Childhood Asthma Linked to Vaccinations
Childhood Asthma Linked to Vaccinations
Author: Floyd Tilton
Published on: September 22, 2000
In information recently released by the
Vaccine Safety website, the rate of asthma for children ages birth to 17 has risen dramatically in the past few years, and now this rise is being linked to the pertussis vaccine. This comes on the heels of research that links vaccines to many other illnesses ranging from Autism to Diabetes.
The research, based in New Zealand found that the incidence of asthma was more common in children that had received the vaccination than in those children who did not receive any vaccinations at all.
This research supported earlier research done in 1994 and 1998 that showed the same relationship. During a 10 year study, the asthma rate per 100,000 children rose by nearly 40 percent according to a
National Health Interview Survey. The
World Health Organization has also seen an increase in pediatric asthma world wide, and while they question some of the variable results found in the research,
they call for more research being conducted to get a clearer picture of the relationship between vaccines and asthma. Reports from the National Vaccine Information Center which were published in
Science Magazine also show the same relationships between asthma rates in unvaccinated children and those who received vaccinations. A study by New Zealand researchers published in Epidemiology, analyzed the health of 1,265 people born in 1977. Of these, 23 didn't get any childhood vaccinations and none of them suffered childhood asthma. Among the 1,242 who got polio and DPT shots, more than 23 percent later had episodes of asthma.
It appears that in each of these studies, the children who received vaccinations and developed pediatric asthma, were vaccinated later in childhood. The data regarding children vaccinated soon after birth does not appear to support the same conclusions. This difference is currently under study in several nations, and should help present a clearer picture of the actual relationships between childhood asthma and vaccinations.
As more data becomes available, hopefully physicians and public health agencies will modify or rewrite their current vaccination schedules and recommendations to account for the most up-to-date research findings. While vaccines do help prevent the spread of some diseases, the link to their causing others is increasingly clear. If the medical community uses the new data correctly, perhaps a public policy that serves everyone will be developed and the goal of eradicating some serious diseases will truly be accomplished.
The following article was found at: http://web.archive.org/web/20011217055858/http://www.909shot.com/dimedia.htm
MEDIA REPORTS ASK THE QUESTION:
IS THE CURE WORSE THAN THE DISEASE?
In fall 1997, two influential professional magazines featured
articles asking the question: Has the decrease of infectious diseases in childhood through
the mass use of vaccines been replaced with an increase in chronic diseases such as
diabetes and asthma? The Economist, a prestigious international magazine read by
world leaders in government, business and public policy, and Science News, a
magazine read by both health care professionals and the general public, explored the
reported links between vaccines and chronic diseases in their November 22, 1997 issues.
Infections in Childhood Protect Against Chronic Disease - In
an article entitled "Plaqued by Cures," The Economist acknowledged that
trying to prevent or treat an infectious disease can have profound effects on the
pathogenic organism that causes it, pointing to the evolution of antibiotic-resistant
strains of bacteria and the appearance of mutant viruses able to evade vaccines. The
article went on to explain the "hygiene hypothesis," which holds that exposure
to infections in childhood may prevent chronic disease later in life and that
"intervening in infections may have undesireable effects on the hosts - that is, on
people - as well as on the pathogens themselves."
The article in The Economist reviewed a number of new medical
studies around the world which back up the hygiene hypothesis. In a study in
Guinea-Bissau, researchers found that children who had not had measles disease were
significantly more likely to suffer from allergies including asthma, eczema and hay-fever.
In Italy, researchers found that children who were exposed to hepatitis A disease were
less likely to suffer from allergies. And a study published in a November 1997 Archives
of Disease in Childhood showed that children in England who had suffered a severe
respiratory infection in childhood were less likely to acquire Type 1 diabetes.
One theory being forwarded to explain why recovery from naturally
occurring childhood diseases is important is that the human immune system has evolved over
tens of thousands of years to respond to and be strengthened by attacks from viruses and
bacteria. Depriving the developing immune system of naturally occurring infections in
childhood may cause the immune system to eventually attack itself, which is what happens
in autoimmune diseases like asthma and diabetes.
Unvaccinated Children Have Less Asthma - In an article
entitled "The Dark Side of Immunizations?," Science News reviews new
reports by researchers that show that vaccinated children have a higher incidence of
asthma and diabetes than do unvaccinated children. Science News reports that a
study by researchers at the Wellington School of Medicine in New Zealand found that
unvaccinated New Zealand children report fewer cases of asthma than vaccinated children.
Another study by New Zealand researchers published in the November
1997 Epidemiology analyzed the health of 1,265 people born in 1977. Of these, 23
didn't get any childhood vaccinations and none of them suffered childhood asthma. Among
the 1,242 who got polio and DPT shots, more than 23 percent later had episodes of asthma.
Science News adds that a 1994 survey of 446 British children,
most of them eight years old, showed that 91 received no vaccinations in early childhood.
Only one child out of 91 got asthma. About 11 percent of the other 355 children who had
been vaccinated with pertussis and other vaccines had asthma.
The article goes on to note that animal studies indicate that an
absence of contact with naturally occurring viruses increases the risk of diabetes and
that research in humans suggest that some childhood infections may prime a person's immune
system to fight off asthma.
Howard L. Weiner, an immunologist at Harvard Medical School in
Boston, is quoted in the article as saying that immunization skews the activity of the
immune system and "If a person has a tendency toward a disease at a certain age, a
vaccine might ... make [him or her] more susceptible later, when other challenges come
along." He added, "It's logical that there might be some immune manipulation
that happens in childhood that might have a positive or negative effect on these
diseases."
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