http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/07/07/60-things-that-can-go-terribly-wrong-with-hepatitis-b-vaccination.aspx
The website Green Med Info has assembled 44 articles which together list 60 diseases or adverse unintended consequences associated with hepatitis B vaccination.
Among the problems the vaccination may cause are:
•Autoimmune inflammatory polyneuropathy
•Multiple sclerosis
•Anaphylactic shock and death in infants
•Chronic arthritis
•Autism
•Bell's palsy
According to one of the studies linked on Green Med Info:
"Evidence ... suggests that hepatitis B vaccine is positively associated with adverse health outcomes in the general population of US children."
There is no vaccine that gets me more upset than hepatitis B. There are two primary reasons for this. It is given to virtually every newborn in the hospital and many times without parents' consent shortly after the child is born. If the parent chooses not to have their 12-hour-old newborn vaccinated in the newborn nursery, it takes enormous effort on the parent's part to make sure this vaccine is not given without their informed consent before the baby leaves the hospital.
Secondly this vaccine given on the day of birth is the least justifiable of any vaccine that I can think of. A child can ONLY get the disease from IV drug abuse, sexual activity with an infected partner, a blood transfusion using contaminated blood, OR from the mother.
There are few or no detectable antibodies in the blood of most children within 7-10 years after they are vaccinated so booster shots will probably be recommended by government officials in the future for children entering adolesence.
Obviously the only real threat during infancy is if a child is born to an infected mother. So why not screen ALL pregnant women for the disease and only give the vaccine to those infants whose mothers actually test positive for hepatitis B? That policy would be a lot less expensive, as well as a lot safer for the majority of babies born in the United States.
Also what about the side effects associated with adverse health outcomes in the general population of US children? How about one linked to serious autoimmune disorders, autism, Bell's palsy, multiple sclerosis, anaphylactic shock and death? Just one vaccination, hepatitis B, has been linked to all of the above and more, yet continues to be part of the standard government-recommended childhood vaccination schedule, with the first dose given at 12 hours of age in the newborn nursery of most hospitals.
An Unusually High Number of Adverse Reactions
Routine use of the hepatitis B vaccine for all newborns began in 1991, and according to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), operated jointly by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), there were 36,788 officially reported adverse reactions to hepatitis B vaccines between 1992 and 2005. Of these, 14,800 were serious enough to cause hospitalization, life-threatening health events or permanent disabilities.
Further, 781 people were reported to have DIED following hepatitis B vaccination -- and this is likely an underestimate because only a fraction of the serious health problems, including deaths, following vaccination are ever acknowledged. This serious underreporting is due to an unwillingness of many doctors and vaccine providers to report vaccine-related injuries and deaths and also due to a lack of public awareness about how to recognize signs and symptoms of vaccine reactions.
For instance, when babies die after hep B vaccinations, most of the time their deaths are automatically attributed to SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) without investigation into whether the vaccine caused the baby's sudden death.
Common reactions to the vaccine include fatigue, muscle weakness, fever, headache, irritability, and joint pain. But there have been reports of disabling neurological and immunological disorders that have developed following hepatitis B vaccinations as well, including:
-Multiple sclerosis (MS)
-Guillain Barre syndrome
-Bell's Palsy
-Diabetes
-Rheumatoid arthritis
-Lupus
-Idiopathic Thrombocytopenia purpura
-Convulsions and brain disorders such as encephalitis (brain swelling) and brain demyelination
-Immune dysfunction
-Visual and hearing impairments, including optic neuritis
-Pancreatitis
-Autism spectrum disorders
A study published September 2009 in Annals of Epidemiology also found that giving hepatitis B vaccine to infant boys more than tripled their risk for an autism spectrum disorder. This was doubly concerning because an earlier study by the same researcher group, using a different database, found the same results.
There are more reports of serious adverse reactions in children than there are cases of childhood hepatitis B reported in the United States! From 1990 to 2002, there were a total of just 13,829 cases of acute hepatitis B reported among children aged 19 and younger, and as the CDC stated:
"The incidence among adolescents aged 15-19 years was consistently higher than the incidence among younger age groups."
Which begs the question, why are babies being vaccinated for this disease?
Why is the Hepatitis B Vaccine Recommended?
Hepatitis B is a viral infection that affects your liver, and spreads the same way as AIDS -- through direct contact with the body fluids (particularly blood and semen) of an infected person. There are two primary circumstances in which your baby would be at significant risk for contracting hepatitis B and both are quite rare in the U.S.:
1.If you are pregnant and are a carrier for the hepatitis B virus, your baby could be at risk for being infected during childbirth. However, you can easily find out if you are hepatitis B positive by getting tested while pregnant.
2.Your infant could be at risk for hepatitis B infection by receiving a blood transfusion using hepatitis B infected blood. In America, all blood products are required to receive proper screening for hepatitis B virus and other pathogens prior to use. There is no way to achieve 100 percent safety with blood transfusions, however.
Universal hepatitis B vaccination might be a good idea IF the vaccines were completely safe and gave lifelong immunity -- but as the CDC states, it's currently not known how long immunity lasts when children are vaccinated at birth:
"Among vaccinated cohorts who initiated Hepatitis B vaccination at birth, long-term follow-up studies are ongoing to determine the duration of vaccine-induced immunity."
So why are babies vaccinated at birth, if it's known the mother does not have hepatitis B?
The CDC states:
" … because errors or delays in documenting, testing, and reporting maternal HBsAg status can and do occur, administering the first dose of Hepatitis B vaccine soon after birth to all infants acts as a safety net, reducing the risk for perinatal infection when maternal HBsAg status is either unknown or incorrectly documented at delivery.
Also, initiating the Hepatitis B vaccine series at birth has been shown to increase a child's likelihood of completing the vaccine series on schedule."
In other words, if you're pregnant and have tested negative for hepatitis B, it's advised that you vaccinate your baby anyway, just in case the test was wrong -- and because the CDC believes you're more likely to adhere to their dictated schedule if you start early, just hours after birth.
It is important to be tested for hepatitis B if you're pregnant, as it's possible to have a chronic infection with no symptoms and not know it. However, if you use the CDC's logic that you can't trust the test results anyway, this obviously important preventive step would be rendered pointless!
But again, most babies are at very low risk of hepatitis B in the first place, so the question to ask is does the vaccine's benefit outweigh its risks? It's worth noting as well that, as adults, most people infected with hepatitis B don't require hospital care and the majority recover without complications and are left with natural, lifelong immunity.
It's Your Right to Ask Questions About Vaccinations
You have every right to not only ask questions about vaccine safety, but also to decide which vaccinations you would like to receive or decline for yourself and your children. In the case of the hepatitis B vaccine, if you're giving birth in a hospital you can let your nurses, obstetrician and pediatrician know whether or not you consent to having your baby vaccinated.
It's your choice.
There are reports that some newborns are being vaccinated in the newborn nursery against the parents' wishes, however, so if you decide to opt out of the vaccine it is a good idea to keep your newborn with you at all times, or have a family member stay with the baby, while in the hospital.
But please remember that it's up to you to get informed about every medical procedure being given to your baby, and vaccinations are no exception. I encourage you to ask these eight questions, developed by the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), if you are considering getting yourself or your child vaccinated:
1.Am I or my child sick right now?
2.Have I or my child had a bad reaction to a vaccination before?
3.Do I or my child have a personal or family history of vaccine reactions, neurological disorders, severe allergies or immune system problems?
4.Do I know the disease and vaccine risks for myself or my child?
5.Do I have full information about the vaccine's side effects?
6.Do I know how to identify and report a vaccine reaction?
7.Do I know I need to keep a written record, including the vaccine manufacturer's name and lot number, for all vaccinations?
8.Do I know I have the right to make an informed choice?
As NVIC states:
"If you answered yes to questions 1, 2, and 3, or no to questions 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 and do not understand the significance of your answer, you may want to review information on NVIC's website with links to other websites and resources so you can better answer these questions designed to educate consumers about the importance of making fully informed vaccine decisions."
