Seizures after Vaccine are Not due to the Vaccine...it might be worse.

Etiologies for Seizures Around the Time of Vaccination found in 65%!!

Its important to have an expedited evaluation by an epilepsy specialist. JR

Post-immunization epilepsy likely not related to vaccine: study

Reuters: HealthSeptember 17, 2014

(Reuters Health) - Children who start having seizures soon after a vaccination and go on to develop epilepsy usually turn out to have an underlying cause of the seizure disorder, according to a new study published in Pediatrics.

"It's reassuring to hear that with follow-up testing, the vast majority of these cases can be identified as coming from a different cause," Dr. Shannon MacDonald told Reuters Health.

..

In the days after receiving a vaccine, compared to other times, children are two to five times more likely to have a febrile seizure, according to the authors of the new study.

"When a child has its first seizure shortly after a vaccination, and continues to have seizures thereafter, parents may think the vaccination has caused the epilepsy. However, in our study the majority of children who developed epilepsy after a vaccination, had a genetic or structural cause of the epilepsy," Dr. Nienke Verbeek, a clinical geneticist at University Medical Centre Utrecht in The Netherlands, told Reuters Health.

"In these children, the vaccination should only be considered a trigger for the first seizure that thereby unmasks the child’s underlying susceptibility for epilepsy," Verbeek added.

Roughly one in every 100 healthy, normally developing children will develop epilepsy after a febrile seizure, according to NINDS, but children with certain conditions, including cerebral palsy and developmental delay, are at greater risk.

To better understand the relationship between febrile seizures and epilepsy, the researchers looked at nearly a thousand children who had a first seizure within several days of being vaccinated. Twenty-six of the children were later diagnosed with epilepsy, and the researchers were able to follow up with 23 of them.

Eight of the children had Dravet syndrome, a rare genetic condition in which seizures may be brought on by fever, infectious disease, or vaccination. Three of the children had developmental delays and structural brain defects that could cause epilepsy. Four other children had gene mutations that could cause epilepsy, brain malformations, or a family history of the disease.

"Although no underlying cause was detected in one-third of children with epilepsy with vaccination-related onset, a genetic basis of epilepsy in these children is still possible: genetic analyses were incomplete, some children had positive family histories for seizures, and molecular defects underlying many genetically determined epilepsies have yet to be discovered," Verbeek and her colleagues write.

"For parents it is important to understand that a genetic cause (a so called DNA-mutation) for epilepsy cannot be induced by vaccinations," Verbeek told Reuters Health. " These mutations are already present in the child before it is born. They may have been transmitted by one of the parents, but more commonly have occurred spontaneously around the time of conception."

The findings “provide a pretty strong case that this was not caused by the vaccination,” Dr. Jorn Olsen told Reuters Health in a telephone interview.

...

SOURCE: Pediatrics, online September 15, 2014.

OBJECTIVES: This study was an assessment of the incidence, course, and etiology of epilepsy with vaccination-related seizure onset in a population-based cohort of children.

METHODS: The medical data of 990 children with seizures after vaccination in the first 2 years of life, reported to the National Institute for Public Health and Environment in the Netherlands in 1997 through 2006, were reviewed. Follow-up data were obtained of children who were subsequently diagnosed with epilepsy and had had seizure onset within 24 hours after administration of an inactivated vaccine or 5 to 12 days after a live attenuated vaccine.

RESULTS: Follow-up was available for 23 of 26 children (median age: 10.6 years) with epilepsy onset after vaccination. Twelve children developed epileptic encephalopathy, 8 had benign epilepsy, and 3 had encephalopathy before seizure onset. Underlying causes were identified in 15 children (65%) and included SCN1A–related Dravet syndrome (formerly severe myoclonic epilepsy of infancy) or genetic epilepsy with febrile seizures plus syndrome (n = 8 and n= 1, respectively), a protocadherin 19 mutation, a 1qter microdeletion, neuronal migration disorders (n = 2), and other monogenic familial epilepsy (n= 2).

CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that in most cases, genetic or structural defects are the underlying cause of epilepsy with onset after vaccination, including both cases with preexistent encephalopathy or benign epilepsy with good outcome. These results have significant added value in counseling of parents of children with vaccination-related first seizures, and they might help to support public faith in vaccination programs.

Another study shows that vaccines do NOT cause autism

A recent study again proves that vaccines do NOT cause the development of autism in young children.

Since a 1998 article published in the medical journal The Lancet argued that childhood vaccines–specifically the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine–can cause autism spectrum disorders (ASD), debate has crested and fallen, ebbed and flowed.  Neither the retraction of the article–partially in 2004 and fully in 2010–nor the failure of any scientist since to replicate author Andrew Wakefield’s findings has dissuaded some who still believe that autism may be caused by vaccines.  In fact, earlier this year a study came out reporting that parents who are hesitant to vaccinate their children–partially or entirely because of the autism fear–are rarely persuaded to change their opinions even in the face of solid scientific evidence that vaccines do not cause autism.

Study after study has been published in the intervening years confirming no link between vaccines and autism.  Meanwhile, amid growing numbers of families who do not have their children vaccinated, outbreaks of measles and other preventable diseases are on the rise. This year, measles cases have reached a 20-year high, and whooping cough was declared an epidemic in California.

This week, a new study was published, once again vindicating vaccines of having any causal relationship with autism.  Published in the journal Pediatrics, the study reviewed a large of body of scientific findings and concluded that parents should be reassured about vaccines’ safety.  More fromHealthDay News:

The researchers behind the new study also found no link between childhood leukemia and vaccines for MMR, DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis), tetanus, influenza and hepatitis B.

Overall, vaccines given to children 6 or younger are safe, causing few side effects, the review concluded. The findings are published in the July 1 online edition and the August print issue of the journal Pediatrics.

“We found that the serious adverse effects linked to vaccines are extremely rare,” said lead author Margaret Maglione, a policy analyst at RAND Corporation.

These findings should provide solid support for pediatricians and family physicians in their discussions with parents about the benefits and risks of immunization, said Dr. Carrie Byington, a professor of pediatrics and vice dean of academic affairs and faculty development at the University of Utah College of Medicine.

In an accompanying editorial, Byington noted recent medical school graduates have reported themselves more skeptical of the safety and effectiveness of vaccines than did older graduates.

“I’m hopeful younger physicians who have not seen the devastating vaccine preventable infections may see the data and strengthen their will to communicate the importance of vaccines to parents,” Byington said.

Read more here 

Study shows that narcolepsy is an autoimmune disorder

A study claims that narcolepsy is actually an autoimmune disorder which has important impacts for treatment options.

A recent study confirms long-held suspicions that the sleep disorder narcolepsy -- a condition where a person feels uncontrollably sleepy during the daytime and can experience muscle weakness -- is actually an autoimmune disorder. The findings also help to explain why narcolepsy was linked to the Pandemrix H1N1 flu vaccine.

Nearly all people with narcolepsy have a specific genetic signature -- called the HLA signature, where HLA stands for human leukocyte antigens -- but not everyone with this genetic signature goes on to develop narcolepsy (20 percent of the general population is thought to possess this signature). A type of immune cell, called the CD4+ T cell, is associated with this HLA signature; immune cells, like this type of T cell, are responsible for recognizing and eradicating foreign invaders in the body.

Previously, researchers had found evidence to suggest that the immune system was responsible for narcolepsy by attacking neurons that produce a neurotransmitter called hypocretin, which promotes wakefulness. (People with narcolepsy are known to have low levels of hypocretin).

In the new study, published in December in the journal Science Translational Medicine, researchers found that only people with narcolepsy have these CD4+ T cells that react to portions of the hypocretin protein, while people without narcolepsy do not have these T cells. WebMD reported that this discovery was based on examinationof 39 people with narcolepsy, and 35 people without the sleep disorder.

