaccines (Revised 1989). Technical Report Series, No) 500. 1990. 9 Steinman L, Weiss A et al. Pertussis toxin is required for pertussis vaccine encephalopathy. Proc Natl Acad Sci, 1985. December; 82(24) 8733-8736. 10 Businesswire. Chiron Biocine Genetically Engineered Acellular Pertussis Vaccine Proves Superior to Currently Licensed Vaccine. Chiron Press Release: July 13, 1995. 11 Hofstetter HH, Shive CL, Forsthuber TC. Pertussis Toxin Modulates the Immune Response to Neuroantigens Injected in Incomplete Freund’s Adjuvant: Induction of Th1 Cells and Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis in the Presence of High Frequencies of Th2 Cells. The Journal of Immunology, 2002. 169: 117-125. 12 Gupta RK, Relyveid EH. Adverse reactions after injection of adsorbed diptheria – pertussis – tetanus (DPT) vaccine are not due only to pertussis organisms or pertussis components in the vaccine. Vaccine. Vol. 9, Issue 10. October 1991. Pages 699-702. 13 Bergfors E, Trollfors B, Inerot A. Unexpectedly high incidence of persistent itching nodules and delayed hypersensitivity to aluminum in children after the use of adsorbed vaccines from a single manufacturer. Vaccine. Vol. 22, Issue 1. December 8, 2003. Pages 64-69. 14 Rimaniol AC, Gras G et al. Aluminum hydroxide adjuvant induces macrophage differentiation towards a specialized antigen-presenting cell type. Vaccine. Vol. 22, Issues 23-24. 13 August 2004. Pages 3127-3135. 15 Waly M, Olteanu H. Activation of methionine synthase by insulin-like growth factor – 1 and dopamine: a target for neurodevelopmental toxins and thimerosal. Molecular Psychiatry (2004) 9, 358-370. 16 HRSA. National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP). Claims Filed and Compensated or Dismissed by Vaccine. (up to May 5, 2010). and Statistics Report: Awards Paid (as of June 7, 2010). 17 CDC. Immunization Rates Remain Stable at High Levels Among the Nation’s 19 through 35 month old children. CDC Press Release: August 27, 2009. 18 CDC. Vaccination Coverage Among Children Entering School – United States, 2005-2006 School Year. MMWR. October 20, 2006. 55(41); 124-1126. 19 See Reference #17. 20 Mooi F R, van LooIHM, King A. Adaptation of Bordetella pertussis to Vaccination: A Cause for its Reemergence? Emerging Infectious Diseases. Vol. 7, No. 3 Supplement June 2001. 21 Grilc E, Pirnat N. Pertussis outbreak in recently vaccinated children in a kindergarten in Ljubljana during a resurgence in pertussis incidence. Eurosurveillance. Vol. 10, Issue 33. 18 August 2005. 22 Srugo I, Benilevi D et al. Pertussis Infection in Fully Vaccinated Children in Day-Care Centers, Israel. Emerging Infectious Diseases. Vol. 6, No. 5 September-Oct. 2000. 23 Brooks DA, Clover R. Pertussis Infection in the United States: Role for Vaccination of Adolescents and Adults. Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine 19:603-611. 2006. 24 See References #20 and #21 25 Kheief N, Danve B etal. Bordetella pertussis and Bordetella parapertussis: two immunologically distinct species. Infection & Immunity. 1993 February; 61(2): 486-490. 26 He Q, Vijanen MK et al. Whooping Cough Caused by Bordetella pertussis and Bordetella parapertussis in an Immunized Population. JAMA. 1998; 280: 635-637. 27 Liese JG, Renner C. Clinical and epidemiological picture of B pertussis and B parapertussis infections after introduction of acellular pertussis vaccines. Archives of Diseases in Childhood 2003; 88: 684-687. Also see Reference #26. 28 Magin K. Low vaccination rates cause worry over whooping cough. The Union (Nevada). June 15, 2010. 29 LabCorp. A Technical Review: Bordetella pertussis and Bordetella parapertussis Detection using Real-time PCR. 2007. 30 Fisher, BL. Presentation to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, Centers for Disease Control, May 12, 1986. 31 Preston A. Bordetella pertussis: the intersection of genomics and pathobiology. Canadian Medical Association Journal. July 5, 2005. 173 (1) 32 Diavatopoulos DA, Cummings CA et al. Bordetella pertussis, the Causative Agent of Whooping Cough, Evolved from a Distinct Human-Associated Lineage of B. brohchiseptica. PLOS Pathogens. December 2005: Vol. 1, Issue 4. 33 Weerasekara P. California Mulls Mandatory Shot for Whooping Cough. New American Media. July 3, 2010. 34 The Oregonian. Putting other kids in harm’s way. July 4, 2010. 35 Coulter HL, Fisher BL. DPT: A Shot in the Dark. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. 1985.
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Using Fear & Prejudice to Attack Vaccine Exemptions
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1 National Vaccine Information Center. Pandemic H1N1 Swine Flu: What About You & Your Family?
by Barbara Loe Fisher
This summer, inaccurate and misleading information about B. pertussis whooping cough and the pertussis vaccine is being put out there by medical doctors, who should know better. Media campaigns designed to create fear about infectious disease are nothing new. This one appears to have three goals: first, to emphasize pertussis risks while ignoring vaccine risks; second, to place blame for whooping cough cases and deaths on the unvaccinated; and, third, to attack religious and conscientious belief exemptions, which serve as informed consent protections in U.S. vaccine laws.
In 2009, public health officials declared a pandemic H1N1 influenza emergency and played up the potential complications of the swine flu while playing down the potential risks of the untested new swine flu vaccine. 1 When two-thirds of Americans “just said no” to swine flu shots, NBC’s chief medical editor Dr. Nancy Snyderman ridiculed them and quipped “Just get the damn vaccine.” 2
Now Snyderman has issued a similar standing order to “get vaccinated” but, this time, she is accusing parents of unvaccinated children for causing the deaths of six California infants, who have reportedly died from complications of B. pertussis whooping cough. On July 28, 2010, Dr. Snyderman further alleged that “most people” with religious objections to vaccination are not telling the truth and that the “needs” of the “community as a whole” are “better than the individual” and “more important.” 3
Ordinarily I would not take the time to address specific comments by a prominent doctor, who is careless with the facts when voicing an opinion. But as more doctors use the bully pulpit of the national media – unchallenged - to disseminate incorrect information, promote personal ideological views and advance political agendas, it becomes more important for informed Americans to speak up.
Responding to recent press releases and media reports, in which California health officials say the state is experiencing the worst whooping cough outbreak in 50 years with about 1500 reported cases and six infants dying from B. pertussis, 4 on July 28 Dr. Snyderman offered the following explanation:
“I think that what we are seeing here is a tipping point in unvaccinated children because the hot pockets are in families where, frankly, parents have under-vaccinated or decided not to vaccinate their children.” 5
A quick fact check reveals that both California health officials and Snyderman have not been entirely honest with the people. The Centers for Disease Control’s published morbidity and mortality report shows that in the past 12 months, between July 24, 2009 and July 24, 2010, there were a total of 809 “provisional” cases of whooping cough reported in California.6 In fact, in the entire United States of America for the week ending July 24, there were only 187 reported cases of whooping cough, with no cases occurring in California.
When disease incidence statistics publicized by state health departments do not match those published by federal health agencies, there is something wrong. It is time for California health officials to fully disclose complete details of the 1500 whooping cough cases they allege have occurred in the state during the past year, including how many cases were lab confirmed as B. pertussis; how many cases were classified as “epidemiologically linked” - which means they were NOT lab confirmed; and the ages and vaccination status of all cases, including whether people with suspected or confirmed cases had been given 1,2,3,4,5,6 or more pertussis shots.