Further, I highly recommend all parents consider the following steps before consenting to vaccinations, including hepatitis B:
•Educate yourself about vaccination, including reading the vaccine manufacturer product inserts for vaccines that your doctor is recommending and reviewing vaccine information on this website and websites like NVIC.org.
•Help educate your family, and your community by circulating this newsletter among your friends, neighbors, doctors, lawyers, teachers, school principles, nurses, local newspaper, TV and radio stations. Send a copy of this newsletter with a personal note to your elected representatives.
•The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) provides information for consumers about vaccines and diseases and works to protect vaccine choices. Register today for the NVIC Advocacy Portal, an online interactive database and communication system that will help YOU protect vaccine exemptions in YOUR state.
•Report vaccine reactions to the federal government (VAERS) and to the NVIC Vaccine Reaction Registry by visiting the NVIC website. This reporting is EXTREMELY important and necessary if we are to accelerate change.
•If you are pregnant, get tested for hepatitis B disease. If you are infected, your baby may be at higher risk for becoming infected with hepatitis B and is a candidate for vaccination, so you should explore all sides of the issue with your physician.
•Stand up for your informed consent rights. If you are opposed to the hepatitis B vaccine for your baby at birth, you can amend the "consent for medical treatment" forms you sign upon entering the hospital before giving birth by writing on the form that you do not give consent for your baby's hepatitis B vaccination in the newborn nursery.
•Vaccine exemptions: Although hepatitis B vaccines may be "mandated" for your child to attend school, each state offers different legal exemptions (medical, religious, and philosophical). Research your state's specific vaccine requirements and find out what kind of exemption to vaccination you are allowed to exercise in your state.
For more information, you can click the link below.
Sources:
-Green Med Info
-Annals of Epidemiology January 2001;11(1):13-21
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
The hepatitis B vaccine is linked to infant death, multiple sclerosis and autoimmune disorders
http://www.naturalnews.com/032579_hepatitis_B_vaccines.html
The hepatitis B vaccine has been approved for all U.S. infants at birth, but is it really safe? For a "preventative" vaccination, the amount of complications associated with the hepatitis B vaccination are quite shocking. In fact, a number of peer-reviewed studies have found a relationship between the hep B vaccination and infant deaths both in the U.S. and Europe. With links to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), multiple sclerosis, and numerous chronic autoimmune disorders, some doctors are speaking out against the dangers of the hep B vaccine.
The debate over the dangers of the hepatitis B vaccine may in fact be over, according to a court case reported on by Child Health Safety. In a case in which the court ruled in favor of the plaintiff, who had developed systemic lupus erythematosus as a result of receiving the hep B vaccine, the U.S. government was forced to admit that the vaccine led to the development of the disease. While the plaintiff was deceased at the time the decision was made, it was a landmark case in the fight to uncover the truth regarding the hepatitis B injection. The United States Court of Federal Claims document explains:
"Tambra Harris ... filed a petition for compensation alleging that she suffered certain injuries as a result of receiving a vaccination. Among the injuries petitioner alleged that she had suffered as a result of receiving a hepatitis B vaccination was systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) ... A lump sum of $475,000.00 in the form of a check payable to petitioner as Administratrix of the Estate of Tambra Harris."
Dr. Jane Orient of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) testified to Congress regarding the severe health dangers associated with the hepatitis B inoculation, stating: "For most children, the risk of a serious vaccine reaction may be 100 times greater than the risk of hepatitis B."
With a little research into the transmission of hep B, government-backed infant hep B shots seem even more unnecessarily risky. Hep B is a viral infection that mainly targets the liver, and it is spread through direct contact with body fluids -- particularly blood and semen. Hep B is mostly transmitted through lifestyle choices such as unprotected sex or intravenous drug use involving sharing needles. These are not conditions that pertain to newborn babies, or perhaps the majority of people. Due to the strange decision to vaccinate newborn babies with hep B shots and a number of other factors, people have been questioning the safety and effectiveness of the hep B vaccination for years. The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) reported in the 90's, after the government began promoting the use of the hep B vaccinations:
"In increasing numbers, parents across the country are contacting the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) to report opposition to regulations being enacted by state health department officials that legally require children to be injected with three doses of hepatitis B vaccine before being allowed to attend daycare, kindergarten, elementary school, high school or college.
"Simultaneously, as more schools and employers bow to pressure from government health officials and require individuals to show proof they have been injected with hepatitis B vaccine before being allowed to get an education or a job, reports of serious health problems following hepatitis B vaccination among children and adults are multiplying."
For a "preventative" measure, the hep B vaccination sure does seem to carry a number of extreme risks. Due to an immune system that has not fully developed, newborn babies are particularly susceptible to toxic substances, making the already risky hep B vaccine even more of a hazard. Examine the research, read the reports by a number of doctors, and educate before you vaccinate.
The hepatitis B vaccine has been approved for all U.S. infants at birth, but is it really safe? For a "preventative" vaccination, the amount of complications associated with the hepatitis B vaccination are quite shocking. In fact, a number of peer-reviewed studies have found a relationship between the hep B vaccination and infant deaths both in the U.S. and Europe. With links to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), multiple sclerosis, and numerous chronic autoimmune disorders, some doctors are speaking out against the dangers of the hep B vaccine.
The debate over the dangers of the hepatitis B vaccine may in fact be over, according to a court case reported on by Child Health Safety. In a case in which the court ruled in favor of the plaintiff, who had developed systemic lupus erythematosus as a result of receiving the hep B vaccine, the U.S. government was forced to admit that the vaccine led to the development of the disease. While the plaintiff was deceased at the time the decision was made, it was a landmark case in the fight to uncover the truth regarding the hepatitis B injection. The United States Court of Federal Claims document explains:
"Tambra Harris ... filed a petition for compensation alleging that she suffered certain injuries as a result of receiving a vaccination. Among the injuries petitioner alleged that she had suffered as a result of receiving a hepatitis B vaccination was systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) ... A lump sum of $475,000.00 in the form of a check payable to petitioner as Administratrix of the Estate of Tambra Harris."
Dr. Jane Orient of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) testified to Congress regarding the severe health dangers associated with the hepatitis B inoculation, stating: "For most children, the risk of a serious vaccine reaction may be 100 times greater than the risk of hepatitis B."
With a little research into the transmission of hep B, government-backed infant hep B shots seem even more unnecessarily risky. Hep B is a viral infection that mainly targets the liver, and it is spread through direct contact with body fluids -- particularly blood and semen. Hep B is mostly transmitted through lifestyle choices such as unprotected sex or intravenous drug use involving sharing needles. These are not conditions that pertain to newborn babies, or perhaps the majority of people. Due to the strange decision to vaccinate newborn babies with hep B shots and a number of other factors, people have been questioning the safety and effectiveness of the hep B vaccination for years. The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) reported in the 90's, after the government began promoting the use of the hep B vaccinations:
"In increasing numbers, parents across the country are contacting the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) to report opposition to regulations being enacted by state health department officials that legally require children to be injected with three doses of hepatitis B vaccine before being allowed to attend daycare, kindergarten, elementary school, high school or college.
"Simultaneously, as more schools and employers bow to pressure from government health officials and require individuals to show proof they have been injected with hepatitis B vaccine before being allowed to get an education or a job, reports of serious health problems following hepatitis B vaccination among children and adults are multiplying."
For a "preventative" measure, the hep B vaccination sure does seem to carry a number of extreme risks. Due to an immune system that has not fully developed, newborn babies are particularly susceptible to toxic substances, making the already risky hep B vaccine even more of a hazard. Examine the research, read the reports by a number of doctors, and educate before you vaccinate.