However, Nature News also pointed out that the study did not prove that these T cells themselves kill neurons that produce hypocretin -- there could be something else that's going on causing the death of these neurons.

The researchers also found that CD4+ T cells react strongly to a portion of the H1N1 hemagglutinin protein because it strongly resembles that of two portions of hypocretin -- which could help to explain the link between narcolepsy and the H1N1 Pandemrix vaccine, which actually contained parts of viral protein.

Reuters reported that 900 cases of narcolepsy, if not more, were linked with the Pandemrix vaccine, which was administered in the 2009/2010 flu pandemic in Europe but not the United States. (It is no longer being administered in Europe.)

"The relationship between H1N1 infection, vaccination and narcolepsygave us some very interesting insight into possible causes of the condition," study researcher Dr. Emmanuel Mignot, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine, as well as director of the Stanford Center for Sleep Sciences and Medicine, said in a statement. "In particular, it strongly suggested to us that T cells of the immune system primed to attack H1N1 can occasionally also cross-react with hypocretin and somehow cause the destruction of hypocretin-producing neurons."

The new findings mean that researchers now have a target to set their sights on -- finding ways to stop the loss of brain cells by the body's own immune system.

"By giving us a new way to think about how neurons in these patients die, it alsosuggests new therapeutic approaches that we would not have considered if we hadn’t learned that this is an autoimmune disease," study researcher Dr. Elizabeth Mellins, M.D., an immunology researcher at Stanford, said in the statement.

Read more here

Vaccine to Help Control Autism Symptoms

This article discusses a new vaccine that was developed to help control the symptoms of autism.

A first-ever vaccine created by University of Guelph researchers for gut bacteria common in autistic children may also help control some autism symptoms.

The groundbreaking study by Brittany Pequegnat and Guelph chemistry professor Mario Monteiro appears this month in the journalVaccine.

They developed a carbohydrate-based vaccine against the gut bugClostridium bolteae.

C. bolteae is known to play a role in gastrointestinal disorders, and it often shows up in higher numbers in the GI tracts of autistic children than in those of healthy kids.

More than 90 per cent of children with autism spectrum disorders suffer from chronic, severe gastrointestinal symptoms. Of those, about 75 per cent suffer from diarrhea, according to current literature.

"Little is known about the factors that predispose autistic children toC. bolteae," said Monteiro. Although most infections are handled by some antibiotics, he said, a vaccine would improve current treatment.

"This is the first vaccine designed to control constipation and diarrhea caused by C. bolteae and perhaps control autism-related symptoms associated with this microbe," he said.

Autism cases have increased almost sixfold over the past 20 years, and scientists don't know why. Although many experts point to environmental factors, others have focused on the human gut.

Some researchers believe toxins and/or metabolites produced by gut bacteria, including C. bolteae, may be associated with symptoms and severity of autism, especially regressive autism.

Pequegnat, a master's student, and Monteiro used bacteria grown by Mike Toh, a Guelph PhD student in the lab of microbiology professor Emma Allen-Vercoe.

The new anti- C. bolteae vaccine targets the specific complex polysaccharides, or carbohydrates, on the surface of the bug.

The vaccine effectively raised C. bolteae-specific antibodies in rabbits. Doctors could also use the vaccine-induced antibodies to quickly detect the bug in a clinical setting, said Monteiro.

The vaccine might take more than 10 years to work through preclinical and human trials, and it may take even longer before a drug is ready for market, Monteiro said.

"But this is a significant first step in the design of a multivalent vaccine against several autism-related gut bacteria," he said.

Monteiro has studied sugar-based vaccines for two other gastric pathogens: Campylobacter jejuni, which causes travellers' diarrhea; and Clostridium difficile, which causes antibiotic-associated diarrhea.

The research was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council.

