Health Month
Leading Dr.: Vaccines-Autism Worth Study
Government officials and many scientists insist there's nothing about vaccines that can lead to autism."I think it's important for the average parent to know that the government hasn't made a link between vaccines and autism," said Dr. Anne Schuchat of the Centers for Disease Control.
Dr. Bernadine Healy is the former head of the National Institutes of Health, and the most well-known medical voice yet to break with her colleagues on the vaccine-autism question. In an exclusive interview with CBS News, Healy said the question is still open."I think that the public health officials have been too quick to dismiss the hypothesis as irrational," Healy said.
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Potential Side-Effects Of HPV Vaccine Questioned
Gardasil is the world's first vaccine targeting cancer prevention. Its FDA approval triggered efforts across the nation to mandate shots for school girls. Now there are growing concerns that the drug may be linked to some dangerous side effects.
The vaccine targets four types of Human Papilloma Virus, or HPV, that cause most cervical cancers. The Merck product was fast tracked by the Food and Drug Administration in 2006, and aggressively promoted in an advertising campaign.
Now, a government watchdog group says the problems with Gardasil, including Paralysis, convulsions and seizures in young girls, are adding up.
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School ban for kids without an MMR jab; EXCLUSIVE
Children who have not had their MMR jabs would be banned from starting school under a plan being considered by Gordon Brown.The controversial idea will be included in Labour's general election manifesto if it's approved by the PM.
The plan would force parents to provide a certificate showing their children had been vaccinated against measles, mumps and rubella before they could attend school.All children under two would also be vaccinated each year against flu to help Britain fight the risk of a flu pandemic.
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Another kid dies after vaccination
A two-month-old died this week after taking the BCG (Bacille Calmette Guerin) vaccine, given to prevent childhood tuberculosis, TOI has learnt.
The yet-to-be-named infant, the son of Chembur Naka resident Geeta Mane, was administered the BCG vaccine at a health post in Abhudaya Nagar on Tuesday. "BCG is usually given at birth, but health workers who had gone for a polio immunisation round realised that the child hadn't taken his BCG and he was subsequently given the shot at the health post," said a source, adding that the child died the next day.
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Shot through the heart: New vaccine may lower blood pressure
For the one in three Americans who struggle not only with high blood pressure but also with remembering to take daily meds to lower it, a solution is on the medical horizon. Instead of taking a pill every morning, a unique shot has scored remarkably well in a small study. With a dose of the vaccine every few months, the battle with mild-to-moderate hypertension may be won.
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Vaccine falls short in fighting flu
U.S. researchers said survey results show last year's flu vaccine fell far short, compared to past years, in keeping people from getting the virus.
Harris Interactive said the online survey of 2,529 U.S. adults confirmed the findings by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that the vaccine was less effective than the flu vaccines used in previous winters.
In three previous winters, people receiving flu vaccines were 33 percent, 43 percent and 24 percent less likely to get the flu than people who did not get flu shots. This year, people who received flu shots were just as likely to get the flu as those who did not get flu shots, Harris Interactive said in a release.
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A Prospective Study of Mercury Toxicity Biomarkers in Autistic SpectrumDisorders
(ed note - a bit technical, but this article shows via urine testing that mercury is implicated in the development of autistic symptoms - full text of the article is available at the link below)
Porphyrins are derivatives formed in the heme synthesis pathway and porphyrins afford a measure of xenobiotic exposure. The steps in the heme pathway most vulnerable to heavy metal inhibition are uroporphyrin decarboxylase (UROD) and coproporphyrinogen oxidase (CPOX) reactions. Mercury toxicity was associated with elevations in urinary coproporphyrin (cP), pentacarboxyporphyrin (5cxP), and precoproporphyrin (prcP) (also known as keto-isocoproporphyrin) levels. Two cohorts of autistic patients in the United States and France had urine porphyrinlevels associated with mercury toxicity. A prospective study of urinary porphyrin testing at LabCorp (United States) and the Laboratoire Philippe Auguste (France) involving 71 autism spectrum disorder (ASD) patients, urotypical sibling controls, and general population controls was undertaken. ASD patients had significant elevations in urinary levels of cP, 5cxP, and prcP relative to controls, and > 50% of ASD patients had urinary cP levels more than 2 standard deviations above the mean values for neurotypical sibling controls. Significant reductions in urinary 5cxP and cP levels were observed in ASD patients following chelation. A significant correlation was found between urinary porphyrins measured at LabCorp and those measured at the Laboratoire Philippe Auguste on individual ASD patients. The established developmental neurotoxicity attributed to mercury and biochemical/genomic evidence for mercury susceptibility/toxicity in ASDs indicates a causal role for mercury. Urinary porphyrin testing is clinically available, relatively inexpensive, and noninvasive. Porphyrins need to be routinely measured in ASDs
In 1999, the Australian government ordered the removal of mercury from all childhood vaccines. It was several years however before the old mercury-laden vaccines were actually used up and in all that time, children continued to receive mercury - a known killer of brain cells - in their shots.