Friday, May 20, 2011
Warning to Parents: This Vaccine Linked to Sudden Infant Death…
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/05/19/us-government-concedes-hep-b-vaccine-causes-systemic-lupus-erythematosus.aspx
The hepatitis B vaccine is given to U.S. infants at birth. But there is impressive evidence that for a preventive measure, hepatitis B vaccine is remarkable for the frequency, variety, and severity of complications from its use.
Hepatitis B vaccine has been shown in many peer-reviewed research papers to be associated with numerous infant deaths in the U.S. and Europe, multiple sclerosis and numerous chronic autoimmune disorders.
According to Child Health Safety, the U.S. government admitted as much when a Court found in favor of a plaintiff (deceased by the time the decision was made) who had developed systemic lupus erythematosus:
"Tambra Harris ... filed a petition for compensation alleging that she suffered certain injuries as a result of receiving a vaccination. Among the injuries petitioner alleged that she had suffered as a result of receiving a hepatitis B vaccination was systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) ... A lump sum of $475,000.00 in the form of a check payable to petitioner as Administratrix of the Estate of Tambra Harris."
Since parents' concerns about childhood vaccine safety have greatly increased during the past five years, a new report also suggests that pediatricians and family physicians should figure out ways to spend LESS time talking with them about it.
According to American Medical News:
"Because of the amount of time needed to address immunization safety for these parents, there is a larger burden on pediatricians and family physicians to address these concerns during well-child appointments."
Three hepatitis B shots are part of the standard government-recommended childhood vaccination schedule, with the first dose given at 12 hours of age in the newborn nursery of most hospitals.
Despite what you may hear in the media, reactions can be serious. In fact, hepatitis B appears to be one of the most problematic vaccines on the current schedule.
As Dr. Jane Orient of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) testified to Congress:
"For most children, the risk of a serious vaccine reaction may be 100 times greater than the risk of hepatitis B."
Now the U.S. government has also conceded that the vaccine carries risks, specifically they have conceded that it may cause systemic lupus erythematosus.
Nearly Half a Million Dollars Awarded to Hepatitis B Vaccine Victim
On August 29, 2001, Tambra Harris filed a petition for compensation alleging that she suffered certain injuries, including lupus (SLE), as a result of receiving a hepatitis B vaccination. Harris sought an award under the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, and on March 22, 2011 -- nearly 10 years later! -- counsel for both parties filed a stipulation stating that a decision should be entered awarding compensation.
A lump sum of $475,000 was awarded to the Estate of Tambra Harris as "compensation for all damages." Unfortunately, Tambra died in November 2009, so she never got to see the result of her petition.
This is only one case of many reported serious reactions to the hepatitis B vaccine.
Routine use of the hepatitis B vaccine for all newborns began in 1992, and according to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), operated jointly by the CDC and FDA, there were 36,788 officially reported adverse reactions to hepatitis B vaccines between 1992 and 2005. Of these, 14,800 were serious enough to cause hospitalization, life-threatening health events or permanent disabilities.
And 781 people were reported to have DIED following hepatitis B vaccination -- and this is likely an underestimate because only a fraction of the serious health problems, including deaths, following vaccination are ever acknowledged due to a lack of public awareness about how to recognize signs and symptoms of vaccine reactions.
Vaccine adverse events are substantially underreported—some estimate by as much as 90 percent—even though the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 mandated that all doctors and other vaccine providers report serious health problems, including hospitalizations, injuries and deaths following vaccination.
The 1986 Act did not include sanctions for failing to report potential vaccine reactions to VAERS and so most vaccine providers do not file a report when the health of a person recently vaccinated begins to deteriorate.
Many vaccine reactions are not even recognized by medical personnel as vaccine-related.
For instance, when babies die after hep B vaccinations, most of the time their deaths are automatically attributed to SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) without investigation into whether the vaccine caused the baby's sudden death.
When a baby's death is listed as "SIDS," rarely does anyone ask about the deceased infant's vaccination history to find out whether there were symptoms of vaccine reactions before death.
You Catch Hepatitis B the Same Way You Catch AIDS
The serious safety risks surrounding the hep B shot become even more unacceptable when you look into how the disease is actually transmitted. Hepatitis B is a viral infection that affects your liver, and spreads through direct contact with the body fluids (particularly blood and semen) of an infected person.
Hepatitis B is a primarily blood-transmitted disease associated with lifestyle choices such as unprotected sex with multiple partners and intravenous drug use involving sharing needles—it is NOT primarily a "children's disease" or that of newborn babies!
As the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) reported in the 1990's, after the federal government licensed and began promoting universal use of hepatitis B vaccine for all newborn infants and children:
"In increasing numbers, parents across the country are contacting the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) to report opposition to regulations being enacted by state health department officials that legally require children to be injected with three doses of hepatitis B vaccine before being allowed to attend daycare, kindergarten, elementary school, high school or college.
Simultaneously, as more schools and employers bow to pressure from government health officials and require individuals to show proof they have been injected with hepatitis B vaccine before being allowed to get an education or a job, reports of serious health problems following hepatitis B vaccination among children and adults are multiplying."
What Other Side Effects are Associated with Hep B Vaccine?
Common reactions include fatigue, muscle weakness, fever, headache, irritability, and joint pain. But there have been reports of disabling neurological and immunological disorders that have developed following hepatitis B vaccinations as well, including:
Multiple sclerosis (MS)
Guillain Barre syndrome
Bell's Palsy
Diabetes
Rheumatoid arthritis
Lupus
Idiopathic Thrombocytopenia purpura
Convulsions and brain disorders such as encephalitis (brain swelling)
and brain demyelination
Immune dysfunction
Visual and hearing impairments,
including optic neuritis
Pancreatitis
Autism spectrum disorders
A study published September 2009 in Annals of Epidemiology also found that giving hepatitis B vaccine to infant boys more than tripled their risk for an autism spectrum disorder. This was doubly concerning because an earlier study by the same researcher group, using a different database, found the same results.
For all of these serious risks, what is your baby getting in return?
Consider that not only do infants and children rarely acquire hepatitis B, but vaccines only confer temporary, partial immunity and the length of time you are protected from hepatitis B after receiving the vaccine series has gotten shorter and shorter as studies have revealed antibody levels decline much more rapidly than vaccine developers and policymakers expected.
What this means is that by the time your child may be exposed to hepatitis B, the vaccine they received at birth will likely no longer offer them protection.
So why vaccinate them at birth, especially considering that babies have been found to respond to the vaccine by having an intense, persistent and completely abnormal immune response, which could ultimately result in your child developing permanent brain and immune system dysfunction?
It is not logical. Makes no sense, none, nada, zip.
This is a seriously flawed public health policy recommendation that is not backed up by good science.
Doctors Actually Encouraged to Spend LESS Time Warning of Vaccine Dangers!
The knowledge that vaccines carry risks is becoming more widespread in the United States and other developed countries as more children and adults are getting vaccinated with multiple vaccines and suffering serious health problems that become permanent.
At the same time, parents are asking doctors more questions about why vaccines are not making their children healthier but are making them sicker and doctors and public health officials have no answers.
The bottom line is that, as more people become educated about vaccine side effects, they are demanding to take control of their health. It is a GREAT sign, as it means the more people are educating themselves, the more they are taking responsibility for making their own health care decisions.
In fact, according to a new report in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine nearly 80 percent of pediatricians and family care physicians have at least one vaccine refusal a month, and 89 percent have at least one request a month to spread out the administration of vaccines over multiple visits.
The conclusion of the report, though, was that as parents become more aware of vaccine safety concerns, physicians are having to take more time discussing this at appointments.
And this, the report found, was making their jobs "less satisfying," especially for pediatricians.
That's right, the study found that 46 percent of pediatricians reported their job was less satisfying because of parental vaccine concerns. After all, the study shows that about one in two doctors may spend up to 19 minutes on the topic with parents who have substantial immunization concerns.
The researchers actually concluded:
"The burden of communicating with parents about vaccines is high, especially among pediatricians. Physicians report the greatest success convincing skeptical parents using messages that rely on their personal choices and experiences."