Read more here

CDC study shows Autism is not caused by too many vaccines

The idea that 'too many vaccines too soon' causes autism has been proven false by research done by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Although scientific evidence suggests that vaccines do not cause autism, approximately one-third of parents continue to express concern that they do; nearly 1 in 10 parents refuse or delay vaccinations because they believe it is safer than following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) schedule. A primary concern is the number of vaccines administered, both on a single day and cumulatively over the first 2 years of life. In a new study scheduled for publication in The Journal of Pediatrics, researchers concluded that there is no association between receiving "too many vaccines too soon" and autism.

Dr. Frank DeStefano and colleagues from the CDC and Abt Associates, Inc. analyzed data from 256 children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and 752 children without ASD (born from 1994-1999) from 3 managed care organizations. They looked at each child's cumulative exposure to antigens, the substances in vaccines that cause the body's immune system to produce antibodies to fight disease, and the maximum number of antigens each child received in a single day of vaccination.

The researchers determined the total antigen numbers by adding the number of different antigens in all vaccines each child received in one day, as well as all vaccines each child received up to 2 years of age. The authors found that the total antigens from vaccines received by age 2 years, or the maximum number received on a single day, was the same between children with and without ASD. Furthermore, when comparing antigen numbers, no relationship was found when they evaluated the sub-categories of autistic disorder and ASD with regression.

Although the current routine childhood vaccine schedule contains more vaccines than the schedule in the late 1990s, the maximum number of antigens that a child could be exposed to by 2 years of age in 2013 is 315, compared with several thousand in the late 1990s. Because different types of vaccines contain varying amounts of antigens, this research acknowledged that merely counting the number of vaccines received does not adequately account for how different vaccines and vaccine combinations stimulate the immune system. For example, the older whole cell pertussis vaccine causes the production of about 3000 different antibodies, whereas the newer acellular pertussis vaccine causes the production of 6 or fewer different antibodies.

An infant's immune system is capable of responding to a large amount of immunologic stimuli and, from time of birth, infants are exposed to hundreds of viruses and countless antigens outside of vaccination. According to the authors, "The possibility that immunological stimulation from vaccines during the first 1 or 2 years of life could be related to the development of ASD is not well-supported by what is known about the neurobiology of ASDs." In 2004, a comprehensive review by the Institute of Medicine concluded that there is not a causal relationship between certain vaccine types and autism, and this study supports that conclusion.

Read more here

Increased Risk of Narcolepsy in Children Who Received Vaccination for Swine Flu

A study from England shows there is an increased risk of children developing narcolepsy if they received the H1N1 swine flu vaccine.

A study finds an increased risk of narcolepsy in children and adolescents who received the A/H1N1 2009 influenza vaccine (Pandemrix) during the pandemic in England.

The results are consistent with previous studies from Finland and Sweden and indicate that the association is not confined to Scandinavian populations. However, the authors stress that the risk may still be overestimated, and they call for longer term monitoring of the cohort of children and adolescents exposed to Pandemrix to evaluate the exact level of risk.

In 2009, pandemic influenza A (H1N1) virus spread rapidly, resulting in millions of cases and over 18,000 deaths in over 200 countries. In England the vaccine Pandemrix was introduced in October 2009. By March 2010, around one in four (24%) of healthy children aged under 5 and just over a third (37%) aged 2-15 in a risk group had been vaccinated.

In August 2010 concerns were raised in Finland and Sweden about a possible association between narcolepsy and Pandemrix. And in 2012 a study from Finland reported a 13-fold increased risk in children and young people aged 4-19.

But a lack of reported cases in other countries led to speculation that any possible association might be restricted to these Scandinavian populations.

Narcolepsy is a chronic disorder of excessive daytime sleepiness, often accompanied by sudden muscle weakness triggered by strong emotion (known as cataplexy). To evaluate the risk after vaccination in England, a team of researchers reviewed case notes for 245 children and young people aged 4-18 from sleep centres and child neurology centres across England.