Most doctors know perfectly well that getting 3 to 6 doses of pertussis vaccine or more does not give lifelong immunity to whooping cough, and that other viruses and bacteria, such as parapertussis and RSV - which are not covered by the vaccine - can be misdiagnosed as pertussis if proper lab tests are not done. 7, 8 In addition, public health officials know that B. pertussis bacteria have been evolving and become vaccine resistant, making the pertussis vaccine much less effective. 8
So Snyderman is engaging in pure speculation when she blames whooping cough-related deaths on the unvaccinated. The truth is that infants can be as easily exposed to B. pertussis by coming into contact with a fully vaccinated infected person as with an unvaccinated person. 9
Dr. Snyderman goes on state that, “These are 6 infants who have lost their lives who, frankly, should not have died.”
I agree. It is tragic when babies die from whooping cough and it is tragic when babies get pertussis containing vaccines and suffer convulsions, collapse/shock, high pitched screaming and other signs of brain inflammation and then, die.10 It is a tragedy when any baby dies, regardless of the cause.
No fear campaign about infectious disease would be complete without bringing up polio. Snyderman says, “We were given our polio vaccine and the idea was that, if you get a vaccination, you will not get ill and you will not die.”
Yes, that was the “idea” but it is not a fact. Every vaccine carries a risk of injury and death that can be greater for some than others. There is no guarantee the vaccine will prevent an infectious disease and, depending upon the vaccine, it could actually give you the vaccine strain of the disease it is supposed to prevent.
In 1999, the U.S. abandoned use of the live virus oral polio vaccine to prevent individuals in America from being paralyzed by vaccine strain polio. 11 A lot of people don’t know that, if you swallow the live virus polio vaccine, you can get paralyzed and die. On top of that, recently vaccinated persons shed live poliovirus in their body fluids for weeks. People who come in close contact with them can get vaccine strain polio and be paralyzed or die.
Today, a killed polio vaccine is used in America because parents of vaccine injured children lobbied in the 1990’s to get the polio vaccine policy changed.
But Dr. Snyderman only tells one side of the polio story, charging that: “Now people, frankly, have amnesia from the event. They forget what it was like to see people with these communicable diseases.”
There are plenty of Americans, like me, who remember lining up for polio shots in the 1950’s and 60’s and were informed 40 years later, in the 1990’s, that a lot of those experimental polio shots were contaminated with a monkey virus, simian virus 40, that causes cancer in lab animals and has been associated with brain, bone and lung cancers in children and adults. 12, 13
We do remember polio and the iron lung. But we also remember not being told the whole truth about polio vaccine risks.
Then Snyderman takes out the big club and warns: “I worry that, if we are under-vaccinating our children are you start to see things like whooping cough coming back, this is the canary in the coal mine. Last year we saw children die of measles and I worry that, if we see whooping cough and measles, that polio can’t be far away.”
Let’s take another look at official federal disease incidence statistics to see whether that “worry” is justified or is just a lot of hype. In 2009, out of 300 million people living in the United States, there were 71 cases of measles reported. This year, there have been 32 cases of measles. That’s right: 32. There have been no cases of polio reported in America this year and only 1 case since 2006.14
Get a grip, Dr. Snyderman.
“In a country like this, where vaccinations are available, these communicable and infectious and deadly diseases shouldn’t even be talked about,”says Snyderman.
Most doctors know that vaccines only give temporary immunity at best and that microbes, like B. pertussis, are constantly evolving to survive. 15, 16 That’s why five or more doses of pertussis vaccine still can’t prevent all whooping cough disease. So we will be talking about whooping cough, measles, mumps, chicken pox and lots of other infectious diseases for a long, long time in this country and in every country, whether we get vaccinated or not.
“You know I have been an unabashed, unapologetic advocate for vaccinations. They are safe. They work,” says Snyderman.
Many American doctors are “unapologetic” mandatory vaccination advocates because that is what they are told to be by public health officials and leaders in major medical organizations, such as the American Academy of Pediatrics17 and the American Medical Association.18 In fact, about 40 percent of pediatricians in America today proudly say they flatly deny medical care to families, who refuse to follow their orders to “get vaccinated.”19
As important, though, is the question: How many of these doctors refuse to speak to, associate with, and condemn other doctors, who do treat patients making selective vaccine choices?
The truth is, vaccines are not safe for everyone and they do not work for everyone. When doctors only tell half the truth about vaccine benefits and risks, people can sense it. And when they demean and threaten patients, who ask questions or disagree with them, the fragile bond of trust between doctors and patients is broken.
Like when Dr. Snyderman demeans Americans, who exercise religious exemption to vaccination, an exemption which exists in all but two states. “A lot of people are opting out on them [vaccines] and saying, “Well, it’s against my religion” and I would say, for most people, that is just not true,”she says.
It is annoying when anyone pretends to know another person’s mind, heart and soul. But it is frightening when doctors believe they are entitled to judge the sincerity of another person’s religious or conscientiously held beliefs. With this comment, Dr. Snyderman has assumed the position of an Inquisitor. There is some comfort in knowing that the rack is no longer in fashion and the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution 20 has not yet been repealed.
“Make sure your children are vaccinated,”says Snyderman.
This simplistic, one-size-fits-all approach to vaccination is dangerous. Because there are children, who are at higher risk for becoming brain injured or dying after getting pertussis containing vaccines (DTaP, Tdap), including those who have suffered previous vaccine reactions like:21,22
- Very high fever
- High pitched screaming or persistent crying
- Convulsions (with or without fever)
- Collapse/shock (also known as hypo-tonic/hypo-responsive episodes)
- Brain Inflammation and encephalopathy
For a full list of precautions for children, teenagers and adults, read the manufacturer product inserts and get more information about how to recognize a vaccine reaction at www.NVIC.org. Find out whether the pertussis vaccine your doctor is recommending for your child has been studied for safety and effectiveness when given at the same time as other vaccines. For example, many pertussis vaccines have not been studied in clinical trials when a flu shot is given at the same time.
“If you are an adult and you are around a child under the age of one, get vaccinated,”says Snyderman.
Again, it is important to know whether you, as an adult, are at high risk for suffering a pertussis vaccine reaction, such as being sick at the time of vaccination.
“If you are a woman of childbearing years, get vaccinated,”says Snyderman.
How many pregnant women, whose doctors urge them to get a booster shot (Tdap), know that the vaccine has not been thoroughly studied in pregnant women? Or that manufacturer product inserts include this disclaimer: 23
Animal reproduction studies have not been conducted…..It is not known whether [the vaccine] can cause fetal harm when administered to a pregnant woman, or can affect reproductive capacity. [The vaccine] has not been evaluated for carcinogenic or mutagenic potential, or for impairment of fertility.
But wait - Dr. Snyderman even tries to make us believe that unvaccinated people can infect immune compromised people simply by walking past them in the grocery store! No, really. She says:
“And if you think, well, you can opt out [of vaccination], remember that, when you go to the grocery store and you walk by someone who has cancer or MS or any other compromised immune system, you put that person in harms way, too.”
Is that the kind of immunology being taught in medical schools today? 24, 25 That an unvaccinated person can transmit infectious disease without hand shaking or kissing or coughing or sneezing - just a simple walk-by will do? 26
And, finally, Dr. Snyderman gets to the heart the matter and promotes her personal ideological belief, which requires devaluing the individual:
“There is a time, when the community as a whole, their needs are better than the individual and, I think, more important,” says Snyderman.
This kind of thinking is called utilitarianism, 27. 28 a political philosophy that was judged to be a pseudo-ethic by the Nuremberg Tribunal at the Doctor’s Trial in 1946. The judges at Nuremberg exposed what happened when doctors used the utilitarian rationale to conduct scientific research during World War II that forced individuals to risk their lives in drug, vaccine and other medical experiments. 29
The Nuremberg Code, which defined the ethical principle of informed consent, has served as the foundation for the ethical practice of medicine for more than half a century. The informed consent principle makes it clear that the rights of the individual cannot, ethically, be sacrificed to the needs or interests of society. 30
But Dr. Snyderman goes further and marginalizes and condemns individuals, who do not agree with her utilitarian view.