In other words, since it's apparently simply too much trouble for pediatricians to address the valid concerns of parents AND because pediatricians do not have good answers for why so many highly vaccinated children are so sick, perhaps they shouldn't bother answering questions, or perhaps they should instill their own personal beliefs and vaccine risk denial onto patients in an effort to shut them up quickly.
I guess when it comes to the safety of a child, 19 minutes is too much to ask of many pediatricians. If yours is one of them, I suggest you find a new pediatrician, pronto. Remember you can always FIRE your doctor. It is YOUR right and YOUR choice to take control of your health and your family's health and you should NEVER allow any doctor to interfere with that right.
What Every Parent Should Know About Vaccinations
I want to remind you that you have every right to not only ask questions about vaccine safety, but also to decide which vaccinations you would like to receive or decline for yourself and your children. I highly recommend all parents consider the following steps before consenting to vaccinations, including hepatitis B:
•Educate yourself about vaccination, including reading the vaccine manufacturer product inserts for vaccines that your doctor is recommending and reviewing vaccine information on this website and websites like NVIC.org.
•Help educate your family, and your community by circulating this newsletter among your friends, neighbors, doctors, lawyers, teachers, school principles, nurses, local newspaper, TV and radio stations. Send a copy of this newsletter with a personal note to your elected representatives.
•The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) provides information for consumers about vaccines and diseases and works to protect vaccine choices. Register today for the NVIC Advocacy Portal, an online interactive database and communication system that will help YOU protect vaccine exemptions in YOUR state.
•Report vaccine reactions to the federal government (VAERS) and to the NVIC Vaccine Reaction Registry by visiting the NVIC website. This reporting is EXTREMELY important and necessary if we are to accelerate change.
•If you are pregnant, get tested for hepatitis B disease. If you are infected, your baby may be at higher risk for becoming infected with hepatitis B and is a candidate for vaccination, so you should explore all sides of the issue with your physician.
•Stand up for your informed consent rights. If you are opposed to the hepatitis B vaccine for your baby at birth, you can amend the "consent for medical treatment" forms you sign upon entering the hospital before giving birth by writing on the form that you do not give consent for your baby's hepatitis B vaccination in the newborn nursery.
However, there are reports that some newborns are being vaccinated in the newborn nursery against the parent's wishes. So it is a good idea to keep your newborn with you at all times or have a family member stay with the baby while in the hospital.
•Vaccine exemptions: Although hepatitis B vaccines may be "mandated" for your child to attend school, each state offers different legal exemptions (medical, religious, and philosophical). Research your state's specific vaccine requirements and find out what kind of exemption to vaccination you are allowed to exercise in your state.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
New Study: Hepatitis B Vaccine Triples the Risk of Autism in Infant Boys
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-kirby/new-study-hepatitis-b-vac_b_289288.html
"The science is largely complete. Ten epidemiological studies have shown MMR vaccine doesn't cause autism; six have shown thimerosal doesn't cause autism."-- Dr. Paul Offit, "Autism's False Prophets"
"16 studies have shown no causal association between vaccines and autism, and these studies carry weight in the scientific industry."-- Dr. Nancy Snyderman, NBC Today Show Medical Editor
Conventional wisdom holds that the autism-vaccine question has been "asked and answered," and that at least 16 large, well-constructed epidemiological studies have thoroughly addressed and debunked any hypothesis that childhood vaccination is in any way associated with an increased risk for autism spectrum disorders.
But there are several critical flaws in such an oversimplified generalization, and they are rarely given close examination by public health experts or members of the media.
To begin with, it is unscientific and perilously misleading for anyone to assert that "vaccines and autism" have been studied and that no link has been found. That's because the 16 or so studies constantly cited by critics of the hypothesis have examined just one vaccine and one vaccine ingredient.
And, the population studies themselves have had critical design flaws and limitations.
The current US childhood immunization schedule calls for 28 injections with 11 different vaccines against 15 different diseases by two years of age. Of those 11 vaccines, only the Measles-Mumps-Rubella (MMR) shot has been studied in association with autism, (although a CDC study of an MMR-plus-chickenpox vaccine did show that the risk for febrile seizures in infants was doubled.) Meanwhile, those 11 vaccines contain scores of ingredients, only one of which, thimerosal, has ever been tested in association with autism.
It is illogical to exonerate all vaccines, all vaccine ingredients, and the total US vaccine program as a whole, based solely on a handful of epidemiological studies of just one vaccine and one vaccine ingredient. It is akin to claiming that every form of animal protein is beneficial to people, when all you have studied is fish.
Now, a new study has shown that giving Hepatitis B vaccine to newborn baby boys may triple the risk of developing an autism spectrum disorder.
An abstract of the study was published in the September, 2009 issue of the respected journal Annals of Epidemiology. In it, Carolyn Gallagher and Melody Goodman of the Graduate Program in Public Health at Stony Brook University Medical Center, NY, wrote that, "Boys who received the hepatitis B vaccine during the first month of life had 2.94 greater odds for ASD compared to later- or unvaccinated boys."
The conclusion states that: "Findings suggest that U.S. male neonates vaccinated with hepatitis B vaccine had a 3-fold greater risk of ASD; risk was greatest for non-white boys." The authors used U.S. probability samples obtained from National Health Interview Survey 1997-2002 datasets.
Critics will point out that this sample was limited to boys born before 1999, so the results are only applicable to that U.S. male birth cohort, and that the study's cross-sectional design limits inferences on causality. Another weakness is that the autism diagnoses were parent reported.
On the other hand, these results are generalizable to US boys age 3-17 born prior to 1999; vaccination status was confirmed through medical records; and there was controlling for confounders that may be associated with care seeking behaviors. (The P-value equaled 0.032) The full manuscript is currently under review by another journal.
Assuming that the full manuscript is published in a peer-reviewed journal, it will be among the first university-based population studies to suggest an association between a vaccine and an increased risk for autism. And that would be in direct contradiction to all those MMR and thimerosal studies that purportedly found no such link.
Does that mean that Hepatitis B vaccine causes autism? Of course not (though any relative risk above 2.0 is generally considered to prove causation in a US court of law).
But there are other studies, both published and greatly anticipated, which might support a hypothesized causal association between HepB vaccine and ASD, at least in boys.
Any day now, data culled from CDC's Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring network (ADDM), is expected to be published in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, and the numbers are expected to put the rate of autism at around 1 in 100, or higher.
ADDM researchers examine the education and (when possible) medical records of all eight-year-old children in selected US cities and states. They look only at eight-year-old cohorts to allow time for all diagnoses to be made, reported and counted.
So far, ADDM has published data from just two birth cohorts: children born in 1992 (eight-year-olds in 2000) and those born in 1994 (eight-year-olds in 2002). The 1992 cohort revealed an estimated ASD rate of one in 166, or 60-per-10,000. (This has since been revised to 67-per-10,000, or one in 150).
For the 1994 cohort, the estimate was virtually unchanged, at 66-per-10,000.
But now that number is expected to exceed 100-per-10,000 for the 1996 birth cohort, born just two years later. The overarching question, of course, will be, "why?"
There are many possible explanations, though a 50% increase in just two years is astonishing, no matter what its cause.
One possible answer is the Hepatitis B vaccine, (which also contained 25 micrograms of mercury containing thimerosal up until 2002). Introduced in 1991, it was the first vaccine ever given on a population basis to newborn babies (within the first three hours after delivery) in human history.
But according to the CDC's National Immunization Survey, only 8% of infant children received the Hep B vaccine in 1992, when that birth cohort showed an ASD rate of 1-in-150.
By 1994, the number of children receiving Hep B vaccine had reached just 27% -- and the cohort showed a similar ASD rate, though it did go up by as much as 10% in some locations between the two cohorts.
But by 1996, Hep B coverage rate had risen to 82%. And that is the cohort whose ASD rate rose to around 100-per-10,000 or more.