Of these, 75 had narcolepsy (56 with cataplexy) with onset after 1 January 2008. Eleven had been vaccinated before onset of symptoms; seven within six months.

After adjusting for clinical conditions, vaccination at any time was associated with a 14-fold increased risk of narcolepsy, whereas vaccination within six months before onset was associated with a 16-fold increased risk.

In absolute numbers, this means that one in 52,000 to 57,500 doses are associated with narcolepsy, say the authors.

They write: "The increased risk of narcolepsy after vaccination with ASO3 adjuvanted pandemic A/H1N1 2009 vaccine indicates a causal association, consistent with findings from Finland. Because of variable delay in diagnosis, however, the risk might be overestimated by more rapid referral of vaccinated children."

While further use of this vaccine for prevention of seasonal flu seems unlikely, they say their findings "have implications for the future licensure and use of AS03 adjuvanted pandemic vaccines containing different subtypes such H5 or H9."

And they conclude: "Further studies to assess the risk, if any, associated with the other A/H1N1 2009 vaccines used in the pandemic, including those with and without adjuvants, are also needed to inform the use of such vaccines in the event of a future pandemic."

Read more here

Reduced Risk of Preterm Birth for Pregnant Women who Received Flu Vaccination

Women who were vaccinated for H1N1 in 2009 were less likely to have their children pre-term.

Pregnant women who received the H1N1 influenza vaccine during the 2009 pandemic were less likely to have premature babies, and their babies weighed more on average.

Influenza infection during pregnancy is associated with adverse infant outcomes such as preterm birth. Emory researchers from the Rollins School of Public Health, in a joint study with Kaiser Permanente of Georgia and the Mid-Atlantic States, evaluated the effectiveness of the H1N1 influenza vaccine in pregnant women against adverse infant outcomes during the 2009 pandemic. They compared birth outcomes among pregnant women who received the vaccine to those among pregnant women who were not vaccinated.

The researchers used de-identified electronic medical records for 3,327 women enrolled in Kaiser Permanente managed care organization sites between April 2009 and April 2010. The study looked at whether women got the H1N1 influenza vaccine during pregnancy and their birth outcomes such as premature birth and birth weight. Overall findings showed that vaccinated mothers were less likely to deliver their babies prematurely. On average, infants of vaccinated mothers also weighed more at birth than infants born to unvaccinated mothers.

"Our findings confirm the importance of receiving the influenza vaccine during pregnancy in order to protect the infant's health," explains Jennifer Richards, MPH, first author of the study. "Previous studies have shown that seasonal influenza vaccination may prevent preterm birth. This study shows that moms who were vaccinated during the H1N1 pandemic were less likely to have premature babies."

Influenza infection is especially dangerous for pregnant women. It increases risk of adverse infant outcomes, and of complications such as hospitalization for flu. During the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic, pregnant women in the U.S. experienced higher influenza-associated morbidity and mortality in comparison to the general population. Getting the flu vaccine during pregnancy can not only help to prevent infection for the mother, but studies have shown that it also protects the fetus and infant after birth.

"There is always an understandable heightened sense of caution by pregnant women," explains senior study author Saad B. Omer, PhD, assistant professor of global health at Rollins and an affiliate investigator at Kaiser Permanente Georgia. "Getting vaccinated has proven to be the best protection. Our study supports the U.S. policy to prioritize pregnant moms to receive the influenza vaccine."

Read more here

Study: No Link Between Flu Vaccine and Epileptic Seizures

This article discusses how no link was found between the H1N1 Influenza vaccine and the development of epilepsy or seizures.

Epileptics are often encouraged to receive flu vaccines because the risk of seizure increases when a patient has the flu. With more focus recently on vaccine safety and side effects, many are wondering if this preventative measure could actually make conditions worse.

A recent study looked at the risk of epileptic seizures after receiving the vaccine for the H1N1 flu. The study found no evidence of patients having more seizures after vaccination.

