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In
This Issue...
- Medicine's Hushed-Up 100
- Vaccine Layering Extra Risky
-- Few Studies Say Multiple Vaccines Are Safe,
While Plenty Suggest They're Not
- Why Don't These Doctors Get Sick?
- Mushrooms May Generate
Infection-Fighting Antibiotics --
Foraging for Mushrooms May Yield Many Effective
New Antibiotics
MEDICINE'S HUSHED-UP
100
The shocking new findings that follow were buried
by networks dependent on drug advertising!
You would never believe what researchers are up to
behind the locked gates of the world's top
research labs. And the fat cats who run modern
medicine are determined you'll never find out. But
the doctors who've made these discoveries are
spilling the beans...
Vaccine Layering Extra Risky
You're planning a trip to Central Africa so you
need a vaccination for Yellow Fever... your
doctor has urged you to get immunized against
shingles... and you still haven't gotten a flu
shot this season. Getting all three at once may
seem efficient -- but not so fast. Multiple
simultaneous vaccinations are commonly given to
people of all ages, but there's little evidence
that this is safe to do -- and in fact, a
growing list of research studies indicates it's
actually quite dangerous. Having more than one
vaccine at a time increases the risk you'll have
a reaction, possibly a severe one.
There are significant safety concerns regarding
multiple simultaneous vaccinations, cautions
Vicky Debold, PhD, RN, volunteer director of
patient safety at the National Vaccine
Information Center (NVIC), a non-profit
dedicated to the prevention of vaccine injuries
and deaths. We talked about why this may be
risky.
VACCINES: NOT JUST FOR KIDS
In addition to immunizations needed for certain
types of travel, many adults assume that the
vaccinations they received as children are
sufficient -- but, in fact, immunity may have
faded over the years. Newer and stronger vaccines
are available today, and as people grow older they
become more susceptible to infections such as flu
and pneumonia. The CDC now urges adults age 50 and
over to get an annual flu shot (younger adults as
well, depending on work, health or lifestyle) ...
a tetanus-diphtheria or diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis
booster shot every 10 years... and vaccinations
against pneumococcal pneumonia and varicella (the
virus that causes chickenpox).
For the sake of convenience, it has become
commonplace to administer more than one vaccine at
a time, but unless a vaccine is licensed as a
combination it may not have been tested for
interaction with other ones -- and there are no
regulations requiring evidence that administering
it with another is safe. Once a vaccination is
licensed by the FDA, safety issues are primarily
evaluated through reporting of adverse reactions
to the government's Vaccine Adverse Event
Reporting System (VAERS, http://vaers.hhs.gov/)
and Dr. Debold estimates at best 10% of adverse
effects are reported.
Another issue: Drug company clinical
trials (which is how vaccines are studied)
typically test them on healthy adults.
Little is known about vaccine effectiveness or
safety when vaccines are given in combination...
especially to older adults who may also be taking
other medications or have multiple chronic
illnesses, says Dr. Debold.
WHY ARE WE WORRIED?
Several studies highlight the risks of
co-administration of multiple vaccines...
- In an NVIC analysis of Gardasil (HPV or human
papillomavirus vaccine) reports submitted to
VAERS through May 31, 2007, investigators found
that people who were vaccinated with Gardasil
and the Menactra meningococcal vaccine
simultaneously were at least twice as likely to
experience serious adverse events, such as
seizures and Guillain-Barré syndrome, a
paralyzing neurological disorder that has been
linked to vaccinations.
- Joint research from the CDC and the FDA found
an association with seizures when DTP
(diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis) and MMR
(measles, mumps and rubella) were administered
on the same day or even within 14 days of one
another.
- In a study of adverse reactions to vaccines in
travelers, researchers found that the rate of
local (skin) reactions increased from 45% with
one injection to 78% in people who had more than
three.
- In Japan, where multiple vaccination is
uncommon, people who had simultaneous
vaccinations reported significantly more
frequent adverse events than those who had
single vaccinations.
Awareness is growing and leading to more research
on the problem, which is good news. But there are
many nuances that must be explored as well. For
instance, many vaccine clinical trials are small
and conducted over a short time, sometimes only a
few weeks or months -- which means not much has
been studied about the relationship between
vaccines and unexpected and rare events, as well
as to chronic illness. Dr. Debold believes many
more studies of this type are needed.