“Right now, individuals are trumping the general populace at large and I find that, frankly, offensive and amoral,”says Snyderman.
It is disturbing when prominent doctors tell half-truths and promote fear, hate and prejudice. We want to believe the doctors we trust with our health and our children’s lives care about us as individuals.
Most people consider it is offensive and amoral to write off a minority of individuals as expendable in service to the rest. Because then, the question becomes: How many individuals can be sacrificed for what some in positions of authority have defined as “the greater good?” Is it 300? 3,000? 30,000? Or can we go as high as three million? That is only 1 percent of 300 million Americans, after all.
The truth is, nobody knows how many vaccine victims there are in America, how many of the 1 in 6 learning disabled children; or the 1 in 9 with asthma; or the 1 in 100 who develop autism; or the 1 in 450 who become diabetic, can trace their chronic inflammation, disease and disability back to vaccine reactions that have been dismissed by public health officials and doctors for the past century as just “a coincidence.” 31, 32
When parents of vaccine injured children held the first public demonstration in front of the CDC in Atlanta on May 12, 1986, the larger question we asked public health officials was “Do you know how many?” After we marched, we made presentations to the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, (ACIP) and asked the Committee questions and, then, I gave a report on my investigation into whooping cough outbreaks in 1985, which had been heavily publicized by physician officials at the American Academy of Pediatrics. I found that many of the whooping cough cases reported in eight states in 1985 had not been lab confirmed and the majority had occurred in vaccinated children and adults. (You can read a transcript of what happened at that May 1986 CDC meeting on NVIC’s website) 33
Nothing much has changed in the last 25 years. Whooping cough is still infecting both vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals. There are pertussis increases every four to five years, no matter how high the vaccination rate.32 Many children and adults survive whooping cough disease without complications but some do not. And some doctors in positions of power are still in the business of creating fear and demonizing those, who make informed health choices that do not include use of 16 government recommended vaccines. 33, 34,35
Dr. Snyderman concludes her diatribe by focusing on her own fears, while wistfully clinging to the myth that vaccines will eradicate all infectious diseases in America - if only every man, woman and child would dutifully comply with doctors’ orders to “get vaccinated.”
“I think this winter, as whooping cough upticks, measles continues to be under-vaccinated, we’re going to increasingly see pockets of communicable infections that a few decades ago we thought, frankly, we had eradicated from the United States. These illnesses should not be seen in the United States with the vaccinations that we have at hand,”says Snyderman.
Abe Lincoln once said “You can fool some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all the people all of the time.”
How long is it going to take for medical doctors, who have abandoned their critical thinking skills and lost themselves in orthodoxy, to stop fooling themselves so they can accurately inform their patients about the benefits and risks of vaccination 36 37 and respect the choices their patients make? 38 39
Whatever doctors decide to do and whether they ever conduct the good scientific studies that will answer outstanding questions about vaccination, individuals should always have the freedom to exercise informed consent to medical risk-taking. That freedom protects individuals and minorities from exploitation by those in positions of authority in society, who do not know what they do, as well as from those who do know what they are doing.
The freedom to make an informed, voluntary decision about what we are willing to risk our lives or our children’s lives for is not just an individual need, it is a human right. It is a human right and a freedom worth defending in this and every century.
References
1 National Vaccine Information Center. Pandemic H1N1 Swine Flu: What About You & Your Family?
2 MSNBC-TV. “Morning Meeting.” August 25, 2009.
3 NBC-TV. “The Today Show.” July 28, 2010. Meredith Vieira & Nancy Snydernan, M.D.
4 California Department of Public Health. Press Release: CDPH Broadens Recommendations for Vaccinating Against Pertussis: Immunization Key to Controlling Whooping Cough. July 19, 2010.
5 Transcript of Meredith Vieira interview of Nancy Snyderman, M.D. on NBC-TV “The Today Show.” July 28, 2010.
6 CDC. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). Vol. 59, No. 29. July 30, 2010.
7 He Q, Vijanen MK et al. Whooping Cough Caused by Bordetella pertussis and Bordetella parapertussis in an Immunized Population. JAMA. 1998; 280: 635-637.
8 Liese JG, Renner C. Clinical and epidemiological picture of B pertussis and B parapertussis infections after introduction of acellular pertussis vaccines. Archives of Diseases in Childhood 2003; 88: 684-687.
8 Preston A. Bordetella pertussis: the intersection of genomics and pathobiology. Canadian Medical Association Journal. July 5, 2005. 173 (1)
9 Mooi F R, van LooI HM, King A. Adaptation of Bordetella pertussis to Vaccination: A Cause for its Reemergence? Emerging Infectious Diseases. Vol. 7, No. 3 Supplement June 2001.
10 HRSA. National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP). Claims Filed and Compensated or Dismissed by Vaccine. (up to May 5, 2010). and Statistics Report: Awards Paid (as of June 7, 2010).
11 Alexander LN, Seward JF et al. Vaccine Policy Changes and Epidemiology of Poliomyelitis in the United States. JAMA. 2004; 298:1696-1701.
12 Carlsen W. Rogue Virus in the Vaccine: Early Polio Vaccine Harbored Virus Now Feared to Cause Cancer in Humans. San Francisco Chronicle. July 15, 2001.
13 Fisher BL. Congressional Testimony: The SV-40 Virus: Has Tainted Polio Vaccine Caused an Increase in Cancer? U.S. House Government Reform Committee. September 10, 2003.
14 MMWR. See Reference #6.
15 Diavatopoulos DA, Cummings CA et al. Bordetella pertussis, the Causative Agent of Whooping Cough, Evolved from a Distinct Human-Associated Lineage of B. bronchiseptica. PLOS Pathogens. December 2005: Vol. 1, Issue 4.
16 McIntosh M. Bacteria Take Short Cuts to Evolve on Fast Track. UA News (University of Arizona). May 10, 2001.
17 Diekema DS. Responding to Parental Refusals of Immunization of Children. Pediatrics. Vol. 115, No. 5. May 2005; pp: 1428-1431. (Reaffirmed as AAP Policy on May 1, 2009).
18 Medical News Today. AACAP Applauds AMA’s Support for Universal Vaccinations. June 19, 2009.
19 Flanagan-Klygis EA, Sharp L, Frader JE. Dismissing the Family Who Refuses Vaccines. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2005; 159:929-934.
20 U.S. Constitution – First Amendment.
21 National Vaccine Information Center. Pertussis (Whooping Cough) and Pertussis Vaccine.
22 Sanofi-Pasteur. DAPTACEL Product Insert. March 2008.
23 GlaxoSmithKline. Boosterix Product Insert. December 2008.
24 Siegel JD, Rhinehart E et al. 2007 Guidelines for Isolation Precautions: Preventing Transmission of Infectious Agents in Healthcare Settings. CDC.
25 Andre JB, Gupta S. Frank S, Tibayrenc M. Evolution and immunology of infectious diseases: What’s new? An E-debate. Infection, Genetics and Evolution (2004) 69-75.
26 Oklahoma Department of Public Health. Public Health Fact Sheet: Preventing Infectious Diseases Daily With Healthy Behavior. November 2007.
27 Mautner, T. Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832). The Penguin Dictionary of Philosophy. and Utilitarianism. The Penguin Dictionary of Philosophy.
28 Ross KL. The Mummy’s Curse: Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832).
29 Seidelman WE. Nuremberg lamentation: for the forgotten victims of medical science. BMJ 1996; 313:1463-7.
30 Katz J. The Consent Principle of the Nuremberg Code: It’s Significance Then and Now. The Nazi Doctors and the Nuremberg Code (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992), pp. 227-239.
31 Coulter HL, Fisher BL. DPT: A Shot in the Dark (San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1985).
32 Fisher BL. Vaccines, Autism & Chronic Inflammation: The New Epidemic. 2008.
33 Transcript (partial). May 12, 1986 Meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). Transcribed in 1986 from audio tapes.