Lisen Arnheim-Dahlstrom, PhD, and colleagues from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden examined 373,398 people who received a version of the H1N1 vaccine, Pandemrix, in three counties in Sweden.

Pandemrix was developed by GlaxoSmithKline and began being distributed for the H1N1 flu in October 2009. It was one of four authorized vaccines used during the 2009 flu pandemic known as the swine flu.

The safety of Pandemrix drew attention when cases of narcolepsy occurred in children and teenagers after receiving the vaccine. In addition, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) received reports of epileptic seizures occurring after vaccination.

These reports made further investigation of the drug necessary.

The researchers were able to access records for the 373,398 through the Swedish vaccination register, a database of all vaccinations in Sweden. The patient’s unique personal identification number was then used to look up histories of epilepsy andantiepileptic drugs in other registries.

Within the study population, 7,787 people were considered epileptic during the year before the study and 356,611 were not.

Dr. Arnheim-Dahlstrom and team determined how many of the total study population experienced at least one epileptic seizure during the time period of 90 days before vaccination to 90 days after vaccination. During this 180 day period surrounding the vaccination, 859 people experienced epileptic seizures.

For those previously diagnosed with epilepsy, there was no increase in risk of seizures during the first week after vaccination. During this week, there was an insignificant decrease in risk of seizure for people without epilepsy.

From day 8 to day 30 after the vaccination, there was no increase in risk of seizure for those diagnosed with epilepsy. There was an insignificant increased risk of seizures in people without epilepsy during this time period.

These results dismiss safety concerns with Pandemrix for those with epilepsy.

Read more here

Sleep affects how well vaccines work

Interesting study that shows how less sleep can make vaccines less effective in children.

As moms have always known, a good night's sleep is crucial to good health -- and now a new study led by a UCSF researcher shows that poor sleep can reduce the effectiveness of vaccines.

The study is the first performed outside a sleep laboratory to show that sleep duration is directly tied to vaccine immune response, the authors said.

The study, conducted while the UCSF researcher was a doctoral student at the University of Pittsburgh, will appear in the August issue of the journal SLEEP.

"With the emergence of our 24-hour lifestyle, longer working hours, and the rise in the use of technology, chronic sleep deprivation has become a way of life for many Americans," said lead author Aric Prather, PhD, a clinical health psychologist and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health & Society Scholar at UCSF and UC Berkeley.

"These findings should help raise awareness in the public health community about the clear connection between sleep and health," Prather said.

Research has shown that poor sleep can make one susceptible to illnesses such as upper respiratory infections. To explore whether sleep duration, sleep efficiency, and sleep quality -- assessed at home and not in a controlled sleep lab -- would impact immune processes important in the protection against infection, the researchers investigated the antibody response to hepatitis B vaccinations on adults in good health. Antibodies are manufactured by the immune system to identify and neutralize foreign objects such as viruses.

The study involved 125 people (70 women, 55 men) between the ages of 40 and 60. All were nonsmokers in relatively good health, and all lived in Pennsylvania -- the study was conducted at the University of Pittsburgh. Each participant was administered the standard three-dose hepatitis B vaccine; the first and second dose were administered a month apart, followed by a booster dose at six months.

Antibody levels were measured prior to the second and third vaccine injection and six months after the final vaccination to determine whether participants had mounted a "clinically protective response."

All the participants completed sleep diaries detailing their bedtime, wake time and sleep quality, while 88 subjects also wore electronic sleep monitors known as actigraphs.

The researchers found that people who slept fewer than six hours on average per night were far less likely to mount antibody responses to the vaccine and thus were far more likely (11.5 times) to be unprotected by the vaccine than people who slept more than seven hours on average. Sleep quality did not affect response to vaccinations.

Of the 125 participants, 18 did not receive adequate protection from the vaccine. "Sleeping fewer than six hours conferred a significant risk of being unprotected as compared with sleeping more than seven hours per night," the scientists wrote.