Correlation, obviously, does not equal causation. But the uptake rate of that particular immunization is at least one environmental factor that did demonstrably change during the period in question.
In addition, some recent studies and Vaccine Court decisions have supported the contention that Hepatitis B vaccine can damage myelin -- the nervous system's main insulating component -- at least in certain genetically susceptible adults and infants.
A study published last October in the journal Neurology found that children who received the Hepatitis B vaccine series were 50% more likely to develop "central nervous system inflammatory demyelination" than children who did not receive the vaccine.
Most of this increase was due to the Engerix B brand of the vaccine, manufactured by the UK's GlaxoSmithKline. That brand increased the risk of demyelination by 74%, and patients with confirmed multiple sclerosis were nearly three times more likely to develop the disorder.
"Hepatitis B vaccination does not generally increase the risk of CNS inflammatory demyelination in childhood," the authors concluded. "However, the Engerix B vaccine appears to increase this risk, particularly for confirmed multiple sclerosis, in the longer term. Our results require confirmation in future studies."
Let's hope that future studies of neonatal HebB administration, demyelinating disorders, and ASD are completed as quickly as possible.
"The science is largely complete. Ten epidemiological studies have shown MMR vaccine doesn't cause autism; six have shown thimerosal doesn't cause autism."-- Dr. Paul Offit, "Autism's False Prophets"
"16 studies have shown no causal association between vaccines and autism, and these studies carry weight in the scientific industry."-- Dr. Nancy Snyderman, NBC Today Show Medical Editor
Conventional wisdom holds that the autism-vaccine question has been "asked and answered," and that at least 16 large, well-constructed epidemiological studies have thoroughly addressed and debunked any hypothesis that childhood vaccination is in any way associated with an increased risk for autism spectrum disorders.
But there are several critical flaws in such an oversimplified generalization, and they are rarely given close examination by public health experts or members of the media.
To begin with, it is unscientific and perilously misleading for anyone to assert that "vaccines and autism" have been studied and that no link has been found. That's because the 16 or so studies constantly cited by critics of the hypothesis have examined just one vaccine and one vaccine ingredient.
And, the population studies themselves have had critical design flaws and limitations.
The current US childhood immunization schedule calls for 28 injections with 11 different vaccines against 15 different diseases by two years of age. Of those 11 vaccines, only the Measles-Mumps-Rubella (MMR) shot has been studied in association with autism, (although a CDC study of an MMR-plus-chickenpox vaccine did show that the risk for febrile seizures in infants was doubled.) Meanwhile, those 11 vaccines contain scores of ingredients, only one of which, thimerosal, has ever been tested in association with autism.
It is illogical to exonerate all vaccines, all vaccine ingredients, and the total US vaccine program as a whole, based solely on a handful of epidemiological studies of just one vaccine and one vaccine ingredient. It is akin to claiming that every form of animal protein is beneficial to people, when all you have studied is fish.
Now, a new study has shown that giving Hepatitis B vaccine to newborn baby boys may triple the risk of developing an autism spectrum disorder.
An abstract of the study was published in the September, 2009 issue of the respected journal Annals of Epidemiology. In it, Carolyn Gallagher and Melody Goodman of the Graduate Program in Public Health at Stony Brook University Medical Center, NY, wrote that, "Boys who received the hepatitis B vaccine during the first month of life had 2.94 greater odds for ASD compared to later- or unvaccinated boys."
The conclusion states that: "Findings suggest that U.S. male neonates vaccinated with hepatitis B vaccine had a 3-fold greater risk of ASD; risk was greatest for non-white boys." The authors used U.S. probability samples obtained from National Health Interview Survey 1997-2002 datasets.
Critics will point out that this sample was limited to boys born before 1999, so the results are only applicable to that U.S. male birth cohort, and that the study's cross-sectional design limits inferences on causality. Another weakness is that the autism diagnoses were parent reported.
On the other hand, these results are generalizable to US boys age 3-17 born prior to 1999; vaccination status was confirmed through medical records; and there was controlling for confounders that may be associated with care seeking behaviors. (The P-value equaled 0.032) The full manuscript is currently under review by another journal.
Assuming that the full manuscript is published in a peer-reviewed journal, it will be among the first university-based population studies to suggest an association between a vaccine and an increased risk for autism. And that would be in direct contradiction to all those MMR and thimerosal studies that purportedly found no such link.
Does that mean that Hepatitis B vaccine causes autism? Of course not (though any relative risk above 2.0 is generally considered to prove causation in a US court of law).
But there are other studies, both published and greatly anticipated, which might support a hypothesized causal association between HepB vaccine and ASD, at least in boys.
Any day now, data culled from CDC's Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring network (ADDM), is expected to be published in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, and the numbers are expected to put the rate of autism at around 1 in 100, or higher.
ADDM researchers examine the education and (when possible) medical records of all eight-year-old children in selected US cities and states. They look only at eight-year-old cohorts to allow time for all diagnoses to be made, reported and counted.
So far, ADDM has published data from just two birth cohorts: children born in 1992 (eight-year-olds in 2000) and those born in 1994 (eight-year-olds in 2002). The 1992 cohort revealed an estimated ASD rate of one in 166, or 60-per-10,000. (This has since been revised to 67-per-10,000, or one in 150).
For the 1994 cohort, the estimate was virtually unchanged, at 66-per-10,000.
But now that number is expected to exceed 100-per-10,000 for the 1996 birth cohort, born just two years later. The overarching question, of course, will be, "why?"
There are many possible explanations, though a 50% increase in just two years is astonishing, no matter what its cause.
One possible answer is the Hepatitis B vaccine, (which also contained 25 micrograms of mercury containing thimerosal up until 2002). Introduced in 1991, it was the first vaccine ever given on a population basis to newborn babies (within the first three hours after delivery) in human history.
But according to the CDC's National Immunization Survey, only 8% of infant children received the Hep B vaccine in 1992, when that birth cohort showed an ASD rate of 1-in-150.
By 1994, the number of children receiving Hep B vaccine had reached just 27% -- and the cohort showed a similar ASD rate, though it did go up by as much as 10% in some locations between the two cohorts.
But by 1996, Hep B coverage rate had risen to 82%. And that is the cohort whose ASD rate rose to around 100-per-10,000 or more.
Correlation, obviously, does not equal causation. But the uptake rate of that particular immunization is at least one environmental factor that did demonstrably change during the period in question.
In addition, some recent studies and Vaccine Court decisions have supported the contention that Hepatitis B vaccine can damage myelin -- the nervous system's main insulating component -- at least in certain genetically susceptible adults and infants.
A study published last October in the journal Neurology found that children who received the Hepatitis B vaccine series were 50% more likely to develop "central nervous system inflammatory demyelination" than children who did not receive the vaccine.
Most of this increase was due to the Engerix B brand of the vaccine, manufactured by the UK's GlaxoSmithKline. That brand increased the risk of demyelination by 74%, and patients with confirmed multiple sclerosis were nearly three times more likely to develop the disorder.
"Hepatitis B vaccination does not generally increase the risk of CNS inflammatory demyelination in childhood," the authors concluded. "However, the Engerix B vaccine appears to increase this risk, particularly for confirmed multiple sclerosis, in the longer term. Our results require confirmation in future studies."
Let's hope that future studies of neonatal HebB administration, demyelinating disorders, and ASD are completed as quickly as possible.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Hepatitis B vaccination of male neonates and autism diagnosis, NHIS 1997-2002
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21058170
Abstract
Universal hepatitis B vaccination was recommended for U.S. newborns in 1991; however, safety findings are mixed. The association between hepatitis B vaccination of male neonates and parental report of autism diagnosis was determined. This cross-sectional study used weighted probability samples obtained from National Health Interview Survey 1997-2002 data sets. Vaccination status was determined from the vaccination record. Logistic regression was used to estimate the odds for autism diagnosis associated with neonatal hepatitis B vaccination among boys age 3-17 years, born before 1999, adjusted for race, maternal education, and two-parent household. Boys vaccinated as neonates had threefold greater odds for autism diagnosis compared to boys never vaccinated or vaccinated after the first month of life. Non-Hispanic white boys were 64% less likely to have autism diagnosis relative to nonwhite boys. Findings suggest that U.S. male neonates vaccinated with the hepatitis B vaccine prior to 1999 (from vaccination record) had a threefold higher risk for parental report of autism diagnosis compared to boys not vaccinated as neonates during that same time period. Nonwhite boys bore a greater risk.