32 MSNBC. Health Today: Growing outbreaks of whooping cough raise health fears. July 28, 2010.
33 Cox L, Walker E. Doctors May ‘Fire” Parents Who Don’t Vaccinate Children. ABC News. October 23, 2009.
34 Nguyen P. Parents who don’t vaccinate their kids put us all at risk. UCLA Today. June 1, 2010.
35 PBS. Frontline: The Vaccine War. April 27, 2010.
36 Legido A, Tenembaum SN, Katsetos CD, Menkes JH. Autoimmune & Postinfectious Diseases (Chapter 8). Child Neurology – 7th Edition. Lippencott Williams & Wilkins, 2006. Pages 631-634 (Neurologic Complications of Immunizations).
37 Fisher BL. Whooping Cough Outbreaks & Vaccine Failures. NVIC. July 7, 2010. http://www.nvic.org/NVIC-Vaccine-News/July-2010/Whooping-Cough-Outbreaks-Vaccine-Failures.aspx
38 NBC “The Today Show.” March 1997. Matt Lauer, Barbara Loe Fisher, Neal Halsey, M.D.
39 Fisher BL. National Vaccine Advisory Committee. The Moral Right to Religious, Conscientious or Personal Belief Exemption to Mandatory Vaccination Laws. May 2, 1997.
Click here to watch the VIDEOThousands Of Americans Register for NVIC's New Advocacy Portal During Vaccine Awareness Week
To contact us Click HERE
by Barbara Loe Fisher
Thousands of Americans living in all 50 states took action and registered for the new NVIC Advocacy Portal at www.NVICadvocacy.org during Vaccine Awareness Week (Nov. 1-6, 2010) co-sponsored by the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) and Mercola.com. The NVIC Advocacy Portal, a free, online interactive database and communications network to help Americans protect and expand vaccine exemptions in state vaccine laws, was launched during the joint weeklong effort to raise public awareness about vaccine safety and informed consent issues.
More Than Two Million People Reached
More than two million people were reached during Vaccine Awareness Week through a series of articles and videos about vaccination published on Mercola.com. In a
joint press release issued Nov. 8, Dr. Joseph Mercola urged Americans to join with NVIC and Mercola.com and organize to protect vaccine choices.
"Americans should be free to say "yes" or "no" to using vaccines without being harassed or punished for the informed decision they make," said Dr. Mercola. "Like any drug or medical procedure a doctor recommends, getting a vaccine is a personal health choice and the voluntary consent of the patient is absolutely necessary."
Topics of articles about vaccination published on Mercola.com during Vaccine Awareness Week, included:
· NVIC Advocacy Portal
· Influenza
· Chickenpox & Shingles
· Hepatitis B
· HPV & Gardasil
· Vaccine Mandates & Big Business
Leveling the Playing Field in State Legislatures
Dawn Richardson, NVIC Director of Advocacy, who designed the web-based vaccine choice advocacy communications network, developed the Advocacy Portal to make it easier for average citizens to make their voices heard in state legislatures where vaccine exemptions are under attack.
Dawn said 'This is a dream for smart phone users who can be viewing a vaccine legislative action alert in their state, while also being able to get in immediate contact with their elected legislators to voice their opinion. We, the people, don't yet have the money to fight drug company lobbyists and doctors, who are camped out in state legislatures pushing for more vaccine mandates and the elimination of vaccine exemptions. This gives us an effective tool to help level the playing field."
Those who register on the NVIC Advocacy Portal become NVIC Advocacy Team Members and have access to:
· complete, up-to-date contact information for legislators
· vaccine tutorials
· webinars and conference calls
· tips for communicating with legislators and health officials
· web stickers for posting on websites, blogs, Facebook, MySpace
· urgent Action Alerts notifying NVIC Team Members about breaking vaccine legislation news
· online state and national vaccine newsletters
· "Tell a Friend" feature to send an online invitation to family and friends to join the NVIC Advocacy team
Getting Serious About Defending Informed Consent Rights
NVIC developed the NVIC Advocacy Portal because we know it is time to get serious about legally defending the human right to informed consent to medical risk-taking in America. Big medical organizations and doctors with financial ties to vaccine manufacturers are advocating for the elimination of vaccine exemptions in state vaccine laws. We cannot allow ourselves to become captive consumers of every new vaccine that drug companies produce.
NVIC is committed to making our Number One priority in the second decade of the 21st century the protection of the legal right for all Americans to make fully informed, voluntary decisions about vaccination for themselves and their children. NVIC is working to make sure that every state vaccine law includes:
· a medical exemption that does not require approval of state or federal government health officials;
· a religious exemption that is not questioned by doctors or government officials; and
· a conscientious belief exemption that allows citizens to obey their conscience and their personal or philosophical beliefs regarding vaccination.
NVIC & Mercola.com: Partners Since 2008
NVIC's partnership with Mercola.com, which ranks in the top five most visited health information websites in the world, is strengthening and expanding NVIC's three decade call for the institution of informed consent protections in US vaccine laws. Mercola.com hosts NVIC.org and NVICadvocacy.org and has worked with NVIC since 2008 to research and disseminate referenced information about vaccination and health.
Click here to make a comment and watch a video interview Dr. Mercola conducted on taking action NOW to protect vaccine choices.
Become an NVIC Facebook Fan and get a free vaccine report from NVIC.
Click here to register for the free NVIC Advocacy Portal.
Click here to make a donation to NVIC.
The pathology of Alzheimer's
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Alzheimer's disease is one of those potentially inevitable, maybe preventable, what the heck is really causing it diseases that came on to the medical scene in the 20th century. Essentially, as a person ages the brain atrophies slightly, and in some people they experience age-related memory problems and other cognitive effects of making it through a longer life than previous generations of humans. In other people, pathological changes to the brain induce a more pronounced memory issue that then manifests as dementia - this is Alzheimer's disease.
The disorder is diagnosed based on symptoms because the changes to the brain can't be confirmed until autopsy, showing the protein plaques in the brain tissue and spongy consistency that causes the cognitive changes. Aberrant protein beta-amyloid has long been blamed as the source of the plaques, causing Alzheimer's to be related to prion diseases and spongiform encephalopathies like mad cow, but inappropriate aggregations of naturally occurring tau protein might also be to blame, making the disease more complex and multifactorial.
Read about tau and how it relates to nerve degeneration.
The disorder is diagnosed based on symptoms because the changes to the brain can't be confirmed until autopsy, showing the protein plaques in the brain tissue and spongy consistency that causes the cognitive changes. Aberrant protein beta-amyloid has long been blamed as the source of the plaques, causing Alzheimer's to be related to prion diseases and spongiform encephalopathies like mad cow, but inappropriate aggregations of naturally occurring tau protein might also be to blame, making the disease more complex and multifactorial.
Read about tau and how it relates to nerve degeneration.
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| From the National Institute on Aging |
29 Eylül 2012 Cumartesi
Cambodia starts education campaign, enhanced surveillance for hand, foot and mouth disease
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From WHO :
" In response to the outbreak of a severe form of Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease (HFMD), the Ministry of Health (MOH) has instructed all public health facilities to report mild and severe cases of HFMD among children.