PROTECT YOURSELF
Multiple vaccinations should be avoided if at all
possible, as they may indeed magnify the
likelihood of problems. And for all vaccinations,
even single ones, Dr. Debold recommends...
- Educate yourself about the risks and benefits
-- Web sites such as www.cdc.gov/vaccines
and www.nvic.org
are a good place to start.
- Be aware that there are scientists who believe
that the immune system actually benefits from
experiencing illness -- in a way that is more
robust, providing complete and life-long
immunity from the disease, compared with the
vaccine that may provide only partial and
time-limited immunity, Dr. Debold explains. Note:
For vulnerable seniors, for whom the risk of
complications from illness is greater than risk
from vaccines, immunization may still be
advisable.
- Check on reports of reactions to a vaccine at
the government's Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting
System (VAERS) Web site at http://vaers.hhs.gov/.
Also the National Vaccine Information Center at http://www.nvic.org/Report/report.htm,
has maintained a vaccine adverse event database,
which is based on VAERS data, since 1982.
- If you have a personal or family history of
reactions to vaccinations, discuss the risks and
benefits of immunization with your physician
before coming to a decision, and avoid having
multiple vaccinations at the same time. If you
have a history of seizures or neurological
disorders, severe allergies or immune system
disorders, likewise carefully consider which
vaccines you need and weigh their risks and
benefits.
- Consider rescheduling if you are ill. Reason:
You are more apt to suffer a reaction.
- Always try to spread out vaccines by one or
two months.
There's nothing to be lost and likely much to be
gained by spacing vaccines out by one or two
months or even longer, Dr. Debold notes -- it's a
way to increase the likelihood you will stay
healthy.
Source(s):
Vicky Debold, PhD, RN,
volunteer director of patient safety at the National
Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), a national
non-profit organization dedicated to vaccine
education and the prevention of vaccine injuries and
deaths.
WHY DON'T THESE
DOCTORS GET SICK?
They work impossible hours, hang around in
germ-infested hospitals, and treatment rooms
filled with sick people all day -- yet they don't
fall ill themselves. Why?
We asked hundreds of leading doctors this question
and their answers may shock you. They're secretly
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- Shrink hemorrhoids with the astonishing orange
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- Zap back pain in 3 minutes (this can even be
used for anesthesia)...
Mushrooms May Generate
Infection-Fighting Antibiotics
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria continue to be a
growing menace, especially in hospitals where
outbreaks can be lethal. The search for
replacement drugs to combat drug-resistant
bacteria is difficult and ongoing, but one
avenue of research looks quite promising. Wild
mushrooms appear to be a source for a substance
that can generate a powerful new class of
antibiotics and antivirals. Because these drugs
will be new, they may prove effective against
bacteria that have developed resistance to
current drugs.
Biomedical researcher Michael Zasloff, MD, PhD,
director of Surgical Immunology at Georgetown
University Medical Center, is one of the chief
researchers leading this project, being
conducted with Danish biotechnology company
Novozymes. He told me that the critical
substance is a peptide called plectasin, which
can be found in the black European mushroom.
It's thought likely that the other 200,000 or so
species of fungi will also have peptides with
antibacterial/antimicrobial properties.
Plectasin is particularly useful since it
belongs to a class of molecules called defensins,
which can target specific kinds of bacteria. For
example, in mice studies plectasin has been
found to combat s. pneumoniae bacteria
that causes peritonitis and pneumonia.
Antibiotics in use today are generally
broad-spectrum, more like a shotgun approach
that disables not only the bug causing the
problem but also most good bacteria -- these
defensin-based antibiotics would theoretically
work to target specific bacteria, perhaps with a
more selective effect.
Researchers have already figured out how to turn
the plectasin molecule into an antibiotic that
is effective against staph bacteria, and are now
ready to undergo FDA phase-one trials. Animal
studies have demonstrated that plectasin is safe
and effective, so it has a good chance of
performing well in clinical trials, Dr. Zasloff
told me. He said that if plectasin and other
defensin-based antibiotics are approved, they'll
be reserved for in-hospital use against
drug-resistant bacteria. This, however, is
several years away, Dr. Zasloff says, cautioning
that the new drugs must be then used judiciously
to prevent hardy bacteria from developing
resistance against them, too.
Source(s):
Michael Zasloff, MD, PhD,
director, Surgical Immunology at Georgetown
University Medical Center, Washington, DC.
Be well,
Carole Jackson
Bottom Line's Daily Health News
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