The researchers stressed that sleep plays an important role in the regulation of the immune system. A lack of sleep, they said, may have detrimental effects on the immune system that are integral to vaccine response.

The National Sleep Foundation recommends seven to nine hours sleep a night. (For tips on a better night's sleep, see:http://www.ucsfhealth.org/education/tips_for_a_better_nights_sleep/index.html)

"Based on our findings and existing laboratory evidence, sleep may belong on the list of behavioral risk factors that influence vaccination efficacy," said Prather who in September will join the UCSF faculty as an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry. "While there is more work to be done in this area, in time physicians and other health care professionals who administer vaccines may want to consider asking their patients about their sleep patterns, since lack of sleep may significantly affect the potency of the vaccination."

Read more here

New Cancer Vaccine in Phase III Clinical Trials in Jerusalem

A new cancer vaccine developed by Israeli researchers has just startedPhase III clinical trials at Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem.

ImMucin is a 21mer synthetic vaccine composed of the entire signal peptide domain of the MUC1 protein.

The vaccine, produced by the Vaxil BioTherapeutics firm, is being tested against a type of blood cancer known as multiple myeloma. But if the vaccine works – and so far all the signs are positive – the VaxHit basic technology that supports the vaccine might also be used to fight other forms of the disease, according to the announcement on the company's website.

If the clinical trials are successful and the vaccine is approved, ImMucin may become available to the public in about six years, not only to treat cancer, but also to prevent its recurrence.

Vaxil was founded in 2006 by Dr. Lior Carmon, a biotechnology entrepreneur with a PhD in immunology from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot. The company, based in Ness Ziona, merged in June with Sheldonco.

The new vaccine works by activating the immune system by “training” T-cells to search and destroy cells with the MUC1 molecule, typically found only on cancer cells. More than 90 percent of common solid tumor cancers bear the MUC1 molecule, as well as many non-solid tumors, including lymphoma, leukemia and multiple myeloma.

Advanced-stage cancer will still require chemotherapy or surgery to remove a large tumor, Vaxil CEO Julian Levy noted, but if the cancer is brought down to size, the body will then be able to fight it, with ImMucin seen as a long-term approach to prevent recurrence.

Read more: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/149680#.TsKS4oA9a7g

http://unitedwithisrael.org/israel-develops-cancer-vaccine/

The Curious Link Between H1N1 Flu and Narcolepsy

A swell in new cases of narcolepsy in China followed seasonal patterns of flu, including H1N1, according to a recent study led by Dr. Emmanuel Mignot of the Stanford University School of Medicine. The new cases appear to be associated with flu infection itself, not with flu vaccinations.

A peak in cases of narcolepsy — an autoimmune disease that causes people to fall asleep suddenly — occurred about five to seven months after a peak in cold and flu cases in the country, the study found. Onset in the spring was seven times more common than in the winter.

Researchers believe that people have a genetic predisposition to narcolepsy, which may be triggered by some environmental factor, such as an upper airway infection. Reported the New York Times:

Narcolepsy and a related but even rarer illness, cataplexy — a tendency to collapse when swept by strong emotions — are caused by the death of brain cells that secrete hypocretin, which regulates sleep. Those cells, Dr. Mignot explained, are probably killed by autoimmune reactions that stem from winter infections like flu and strep throat.

For several years after the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, medical authorities described a seasonal somnolence they called "encephalitis lethargica."