Mild cases present with fever and blisters on the hands, feet and/or mouth. Such cases may be managed at home or at health centers or health posts. Most of these cases recover within 7-10 days. However, some children develop a severe disease characterized by fever with neurologic symptoms (such as vomiting, somnolence, convulsions or spasms) or respiratory symptoms (fast breathing or difficulty in breathing). These children have to be referred to hospitals for treatment."Children with any of the following signs: very high fever, vomiting, convulsions, spasms or difficulty breathing must be immediately brought to a hospital for diagnosis and treatment," Minister of Health H. E. Mam Bunheng advised parents.Frequent washing of hands with soap and water, especially after touching any blisters or sores, before preparing food and eating, before feeding young infants, after using toilets and after cleaning children is encouraged.The Ministry of Health, in collaboration with UNICEF and WHO, is developing information and educational materials to inform the general public about the disease.The investigation into the recently reported illnesses and deaths in Cambodia concluded that a severe form of hand, foot and mouth disease caused by enterovirus 71 (EV-71) was the cause in majority of the cases reported to the Ministry of Health.Based on the investigation, a total of 78 cases were identified. These included the initial 62 cases reported by the Kantha Bopha hospital, and cases reported from other hospitals. Of these, the investigation focused on 61 cases that fitted the criteria used (the case definition).The latest follow-up on these 61 cases indicate that 56 died and three recovered.During the past week, 533 HFMD cases have been reported to the MOH from 17 of the 24 provinces and there have been nine confirmed cases of severe EV71 infection. Of the nine cases, three died, one recovered, five are still sick."
" In response to the outbreak of a severe form of Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease (HFMD), the Ministry of Health (MOH) has instructed all public health facilities to report mild and severe cases of HFMD among children.
Mild cases present with fever and blisters on the hands, feet and/or mouth. Such cases may be managed at home or at health centers or health posts. Most of these cases recover within 7-10 days. However, some children develop a severe disease characterized by fever with neurologic symptoms (such as vomiting, somnolence, convulsions or spasms) or respiratory symptoms (fast breathing or difficulty in breathing). These children have to be referred to hospitals for treatment."Children with any of the following signs: very high fever, vomiting, convulsions, spasms or difficulty breathing must be immediately brought to a hospital for diagnosis and treatment," Minister of Health H. E. Mam Bunheng advised parents.Frequent washing of hands with soap and water, especially after touching any blisters or sores, before preparing food and eating, before feeding young infants, after using toilets and after cleaning children is encouraged.The Ministry of Health, in collaboration with UNICEF and WHO, is developing information and educational materials to inform the general public about the disease.The investigation into the recently reported illnesses and deaths in Cambodia concluded that a severe form of hand, foot and mouth disease caused by enterovirus 71 (EV-71) was the cause in majority of the cases reported to the Ministry of Health.Based on the investigation, a total of 78 cases were identified. These included the initial 62 cases reported by the Kantha Bopha hospital, and cases reported from other hospitals. Of these, the investigation focused on 61 cases that fitted the criteria used (the case definition).The latest follow-up on these 61 cases indicate that 56 died and three recovered.During the past week, 533 HFMD cases have been reported to the MOH from 17 of the 24 provinces and there have been nine confirmed cases of severe EV71 infection. Of the nine cases, three died, one recovered, five are still sick."
West Nile virus kills 4 in U.S.
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Via Xinhua :
" The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Wednesday that 241 cases of West Nile virus disease, including four deaths, have been reported in 42 states so far this year.
This is the highest number of cases reported through the end of July since 2004. Almost 80 percent of the cases have been reported from three states - Texas, Mississippi and Oklahoma.
"It is not clear why we are seeing more activity than in recent years," said Marc Fischer, epidemiologist with CDC's Arboviral Diseases Branch. "Regardless of the reasons for the increase, people should be aware of the West Nile virus activity in their area and take action to protect themselves and their family."
" The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Wednesday that 241 cases of West Nile virus disease, including four deaths, have been reported in 42 states so far this year.
This is the highest number of cases reported through the end of July since 2004. Almost 80 percent of the cases have been reported from three states - Texas, Mississippi and Oklahoma.
"It is not clear why we are seeing more activity than in recent years," said Marc Fischer, epidemiologist with CDC's Arboviral Diseases Branch. "Regardless of the reasons for the increase, people should be aware of the West Nile virus activity in their area and take action to protect themselves and their family."
Reports from 3 states suggest more variant H3N2 cases
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From CIDRAP :
" Reports from three states today suggested an increase in swine-origin H3N2 influenza activity, with one human case confirmed in Hawaii and suspected human cases cited in connection with county fairs in Ohio and Indiana.
The Hawaii Department of Health (DOH) announced yesterday that a case of variant H3N2 (H2N2v) was confirmed in a Maui resident who had possible exposure to pigs.
In Ohio, state officials said preliminary test results pointed to possible H3N2v in 10 people who had contact with swine at the Butler County Fair, north of Cincinnati. Officials were awaiting further test results from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
And in Indiana—where four cases of H3N2v were reported last week—both people and pigs were being tested in the wake of sickness among pigs in the swine barn at the Monroe County Fair in Bloomington, according to state officials and media reports."
" Reports from three states today suggested an increase in swine-origin H3N2 influenza activity, with one human case confirmed in Hawaii and suspected human cases cited in connection with county fairs in Ohio and Indiana.
The Hawaii Department of Health (DOH) announced yesterday that a case of variant H3N2 (H2N2v) was confirmed in a Maui resident who had possible exposure to pigs.
In Ohio, state officials said preliminary test results pointed to possible H3N2v in 10 people who had contact with swine at the Butler County Fair, north of Cincinnati. Officials were awaiting further test results from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
And in Indiana—where four cases of H3N2v were reported last week—both people and pigs were being tested in the wake of sickness among pigs in the swine barn at the Monroe County Fair in Bloomington, according to state officials and media reports."
Malaysia : Woman, 27, dies of H1N1
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Via The Star :
" A 27-year-old woman here has become the country's first A(H1N1) influenza-related fatality this year when she succumbed to the virus at the Tuanku Ja'afar Hospital.
The woman, who worked in Singapore, had fallen ill while still in the republic and died just before Hari Raya.It is learnt that the victim had earlier been asked by her family to return home after she did not recover from fever for several days.State health director Datuk Dr Zailan Adnan said a post-mortem revealed that she was infected by the virus.“We have reasons to believe that she may have been infected in the republic. She returned for treatment here but died several days later,” she said.Those infected will show symptoms such as flu, fever, lethargy, runny nose, cough, sore throat, lack of appetite, vomiting and in some cases, diarrhoea.Dr Zailan said that despite the woman's death, the people need not panic.“We have tested her family members and none of them has been infected. The situation is very much under control and it is my hope that no one will spread rumours,” she said.It is understood that the victim had immediately sought treatment at Tuanku Ja'afar Hospital upon her return from Johor Baru and was prescribed with medication."
" A 27-year-old woman here has become the country's first A(H1N1) influenza-related fatality this year when she succumbed to the virus at the Tuanku Ja'afar Hospital.
The woman, who worked in Singapore, had fallen ill while still in the republic and died just before Hari Raya.It is learnt that the victim had earlier been asked by her family to return home after she did not recover from fever for several days.State health director Datuk Dr Zailan Adnan said a post-mortem revealed that she was infected by the virus.“We have reasons to believe that she may have been infected in the republic. She returned for treatment here but died several days later,” she said.Those infected will show symptoms such as flu, fever, lethargy, runny nose, cough, sore throat, lack of appetite, vomiting and in some cases, diarrhoea.Dr Zailan said that despite the woman's death, the people need not panic.“We have tested her family members and none of them has been infected. The situation is very much under control and it is my hope that no one will spread rumours,” she said.It is understood that the victim had immediately sought treatment at Tuanku Ja'afar Hospital upon her return from Johor Baru and was prescribed with medication."
The pathology of Alzheimer's
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Alzheimer's disease is one of those potentially inevitable, maybe preventable, what the heck is really causing it diseases that came on to the medical scene in the 20th century. Essentially, as a person ages the brain atrophies slightly, and in some people they experience age-related memory problems and other cognitive effects of making it through a longer life than previous generations of humans. In other people, pathological changes to the brain induce a more pronounced memory issue that then manifests as dementia - this is Alzheimer's disease.
The disorder is diagnosed based on symptoms because the changes to the brain can't be confirmed until autopsy, showing the protein plaques in the brain tissue and spongy consistency that causes the cognitive changes. Aberrant protein beta-amyloid has long been blamed as the source of the plaques, causing Alzheimer's to be related to prion diseases and spongiform encephalopathies like mad cow, but inappropriate aggregations of naturally occurring tau protein might also be to blame, making the disease more complex and multifactorial.