PMID: 21058170 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Abstract
Universal hepatitis B vaccination was recommended for U.S. newborns in 1991; however, safety findings are mixed. The association between hepatitis B vaccination of male neonates and parental report of autism diagnosis was determined. This cross-sectional study used weighted probability samples obtained from National Health Interview Survey 1997-2002 data sets. Vaccination status was determined from the vaccination record. Logistic regression was used to estimate the odds for autism diagnosis associated with neonatal hepatitis B vaccination among boys age 3-17 years, born before 1999, adjusted for race, maternal education, and two-parent household. Boys vaccinated as neonates had threefold greater odds for autism diagnosis compared to boys never vaccinated or vaccinated after the first month of life. Non-Hispanic white boys were 64% less likely to have autism diagnosis relative to nonwhite boys. Findings suggest that U.S. male neonates vaccinated with the hepatitis B vaccine prior to 1999 (from vaccination record) had a threefold higher risk for parental report of autism diagnosis compared to boys not vaccinated as neonates during that same time period. Nonwhite boys bore a greater risk.
PMID: 21058170 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Monday, January 3, 2011
Nobel winner ties mental illness to immune defect
http://esciencenews.com/articles/2010/05/27/nobel.winner.ties.mental.illness.immune.defect
A Nobel Prize-winning University of Utah geneticist discovered that bone marrow transplants cure mutant mice who pull out their hair compulsively. The study provides the first cause-and-effect link between immune system cells and mental illness, and points toward eventual new psychiatric treatments. "We're showing there is a direct relationship between a psychiatric disorder and the immune system, specifically cells named microglia that are derived from bone marrow" and are found in the brain, says Mario Capecchi, a distinguished professor of human genetics at the University of Utah School of Medicine. "There's been an inference. But nobody has previously made a direct connection between the two."
The findings – published in the Friday, May 28 issue of the journal Cell – should inspire researchers "to think about potential new immune-based therapies for psychiatric disorders," says Capecchi, a 2007 Nobel laureate in physiology or medicine.
Capecchi and colleagues showed that pathological grooming and hair-pulling in mice – a disorder similar to trichotillomania (trick-o-til-o-MAY-nee-ah) in humans – is caused by a mutant Hoxb8 gene that results in defective microglia, which are immune system cells that originate in bone marrow and migrate from blood to the brain. Microglia defend the brain and spinal cord, attacking and engulfing infectious agents.
Mice with pathological grooming appear to groom normally, but do so too often and for too long, leading to hair removal and self-inflicted skin wounds. The disease of pulling out head or body hair is common in humans; studies in seven international communities found trichotillomania affecting 1.9 to 2.5 of every 100 people.
In the key experiment, geneticist Shau-Kwaun Chen, Capecchi and colleagues transplanted bone marrow from normal mice into 10 mice that had a mutant Hoxb8 gene and compulsively pulled out their own chest, stomach and side fur. As the transplant took hold during ensuing months, grooming behavior became normal, four mice recovered completely and the other six showed extensive hair growth and healing of wounds.
"A lot of people are going to find it amazing," says Capecchi. "That's the surprise: bone marrow can correct a behavioral defect."
Nevertheless, "I'm not proposing we should do bone marrow transplants for any psychiatric disorder" in humans, he says. Bone marrow transplants are expensive, and the risks and complications are so severe they generally are used only to treat life-threatening illnesses, including certain cancers and disabling autoimmune diseases such as lupus.
Capecchi says that mice with the mutant gene that causes pathological grooming now can be used to study the surprising connections between the immune system's microglia cells and mental illness – and ultimately to produce new treatments.
"We think it's a very good model for obsessive-compulsive disorder," he says.
The researchers also transplanted bone marrow into normal mice from Hoxb8 mutant, hair-pulling mice. The normal mice started pulling out their hair compulsively. Normal mice transplanted with normal bone marrow kept grooming normally, while mutant mice implanted with mutant bone marrow exhibited severe grooming and self-mutilation. Half died, probably due to difficulty re-establishing mutant bone marrow.
Capecchi and colleagues also proved that reduced sensitivity to pain among mutant Hoxb8 mice is not the cause of the animals' compulsive grooming and hair removal, as some researchers had believed.
Mutant Microglia from Marrow Link Immunity and Mental Disorder
Capecchi says previous studies have linked the immune system and psychiatric disorders, but not in a cause-and-effect manner.
"If you look at people who are depressed, often you find their immune system isn't working normally," Capecchi says. And studies have shown that genes that confer a higher rate of depression, schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, bipolar disorder and autism also "have something to do with the immune system," he adds.
The new findings "provide direct evidence for an association between neuropsychiatric diseases and dysfunction of the immune system or of the blood-forming system," says Capecchi.
Hox genes orchestrate embryo development. Hoxb8 is responsible for maintaining "myeloid progenitor cells," including those that give rise to monocytes, which are white blood cells that move from the circulatory system to the brain and become microglia.
It was surprising that the new study identified mutant microglia cells that originate in bone marrow as the cause of compulsive hair-pulling in mice. Researchers expected to find the mutant Hoxb8 in brain nerve cells that control grooming.
It is the first study to suggest "there is a connection between microglia and behavior – and a direct connection," Capecchi says.
Capecchi says nerve cells or neurons represent only about 10 percent of the brain, and the rest is made of various glial cells, including microglia. There are two kinds of microglia in the brain. Sixty percent are "resident" microglia that form in an embryo's brain even before the blood circulation system develops. The second kind of microglia in the brain – 40 percent of the total – originates in bone marrow, and then moves to the brain, circumventing the blood-brain barrier.
The geneticists believed the mutant microglia originated in bone marrow because they did not find them among the resident microglia present in the mouse brain at birth, but instead saw microglia with mutant Hoxb8 first migrate into the mouse brain two days after birth. To identify the cells in the brain with active mutant Hoxb8 genes, the researchers used a method that attached a fluorescent yellow-green label to such cells.
Pathological Grooming is Different than Scratching an Itchy Rump
Capecchi first reported in 2002 that mice with mutant Hoxb8 genes displayed compulsive grooming and pulling out the hair on their chest, stomach and sides. Over the years, some researchers attributed this to reduced pain sensitivity also observed in mutant Hoxb8 mice, apparently due to nerve damage in the spinal cord. The idea was that reduced sensitivity to pain would make mice scratch more in response to an itch. In the new study, the Utah geneticists concluded that compulsive grooming and reduced sensitivity to pain were due to separate malfunctions of the Hoxb8 gene; the bone marrow transplants that cured hair-pulling did not restore the loss of pain sensitivity.
Also, mutating Hoxb8 genes in microglia from bone marrow made the mice groom pathologically but didn't make them insensitive to pain. Mutating Hoxb8 in the spinal cord resulted in reduced sensitivity to pain, but not compulsive grooming.
Finally, in earlier studies of mice insensitive to pain due to mutant Hoxb8, the mice used paws to scratch too much and cause hair loss and wounds on their rumps, near the tail. But mice in the Utah study used their teeth to remove hair on their chest, stomach and sides. They followed a normal head-to-rear grooming pattern, but did it excessively.
To be Determined: How Mutant Microglia Cause Hair-Pulling
How do mutant immune cells from bone marrow cause pathological grooming?