Read more: http://healthland.time.com/2011/08/23/the-curious-link-between-h1n1-flu-and-narcolepsy/#ixzz1WTq0Gh2M

CHOP Doc: Don't Let Fear Get in the Way of Vaccinations

CHOP Doc: Don't Let Fear Get in the Way of Vaccinations
Paul A. Offit, MD, didn’t mince words when he spoke to a crowd at Holy Redeemer Hospital yesterday. His message was clear — get yourself and your kid vaccinated. Offit, Chief of Infectious Diseases at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, addressed and debunked myths about vaccinations to a crowd of about 30 people, many of which were parents and physicians. Offit said emphatically that vaccines don’t cause diseases like Alzheimer’s or autism. With regard to autism, Offit said there have been 14 studies, on three continents, involving over 100,000 people — the studies consistently show that there is no link between the MMR vaccine and autism. He added that the doctor who first proposed the idea in 1998 has since been disgraced. He also pinpointed, to the day, when vaccines first started to be vilified (see the video). Offit said not getting vaccinated is tantamount to selfishness. “When you choose not to get a vaccine, you make the choice for others,” he said. Read the rest of the article here.

ABSTRACT: Prenatal and infant exposure to thimerosal from vaccines and immunoglobulins and risk of autism.
Price CS, Thompson WW, Goodson B, Weintraub ES, Croen LA, Hinrichsen VL, Marcy M, Robertson A, Eriksen E, Lewis E, Bernal P, Shay D, Davis RL, DeStefano F.
Pediatrics. 2010 Oct;126(4):656-64. Epub 2010 Sep 13.

OBJECTIVE: Exposure to thimerosal, a mercury-containing preservative that is used in vaccines and immunoglobulin preparations, has been hypothesized to be associated with increased risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study was designed to examine relationships between prenatal and infant ethylmercury exposure from thimerosal-containing vaccines and/or immunoglobulin preparations and ASD and 2 ASD subcategories: autistic disorder (AD) and ASD with regression.

METHODS: A case-control study was conducted in 3 managed care organizations (MCOs) of 256 children with ASD and 752 controls matched by birth year, gender, and MCO. ASD diagnoses were validated through standardized in-person evaluations. Exposure to thimerosal in vaccines and immunoglobulin preparations was determined from electronic immunization registries, medical charts, and parent interviews. Information on potential confounding factors was obtained from the interviews and medical charts. We used conditional logistic regression to assess associations between ASD, AD, and ASD with regression and exposure to ethylmercury during prenatal, birth-to-1 month, birth-to-7-month, and birth-to-20-month periods.

RESULTS: There were no findings of increased risk for any of the 3 ASD outcomes. The adjusted odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) for ASD associated with a 2-SD increase in ethylmercury exposure were 1.12 (0.83-1.51) for prenatal exposure, 0.88 (0.62-1.26) for exposure from birth to 1 month, 0.60 (0.36-0.99) for exposure from birth to 7 months, and 0.60 (0.32-0.97) for exposure from birth to 20 months.

CONCLUSIONS: In our study of MCO members, prenatal and early-life exposure to ethylmercury from thimerosal-containing vaccines and immunoglobulin preparations was not related to increased risk of ASDs.

Source.

Bill Gates: Vaccine-autism link 'an absolute lie'
By Danielle Dellorto, CNN February 4, 2011



Davos, Switzerland (CNN) -- Microsoft founder Bill Gates sat down recently with CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Sanjay Gupta in Davos, Switzerland. The billionaire philanthropist was attending the World Economic Forum to push his mission of eradicating polio by 2012. Gates, through his foundation, also pledged $10 billion to provide vaccinations to children around the world within a decade.

Gupta asked Gates for his thoughts about the alleged autism-vaccine connection. He also asked: Who holds ultimate accountability for the billions of dollars being spent on aid? Is a certain amount of corruption and fraud expected?

Read the transcript of the interview here.

Genes may explain apparent link between narcolepsy and flu vaccine
Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Scientists may have found a clue to explain a possible increased risk for narcolepsy among some people who got the H1N1 flu vaccine. According to the World Health Organization, excess cases of narcolepsy appear to have occurred among people with a gene that increases the risk for the rare disorder, which causes people to suddenly fall asleep.

Cases of narcolepsy have been reported in 12 countries among children and adolescents who received the swine flu vaccine in 2009. Sweden and Finland reported the most cases, with 60 of them in the latter country.

Read the rest of the article here.