Read about tau and how it relates to nerve degeneration.
The disorder is diagnosed based on symptoms because the changes to the brain can't be confirmed until autopsy, showing the protein plaques in the brain tissue and spongy consistency that causes the cognitive changes. Aberrant protein beta-amyloid has long been blamed as the source of the plaques, causing Alzheimer's to be related to prion diseases and spongiform encephalopathies like mad cow, but inappropriate aggregations of naturally occurring tau protein might also be to blame, making the disease more complex and multifactorial.
Read about tau and how it relates to nerve degeneration.
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| From the National Institute on Aging |
28 Eylül 2012 Cuma
CDC - Blogs - Bridging the Health Literacy Gap – Health Literacy Around the World
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CDC - Blogs - Bridging the Health Literacy Gap – Health Literacy Around the World
(Roundtable) convened health literacy leaders from the United Nations and a dozen countries to discuss activities and progress around the world.
There was general agreement that educational systems have not provided the majority of people with the literacy skills they need to find, read, listen to, analyze, understand and use health information and access health services. Participants also agreed that health care systems – public and private – are not prepared to address the low levels of health literacy skills in the populations they serve.
Dr. Ilona Kickbusch of Switzerland noted that the population data on health literacy skills show how poorly we have done around the globe with our health promotion programs. According to Dr. Kickbusch, if our health promotion efforts had been more successful, our populations would be better prepared to access and use health information and services. She proposes that people are empowered when they have choice, control and skills. (An audio recording of all the speakers is on the Roundtable page under the webinar link.)
Despite common problems, each country has its own approach to health literacy improvement. In Australia, health literacy work is part of the national Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care. Canada has a long history of connecting health literacy with health promotion and the public health sector leads the health literacy work. Ireland’s health literacy activities are linked to the country’s adult literacy agency and its efforts to improve the population’s literacy skills not only in health but also in family literacy and workforce readiness.
The U.S. National Action Plan to Improve Health Literacy has influenced some countries’ approaches. For example, Canada’s “inter-sectoral” approach echoes the multi-sectoral approach in the U.S. plan. Participants expressed interest in the U.S. Action Plan as an example of a comprehensive framework for health literacy work.
If you attended the meeting (in person or by webinar), which developments were most interesting to you? If your country wasn’t represented at the meeting, what health literacy activities are happening where you live?
Bridging the Health Literacy Gap
Health Literacy for Better Public Health
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- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
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Atlanta, GA 30333 - 800-CDC-INFO
(800-232-4636)
TTY: (888) 232-6348 - cdcinfo@cdc.gov
Health Literacy Around the World
Categories: International Health LiteracySeptember 28th, 2012 11:01 am ET - Cynthia Baur On September 24, the Institute of Medicine Roundtable on Health Literacy (Roundtable) convened health literacy leaders from the United Nations and a dozen countries to discuss activities and progress around the world.There was general agreement that educational systems have not provided the majority of people with the literacy skills they need to find, read, listen to, analyze, understand and use health information and access health services. Participants also agreed that health care systems – public and private – are not prepared to address the low levels of health literacy skills in the populations they serve.
Dr. Ilona Kickbusch of Switzerland noted that the population data on health literacy skills show how poorly we have done around the globe with our health promotion programs. According to Dr. Kickbusch, if our health promotion efforts had been more successful, our populations would be better prepared to access and use health information and services. She proposes that people are empowered when they have choice, control and skills. (An audio recording of all the speakers is on the Roundtable page under the webinar link.)
Despite common problems, each country has its own approach to health literacy improvement. In Australia, health literacy work is part of the national Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care. Canada has a long history of connecting health literacy with health promotion and the public health sector leads the health literacy work. Ireland’s health literacy activities are linked to the country’s adult literacy agency and its efforts to improve the population’s literacy skills not only in health but also in family literacy and workforce readiness.
The U.S. National Action Plan to Improve Health Literacy
has influenced some countries’ approaches. For example, Canada’s “inter-sectoral” approach echoes the multi-sectoral approach in the U.S. plan. Participants expressed interest in the U.S. Action Plan as an example of a comprehensive framework for health literacy work.If you attended the meeting (in person or by webinar), which developments were most interesting to you? If your country wasn’t represented at the meeting, what health literacy activities are happening where you live?
CDC - Blogs - Bridging the Health Literacy Gap – Plain Language is Essential in Public Health Emergencies
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CDC - Blogs - Bridging the Health Literacy Gap – Plain Language is Essential in Public Health Emergencies
September is National Preparedness Month. Across the country, it’s a time to take stock of how prepared we are to withstand and respond to emergency situations that affect us, our families, and our communities. At CDC, we make sure that we are prepared to protect the nation’s health from whatever threatens it, be that natural disaster, disease outbreak, or emerging hazard. To do that, we are working to ensure that plain language is a part of our emergency communication planning. Steps we are taking include
What are you doing in your organizations to make plain language a part of your preparedness planning? What challenges are you facing in undertaking that mission? We’d love to hear about your experiences, tips, and lessons learned.
Plain Language is Essential in Public Health Emergencies
Categories: Plain languageSeptember 21st, 2012 5:01 pm ET - Cynthia Baur This week, Dagny Olivares from CDC’s Emergency Communication team blogs about plain language and public health emergencies.September is National Preparedness Month. Across the country, it’s a time to take stock of how prepared we are to withstand and respond to emergency situations that affect us, our families, and our communities. At CDC, we make sure that we are prepared to protect the nation’s health from whatever threatens it, be that natural disaster, disease outbreak, or emerging hazard. To do that, we are working to ensure that plain language is a part of our emergency communication planning. Steps we are taking include
- Training staff to understand and use the principles of plain language when developing and reviewing emergency communication materials;
- Prioritizing plain language along with such message characteristics as accuracy, timeliness, and consistency; and
- Working with subject matter experts to review our existing emergency materials so that we can make them more understandable and accessible.
What are you doing in your organizations to make plain language a part of your preparedness planning? What challenges are you facing in undertaking that mission? We’d love to hear about your experiences, tips, and lessons learned.
Natural Rubber Latex Allergy in Spina Bifida - Spina Bifida Association
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Natural Rubber Latex Allergy in Spina Bifida - Spina Bifida Association
Natural Rubber Latex Allergy in Spina Bifida09/20/2012 08:00 PM EDT
Source: Spina Bifida Association of America
Natural Rubber Latex Allergy in Spina Bifida
People with Spina Bifida are at high risk for latex allergy
What is Natural Rubber Latex?
Natural rubber latex (NRL) is a milky substance tapped from the Hevea Brasiliensis (a tropical rubber tree). It can be heated and molded into hard rubber products like tires; or it can be dipped to make softer products like balloons or medical examination gloves.
What is latex allergy?
Latex allergy means that a person is allergic to proteins in the natural rubber latex. Although anyone can develop a latex allergy, it is thought to be caused by significant long term exposure to latex proteins that are released during processing of the rubber. The amount of latex exposure needed to produce sensitization or an allergic reaction is unknown, but softer rubber products that have been processed longer (like gloves and balloons) are seen as more allergenic; and frequent exposure to latex products increases the risk of developing a sensitivity.
People who have Spina Bifida and catheterize; or have several surgeries from very early in life, such as bladder surgery or shunt revisions, are at very high risk for allergy because of a “cumulative” effect over time. Symptoms of latex sensitivity can be minor, but without warning, may become life threatening. Many people are unaware that they are sensitized to latex because the symptoms can be vague and non-specific. Those people are at risk for a serious reaction.
What are the symptoms of latex allergy?
Itching
Skin redness, hives or rash
Sneezing
Runny nose
Itchy, watery eyes
Scratchy throat
Cough
Wheezing
The most serious allergic reaction to latex is anaphylaxis, a type of shock. An anaphylactic response to latex is a medical emergency.