All we know now is that there are 15 percent fewer microglia in the brain when Hoxb8 is mutant, Capecchi says. "In the next wave of experiments, we can ask how microglia affect behavior. We anticipate it has to affect neural circuitry in some way."
He speculates ways mutant microglia might trigger pathological grooming: The microglia could make cytokines that activate or inhibit nerve activity, and thus influence behavior. Because microglia have long extensions that "feel" the synapses that connect nerve cells, they might be involved in controlling nerve-signal transmissions, he says.
For now, "we have no idea which will be right," Capecchi says.
In Capecchi's 2002 study of mice with compulsive grooming, the researchers recorded the number and duration of each mouse's grooming sessions using a video recorder, which was very labor intensive to analyze. So in the new study, the mouse cages were placed on sensitive vibration-detecting platforms capable of distinguishing mouse vibration from different activities such as eating, drinking, grooming, climbing, sitting still, walking and scratching. They tested the method's accuracy by using a video camera to double check what the mice were doing at times.
The result: Mice with the mutant Hoxb8 gene spent about twice as much time grooming as their normal littermates.
The new study was funded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the National Institutes of Health. Capecchi is senior author. The first author is Chen, who recently completed a Ph.D. in human genetics. They conducted the study with human genetics postdoctoral fellows Petr Tvrdik, Erik Peden and Sen Wu; Gerald Spangrude, an internal medicine professor; and Scott Cho, a graduate student in Spangrude's lab.
Capecchi shared the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for developing "gene targeting" in mice, a method of knocking genes out of action to see what goes wrong and thus learn each gene's normal function.
Source: University of Utah Health Sciences
A Nobel Prize-winning University of Utah geneticist discovered that bone marrow transplants cure mutant mice who pull out their hair compulsively. The study provides the first cause-and-effect link between immune system cells and mental illness, and points toward eventual new psychiatric treatments. "We're showing there is a direct relationship between a psychiatric disorder and the immune system, specifically cells named microglia that are derived from bone marrow" and are found in the brain, says Mario Capecchi, a distinguished professor of human genetics at the University of Utah School of Medicine. "There's been an inference. But nobody has previously made a direct connection between the two."
The findings – published in the Friday, May 28 issue of the journal Cell – should inspire researchers "to think about potential new immune-based therapies for psychiatric disorders," says Capecchi, a 2007 Nobel laureate in physiology or medicine.
Capecchi and colleagues showed that pathological grooming and hair-pulling in mice – a disorder similar to trichotillomania (trick-o-til-o-MAY-nee-ah) in humans – is caused by a mutant Hoxb8 gene that results in defective microglia, which are immune system cells that originate in bone marrow and migrate from blood to the brain. Microglia defend the brain and spinal cord, attacking and engulfing infectious agents.
Mice with pathological grooming appear to groom normally, but do so too often and for too long, leading to hair removal and self-inflicted skin wounds. The disease of pulling out head or body hair is common in humans; studies in seven international communities found trichotillomania affecting 1.9 to 2.5 of every 100 people.
In the key experiment, geneticist Shau-Kwaun Chen, Capecchi and colleagues transplanted bone marrow from normal mice into 10 mice that had a mutant Hoxb8 gene and compulsively pulled out their own chest, stomach and side fur. As the transplant took hold during ensuing months, grooming behavior became normal, four mice recovered completely and the other six showed extensive hair growth and healing of wounds.
"A lot of people are going to find it amazing," says Capecchi. "That's the surprise: bone marrow can correct a behavioral defect."
Nevertheless, "I'm not proposing we should do bone marrow transplants for any psychiatric disorder" in humans, he says. Bone marrow transplants are expensive, and the risks and complications are so severe they generally are used only to treat life-threatening illnesses, including certain cancers and disabling autoimmune diseases such as lupus.
Capecchi says that mice with the mutant gene that causes pathological grooming now can be used to study the surprising connections between the immune system's microglia cells and mental illness – and ultimately to produce new treatments.
"We think it's a very good model for obsessive-compulsive disorder," he says.
The researchers also transplanted bone marrow into normal mice from Hoxb8 mutant, hair-pulling mice. The normal mice started pulling out their hair compulsively. Normal mice transplanted with normal bone marrow kept grooming normally, while mutant mice implanted with mutant bone marrow exhibited severe grooming and self-mutilation. Half died, probably due to difficulty re-establishing mutant bone marrow.
Capecchi and colleagues also proved that reduced sensitivity to pain among mutant Hoxb8 mice is not the cause of the animals' compulsive grooming and hair removal, as some researchers had believed.
Mutant Microglia from Marrow Link Immunity and Mental Disorder
Capecchi says previous studies have linked the immune system and psychiatric disorders, but not in a cause-and-effect manner.
"If you look at people who are depressed, often you find their immune system isn't working normally," Capecchi says. And studies have shown that genes that confer a higher rate of depression, schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, bipolar disorder and autism also "have something to do with the immune system," he adds.
The new findings "provide direct evidence for an association between neuropsychiatric diseases and dysfunction of the immune system or of the blood-forming system," says Capecchi.
Hox genes orchestrate embryo development. Hoxb8 is responsible for maintaining "myeloid progenitor cells," including those that give rise to monocytes, which are white blood cells that move from the circulatory system to the brain and become microglia.
It was surprising that the new study identified mutant microglia cells that originate in bone marrow as the cause of compulsive hair-pulling in mice. Researchers expected to find the mutant Hoxb8 in brain nerve cells that control grooming.
It is the first study to suggest "there is a connection between microglia and behavior – and a direct connection," Capecchi says.
Capecchi says nerve cells or neurons represent only about 10 percent of the brain, and the rest is made of various glial cells, including microglia. There are two kinds of microglia in the brain. Sixty percent are "resident" microglia that form in an embryo's brain even before the blood circulation system develops. The second kind of microglia in the brain – 40 percent of the total – originates in bone marrow, and then moves to the brain, circumventing the blood-brain barrier.
The geneticists believed the mutant microglia originated in bone marrow because they did not find them among the resident microglia present in the mouse brain at birth, but instead saw microglia with mutant Hoxb8 first migrate into the mouse brain two days after birth. To identify the cells in the brain with active mutant Hoxb8 genes, the researchers used a method that attached a fluorescent yellow-green label to such cells.
Pathological Grooming is Different than Scratching an Itchy Rump
Capecchi first reported in 2002 that mice with mutant Hoxb8 genes displayed compulsive grooming and pulling out the hair on their chest, stomach and sides. Over the years, some researchers attributed this to reduced pain sensitivity also observed in mutant Hoxb8 mice, apparently due to nerve damage in the spinal cord. The idea was that reduced sensitivity to pain would make mice scratch more in response to an itch. In the new study, the Utah geneticists concluded that compulsive grooming and reduced sensitivity to pain were due to separate malfunctions of the Hoxb8 gene; the bone marrow transplants that cured hair-pulling did not restore the loss of pain sensitivity.
Also, mutating Hoxb8 genes in microglia from bone marrow made the mice groom pathologically but didn't make them insensitive to pain. Mutating Hoxb8 in the spinal cord resulted in reduced sensitivity to pain, but not compulsive grooming.
Finally, in earlier studies of mice insensitive to pain due to mutant Hoxb8, the mice used paws to scratch too much and cause hair loss and wounds on their rumps, near the tail. But mice in the Utah study used their teeth to remove hair on their chest, stomach and sides. They followed a normal head-to-rear grooming pattern, but did it excessively.
To be Determined: How Mutant Microglia Cause Hair-Pulling
How do mutant immune cells from bone marrow cause pathological grooming?
All we know now is that there are 15 percent fewer microglia in the brain when Hoxb8 is mutant, Capecchi says. "In the next wave of experiments, we can ask how microglia affect behavior. We anticipate it has to affect neural circuitry in some way."