Signs and symptoms include:
Difficulty breathing caused by swelling of lips tongue or windpipe
Severe wheezing
Severe drop in blood pressure (hypotension)
Dizziness
Loss of consciousness
Confusion
Slurred speech
Rapid or weak pulse
Blue hue of the skin, including lips and nail beds
Diarrhea
Nausea and vomiting
Latex items
Because of its low cost, durability and versatility, natural latex has been widely used in the United States for over a century; and is used in the production of many common items. Although most medical products are labeled, household or recreational items which contain latex may not be labeled. For that reason, the Latex Allergy Association and the Spina Bifida Association work diligently to keep a current list of products that contain latex; and their “safe” (non-latex) alternatives.
What are cross reactions to latex allergy?
People allergic to latex may also be allergic to the proteins in some fruits and vegetables. Some of them include: banana, avocado, chestnut, kiwi, apple, carrot, celery, papaya, potato, tomato, melon, and avocado. Due to nutritional risks, people should not avoid eating these foods unless they have had a reaction to them and are advised by a dietary or medical professional to avoid them.
What steps should I take to prevent developing latex allergy?
The best way to prevent developing latex allergy is to avoid contact with latex or latex-contaminated powder. Contact occurs through contact with skin, inhaling latex spores, or internally through medical procedures or surgery, when latex touches the skin, mouth, eyes, genital areas or bladder. Severe reactions can occur if latex enters the bloodstream. Powder from latex balloons or gloves gets into the air. Therefore, people with Spina Bifida are at high risk for latex allergy and should avoid exposure to natural latex products from birth. Products made of silicone, plastic, nitrile or vinyl can be used instead.
Those who have had a serious reaction to latex should:
This information does not constitute medical advice for any individual. As specific cases may vary from the general information presented here, SBA advises readers to consult a qualified medical or other professional on an individual basis.
Additional resources
www.aaaai.org
www.asbah.org
www.latexallergyresources.org
www.latexallergylinks.org
www.osha.gov/SLTC/latexallergy
Download the Natural Rubber Latex Allergy Health Info Sheet here
Latex Allergy Update
MedlinePlus sent this bulletin at 09/27/2012 01:10 PM EDT New on the MedlinePlus Latex Allergy page:Natural Rubber Latex Allergy in Spina Bifida09/20/2012 08:00 PM EDT
Source: Spina Bifida Association of America
Natural Rubber Latex Allergy in Spina Bifida
Natural Rubber Latex Allergy in Spina Bifida
People with Spina Bifida are at high risk for latex allergy
What is Natural Rubber Latex?
Natural rubber latex (NRL) is a milky substance tapped from the Hevea Brasiliensis (a tropical rubber tree). It can be heated and molded into hard rubber products like tires; or it can be dipped to make softer products like balloons or medical examination gloves.
What is latex allergy?
Latex allergy means that a person is allergic to proteins in the natural rubber latex. Although anyone can develop a latex allergy, it is thought to be caused by significant long term exposure to latex proteins that are released during processing of the rubber. The amount of latex exposure needed to produce sensitization or an allergic reaction is unknown, but softer rubber products that have been processed longer (like gloves and balloons) are seen as more allergenic; and frequent exposure to latex products increases the risk of developing a sensitivity.
People who have Spina Bifida and catheterize; or have several surgeries from very early in life, such as bladder surgery or shunt revisions, are at very high risk for allergy because of a “cumulative” effect over time. Symptoms of latex sensitivity can be minor, but without warning, may become life threatening. Many people are unaware that they are sensitized to latex because the symptoms can be vague and non-specific. Those people are at risk for a serious reaction.
What are the symptoms of latex allergy?
Itching
Skin redness, hives or rash
Sneezing
Runny nose
Itchy, watery eyes
Scratchy throat
Cough
Wheezing
The most serious allergic reaction to latex is anaphylaxis, a type of shock. An anaphylactic response to latex is a medical emergency.
Signs and symptoms include:
Difficulty breathing caused by swelling of lips tongue or windpipe
Severe wheezing
Severe drop in blood pressure (hypotension)
Dizziness
Loss of consciousness
Confusion
Slurred speech
Rapid or weak pulse
Blue hue of the skin, including lips and nail beds
Diarrhea
Nausea and vomiting
Latex items
Because of its low cost, durability and versatility, natural latex has been widely used in the United States for over a century; and is used in the production of many common items. Although most medical products are labeled, household or recreational items which contain latex may not be labeled. For that reason, the Latex Allergy Association and the Spina Bifida Association work diligently to keep a current list of products that contain latex; and their “safe” (non-latex) alternatives.
What are cross reactions to latex allergy?
People allergic to latex may also be allergic to the proteins in some fruits and vegetables. Some of them include: banana, avocado, chestnut, kiwi, apple, carrot, celery, papaya, potato, tomato, melon, and avocado. Due to nutritional risks, people should not avoid eating these foods unless they have had a reaction to them and are advised by a dietary or medical professional to avoid them.
What steps should I take to prevent developing latex allergy?
The best way to prevent developing latex allergy is to avoid contact with latex or latex-contaminated powder. Contact occurs through contact with skin, inhaling latex spores, or internally through medical procedures or surgery, when latex touches the skin, mouth, eyes, genital areas or bladder. Severe reactions can occur if latex enters the bloodstream. Powder from latex balloons or gloves gets into the air. Therefore, people with Spina Bifida are at high risk for latex allergy and should avoid exposure to natural latex products from birth. Products made of silicone, plastic, nitrile or vinyl can be used instead.
Those who have had a serious reaction to latex should:
- Wear a medic-alert bracelet or necklace
- Carry auto-injectable epinephrine; and
- Carry sterile non-latex gloves and other non-latex medical items for emergencies.
This information does not constitute medical advice for any individual. As specific cases may vary from the general information presented here, SBA advises readers to consult a qualified medical or other professional on an individual basis.
Additional resources
www.aaaai.org
www.asbah.org
www.latexallergyresources.org
www.latexallergylinks.org
www.osha.gov/SLTC/latexallergy
Download the Natural Rubber Latex Allergy Health Info Sheet here
Secretary’s Minority AIDS Initiative Fund Supports $14.2 Million in Awards to 8 States to Improve HIV Testing and Engagement in Care | blog.aids.gov
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Secretary’s Minority AIDS Initiative Fund Supports $14.2 Million in Awards to 8 States to Improve HIV Testing and Engagement in Care | blog.aids.gov
By , Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health, Infectious Diseases, and Director, Office of HIV/AIDS and Infectious Disease Policy, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Dr. Ronald ValdiserriThis week, our partners at CDC announced that eight state health departments have been awarded a total of $14.2 million in first-year funding under a new, innovative, three-year cross-HHS demonstration project aligned with the National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS). The eight states – Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia – have a high burden of HIV among African-Americans and Latinos and the demonstration project is designed to reduce HIV-related morbidity, mortality, and related health disparities among racial and ethnic minorities by addressing social, economic, clinical and structural factors influencing HIV health outcomes.
“This new program funding represents a carefully planned movement that specifically joins together HIV prevention and treatment into a holistic statewide continuum of service. That is what people with HIV need and it is what we intend to deliver,” observed Dr. Jonathan Mermin, Director of CDC’s Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention
The Care and Prevention in the United States (CAPUS) Demonstration Project was open to 18 state/territorial health departments in the United States with disproportionately high burdens of HIV/AIDS among minority communities. Specifically, the eligible jurisdictions had more than 5,000 HIV cases among African Americans and Latinos and an AIDS diagnosis rate of over 6 per 100,000, which focuses this initiative on disproportionately affected geographic areas.
The primary goals of the project are three-fold:
By concentrating these resources in communities that bear a disproportionate burden, providing assistance from multiple HHS agencies and offices, and requiring the grantees to use a minimum of 25% of the total award to fund community-based organizations serving racial/ethnic minority populations, we expect that the CAPUS project will contribute significantly to NHAS goals over the next three years.
Over the coming year, we’ll share occasional updates and highlights from the CAPUS demonstration project. In the meantime, what interventions would you suggest that could improve HIV testing or engagement/retention in care among racial/ethnic minorities? Share your suggestions in the Comments section below.
Secretary’s Minority AIDS Initiative Fund Supports $14.2 Million in Awards to 8 States to Improve HIV Testing and Engagement in Care
Leave a commentHIV Policy & ProgramsSeptember 28, 2012By , Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health, Infectious Diseases, and Director, Office of HIV/AIDS and Infectious Disease Policy, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Dr. Ronald ValdiserriThis week, our partners at CDC announced that eight state health departments have been awarded a total of $14.2 million in first-year funding under a new, innovative, three-year cross-HHS demonstration project aligned with the National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS). The eight states – Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia – have a high burden of HIV among African-Americans and Latinos and the demonstration project is designed to reduce HIV-related morbidity, mortality, and related health disparities among racial and ethnic minorities by addressing social, economic, clinical and structural factors influencing HIV health outcomes.“This new program funding represents a carefully planned movement that specifically joins together HIV prevention and treatment into a holistic statewide continuum of service. That is what people with HIV need and it is what we intend to deliver,” observed Dr. Jonathan Mermin, Director of CDC’s Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention
The Care and Prevention in the United States (CAPUS) Demonstration Project was open to 18 state/territorial health departments in the United States with disproportionately high burdens of HIV/AIDS among minority communities. Specifically, the eligible jurisdictions had more than 5,000 HIV cases among African Americans and Latinos and an AIDS diagnosis rate of over 6 per 100,000, which focuses this initiative on disproportionately affected geographic areas.
The primary goals of the project are three-fold:
- Increase the proportion of racial/ethnic minorities with HIV who have diagnosed infection by expanding and improving HIV testing capacity
- Optimize linkage to, retention in, and re-engagement with care and prevention services for newly diagnosed and previously diagnosed racial/ethnic minorities with HIV
- Address social, economic, clinical, and structural factors influencing HIV health outcomes
By concentrating these resources in communities that bear a disproportionate burden, providing assistance from multiple HHS agencies and offices, and requiring the grantees to use a minimum of 25% of the total award to fund community-based organizations serving racial/ethnic minority populations, we expect that the CAPUS project will contribute significantly to NHAS goals over the next three years.
Over the coming year, we’ll share occasional updates and highlights from the CAPUS demonstration project. In the meantime, what interventions would you suggest that could improve HIV testing or engagement/retention in care among racial/ethnic minorities? Share your suggestions in the Comments section below.
Whooping Cough, Make sure you're vaccinated!
To contact us Click HERE
Eight children in Hunterdon have recently been diagnosed with whooping cough — including those whose families declined to have them vaccinated or failed to get all of their necessary shots, state and county health officials said today.
An Ocean County health department spokeswoman also confirmed two infants who developed symptoms in December have been diagnosed with the highly contagious bacterial respiratory infection.
The infected children in Hunterdon County range in age from 4 to 15, and are all getting treated at home, said Carl Rachel, spokesman for the Hunterdon County Division of Public Health.
Whooping cough mimics the symptoms of a cold but then develops into "uncontrolled coughing spells," according to the county website. Nationally, the illness annually kills 10 to 20 people who are typically less than a year old, the website said.
New Jersey requires children enrolled in preschool or day care public to be vaccinated against whooping cough, also known as pertussis. But state law allows parents to cite religion and medical conditions as a reason to seek an exemption.
Most people can avoid contracting the infection — spread by coughing and sneezing — with a series of four shots beginning when a child is two months old. Public health professionals recommend people ages 10 to 64 get booster shots.
Of the eight children sickened in Hunterdon County, "several were immunized; of those immunized cases, some did not have the complete series of pertussis vaccines appropriate for their age," said state health department spokeswoman Donna Leusner.
"Vaccines in general are not 100 percent effective in preventing infections, but vaccinations still can lessen the degree of illness, even if a child is not fully immunized," she said.
Rose Puelle of the Hunterdon County Division of Public Health Preparedness, confirmed some of the sick children "were vaccinated in the past, and some not for personal or medical reasons."
"Most people who complete a vaccine series including the recommended boosters have the maximum protection available to prevent illness," Puelle said. "It affords everyone in the community, including those most susceptible such as infants and immuno-compromised, the best chance of avoiding the serious consequences of disease."
In Ocean County, neither of the infected infants was vaccinated against whooping cough, county health department spokeswoman Leslie Terjesen. Both babies required hospital care, although one has since been discharged, she said.
A vocal minority of parents oppose mandatory vaccines. Sue Collins, co-founder of the New Jersey Alliance for Informed Choice in Vaccination, said vaccines are not guarantees against disease. "I know that Hunterdon had several cases a few years ago and those were in vaccinated children," she wrote in an e-mail. "From what I understand now, the strain of pertussis seems to be circulating in some communities and other states does not match the strain in the vaccines."
Since January 2011, 51 confirmed cases of whooping cough in New Jersey have been reported to the state health department. In 2009, health officials confirmed 39 cases of whooping cough in Hunterdon County.
The outbreak in Hunterdon began in the fall, according to the state.
Call or click Passport Health today
800-741-0504
www.passporthealthusa.com/new-jersey
Eight children in Hunterdon have recently been diagnosed with whooping cough — including those whose families declined to have them vaccinated or failed to get all of their necessary shots, state and county health officials said today.
An Ocean County health department spokeswoman also confirmed two infants who developed symptoms in December have been diagnosed with the highly contagious bacterial respiratory infection.
The infected children in Hunterdon County range in age from 4 to 15, and are all getting treated at home, said Carl Rachel, spokesman for the Hunterdon County Division of Public Health.
Whooping cough mimics the symptoms of a cold but then develops into "uncontrolled coughing spells," according to the county website. Nationally, the illness annually kills 10 to 20 people who are typically less than a year old, the website said.
New Jersey requires children enrolled in preschool or day care public to be vaccinated against whooping cough, also known as pertussis. But state law allows parents to cite religion and medical conditions as a reason to seek an exemption.
Most people can avoid contracting the infection — spread by coughing and sneezing — with a series of four shots beginning when a child is two months old. Public health professionals recommend people ages 10 to 64 get booster shots.
Of the eight children sickened in Hunterdon County, "several were immunized; of those immunized cases, some did not have the complete series of pertussis vaccines appropriate for their age," said state health department spokeswoman Donna Leusner.
"Vaccines in general are not 100 percent effective in preventing infections, but vaccinations still can lessen the degree of illness, even if a child is not fully immunized," she said.
Rose Puelle of the Hunterdon County Division of Public Health Preparedness, confirmed some of the sick children "were vaccinated in the past, and some not for personal or medical reasons."
"Most people who complete a vaccine series including the recommended boosters have the maximum protection available to prevent illness," Puelle said. "It affords everyone in the community, including those most susceptible such as infants and immuno-compromised, the best chance of avoiding the serious consequences of disease."
In Ocean County, neither of the infected infants was vaccinated against whooping cough, county health department spokeswoman Leslie Terjesen. Both babies required hospital care, although one has since been discharged, she said.
A vocal minority of parents oppose mandatory vaccines. Sue Collins, co-founder of the New Jersey Alliance for Informed Choice in Vaccination, said vaccines are not guarantees against disease. "I know that Hunterdon had several cases a few years ago and those were in vaccinated children," she wrote in an e-mail. "From what I understand now, the strain of pertussis seems to be circulating in some communities and other states does not match the strain in the vaccines."
Since January 2011, 51 confirmed cases of whooping cough in New Jersey have been reported to the state health department. In 2009, health officials confirmed 39 cases of whooping cough in Hunterdon County.
The outbreak in Hunterdon began in the fall, according to the state.
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