He speculates ways mutant microglia might trigger pathological grooming: The microglia could make cytokines that activate or inhibit nerve activity, and thus influence behavior. Because microglia have long extensions that "feel" the synapses that connect nerve cells, they might be involved in controlling nerve-signal transmissions, he says.
For now, "we have no idea which will be right," Capecchi says.
In Capecchi's 2002 study of mice with compulsive grooming, the researchers recorded the number and duration of each mouse's grooming sessions using a video recorder, which was very labor intensive to analyze. So in the new study, the mouse cages were placed on sensitive vibration-detecting platforms capable of distinguishing mouse vibration from different activities such as eating, drinking, grooming, climbing, sitting still, walking and scratching. They tested the method's accuracy by using a video camera to double check what the mice were doing at times.
The result: Mice with the mutant Hoxb8 gene spent about twice as much time grooming as their normal littermates.
The new study was funded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the National Institutes of Health. Capecchi is senior author. The first author is Chen, who recently completed a Ph.D. in human genetics. They conducted the study with human genetics postdoctoral fellows Petr Tvrdik, Erik Peden and Sen Wu; Gerald Spangrude, an internal medicine professor; and Scott Cho, a graduate student in Spangrude's lab.
Capecchi shared the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for developing "gene targeting" in mice, a method of knocking genes out of action to see what goes wrong and thus learn each gene's normal function.
Source: University of Utah Health Sciences
Thimerosal-free childhood vaccines still suspect in autism
http://www.naturalnews.com/030868_vaccines_autism.html
In a recent article in the Chicago Tribune "Link between autism and vaccines discredited," Dr. Cory Franklin makes the definitive claim that vaccines do not cause autism. The study to which his article refers was published in Pediatrics, the online journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Researchers reviewed the medical records and interviews with parents of 1000 children exposed to an undisclosed amount of thimerosal, the mercury containing preservative once used in childhood vaccines. Because only 25% of these children had autism while the rest claimed to be neuro-typical, Pediatrics claims thimerosal-containing vaccines and immunoglobulins do not significantly increase the risk of autism. This hardly discredits or proves anything, especially given that the study in question lacks any scientific evidence. Should we believe that vaccines don`t cause autism just because only 250 out of 1000 cherry-picked kids in this study have the disorder?
What`s in a childhood vaccine?
Even if thimerosal is no longer used in childhood vaccines, there still remains antibiotics like gentamicin, strepomycin and neomycin.
These vaccines are live viruses cultured in chick embryos, monkey liver cells and fetal cow serum. Some are cultured in human lung cells and almost all vaccines are cultured with human albumin - the plasma from another person`s blood collected from aborted fetuses. Then there are detergents, disguised with difficult-to-pronounce names and used for paints, household and industrial cleaners and metal working fluids.
Some vaccines also contain monosodium L-glutamate (MSG), an excitotoxin known to cause cancer and linked to brain and neurological damage in autism, ADHD and Parkinson`s Disease - not to mention formaldehyde (a known carcinogen), antifreeze, aluminum, emulsifiers and "other buffers."
This is not information that is readily handed out at your child`s well-baby visits, but you can go to Merck`s website and download the prescribing information for almost all of their vaccines. For example, Merck lists the MMR-II vaccine as "preservative-free" and the ingredients as follows:
Active Ingredient: Weakened virus of measles, mumps and rubella viruses
Inactive Ingredients: sorbitol, sodium phosphate, potassium phosphate, sucrose, sodium chloride, hydrolyzed gelatin, recombinant human albumin, fetal bovine serum, other buffer and media ingredients, neomycin.
Translation as follows:
Active ingredient (the objective): Three live viruses - measles, mumps and rubella cultured in unborn chickens and human lung tissue of an aborted fetus
Inactive ingredient >(what they can`t make the vaccine without): sugar alcohol; detergent; a buffer or cell washer to allow chemical reactions to occur; sugar; salt; protein extracted from boiled bones, connective tissues, organs and some intestines of animals such as cattle, pigs and horses; DNA containing protein from human blood plasma created in the human liver; plasma from fetal cow blood often drawn from a live cow fetus after its mother is slaughtered; other stuff; antibiotics.
Most people, if given this information beforehand, would not willingly inject themselves or their children with such a toxic cocktail. It is not surprising that recent studies focus on thimerosal, an ingredient that supposedly has been removed from this vaccine more than seven years ago.
After reading this lengthy list of additives, the question remains - can the ingredients of vaccines increase your risk of autism? Or allergies, or disease, or any condition for that matter?
The truth is simple: there are real risks associated with vaccines and autism is only one. Everyone should be informed before they vaccinate or not vaccinate themselves or their children - after all, this is America and it is your choice.
SOURCES:
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/...
http://www.aap.org/advocacy/release...
http://www.merck.com/product/vaccin...
In a recent article in the Chicago Tribune "Link between autism and vaccines discredited," Dr. Cory Franklin makes the definitive claim that vaccines do not cause autism. The study to which his article refers was published in Pediatrics, the online journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Researchers reviewed the medical records and interviews with parents of 1000 children exposed to an undisclosed amount of thimerosal, the mercury containing preservative once used in childhood vaccines. Because only 25% of these children had autism while the rest claimed to be neuro-typical, Pediatrics claims thimerosal-containing vaccines and immunoglobulins do not significantly increase the risk of autism. This hardly discredits or proves anything, especially given that the study in question lacks any scientific evidence. Should we believe that vaccines don`t cause autism just because only 250 out of 1000 cherry-picked kids in this study have the disorder?
What`s in a childhood vaccine?
Even if thimerosal is no longer used in childhood vaccines, there still remains antibiotics like gentamicin, strepomycin and neomycin.
These vaccines are live viruses cultured in chick embryos, monkey liver cells and fetal cow serum. Some are cultured in human lung cells and almost all vaccines are cultured with human albumin - the plasma from another person`s blood collected from aborted fetuses. Then there are detergents, disguised with difficult-to-pronounce names and used for paints, household and industrial cleaners and metal working fluids.
Some vaccines also contain monosodium L-glutamate (MSG), an excitotoxin known to cause cancer and linked to brain and neurological damage in autism, ADHD and Parkinson`s Disease - not to mention formaldehyde (a known carcinogen), antifreeze, aluminum, emulsifiers and "other buffers."
This is not information that is readily handed out at your child`s well-baby visits, but you can go to Merck`s website and download the prescribing information for almost all of their vaccines. For example, Merck lists the MMR-II vaccine as "preservative-free" and the ingredients as follows:
Active Ingredient: Weakened virus of measles, mumps and rubella viruses
Inactive Ingredients: sorbitol, sodium phosphate, potassium phosphate, sucrose, sodium chloride, hydrolyzed gelatin, recombinant human albumin, fetal bovine serum, other buffer and media ingredients, neomycin.
Translation as follows:
Active ingredient (the objective): Three live viruses - measles, mumps and rubella cultured in unborn chickens and human lung tissue of an aborted fetus
Inactive ingredient >(what they can`t make the vaccine without): sugar alcohol; detergent; a buffer or cell washer to allow chemical reactions to occur; sugar; salt; protein extracted from boiled bones, connective tissues, organs and some intestines of animals such as cattle, pigs and horses; DNA containing protein from human blood plasma created in the human liver; plasma from fetal cow blood often drawn from a live cow fetus after its mother is slaughtered; other stuff; antibiotics.
Most people, if given this information beforehand, would not willingly inject themselves or their children with such a toxic cocktail. It is not surprising that recent studies focus on thimerosal, an ingredient that supposedly has been removed from this vaccine more than seven years ago.
After reading this lengthy list of additives, the question remains - can the ingredients of vaccines increase your risk of autism? Or allergies, or disease, or any condition for that matter?
The truth is simple: there are real risks associated with vaccines and autism is only one. Everyone should be informed before they vaccinate or not vaccinate themselves or their children - after all, this is America and it is your choice.
SOURCES:
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/...
http://www.aap.org/advocacy/release...
http://www.merck.com/product/vaccin...
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