H1N1

Oct

27

2009

H1N1 Vaccinations are Available

Last Updated on Thursday, 29 October 2009 08:25 Written by Carrie Miller

 Click here to find the vaccination locations in your area

Oct

23

2009

H1N1 Claims Debunked

Written by Carrie Miller

From Dr. Todd with McKenzie Pediatrics...

We've been receiving lots of questions about viral emails and inflammatory media soundbites regarding the new H1N1 ("swine") flu vaccine, and we wish to answer some or all of the claims being made against it. Regrettably, there are a few irresponsible people out there peddling pseudo-science and using scary-sounding chemical names to frighten people against receiving this (or any) vaccine, or having their children receive it.

What follows is a list of their claims, rebutted:

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Claim 1: "The swine flu is simply another flu. It is not unusually deadly."
From Science-Based Medicine: "Not unusually deadly." Oh good, then we can expect only ~36,000 people [the "usual" number of annual flu deaths in the U.S.] to die from it this year! Why does that number not reassure me?

Let’s see, it [swine flu] circulated during the summer, when flu doesn’t circulate, is uncommon in the elderly, is disproportionately infecting and hospitalizing younger people, it has a much higher incidence of ARDS (Adult Respiratory Distress Syndrome) requiring mechanical ventilation and heart-lung bypass (ECMO) than its seasonal counterpart (Australia reported 68 cases requiring ECMO vs. 4 the prior year), and it has a population which under the age of 60 is nearly 100% susceptible.
Yep, sounds like any old flu to me.

Between August 30 and October 10th of this year, more than 2000 Americans died from swine flu. From the months of April through August, about 600 Americans died of the illness. Remember that in most years, between April and October, almost NO Americans die of influenza. We are still early in the spread of this illness, folks, and we haven't even yet begun to see cases of regular seasonal flu. We've got a long way to go this fall and winter before we see the light at the tunnel's end with regards to swine flu - which is why vaccination is still very important.

Claim 2: "The H1N1 vaccine is a new vaccine, and there wasn't enough time to test its safety."
From an OP-ED by Paul A. Offit, the chief of the infectious diseases division of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
The H1N1 virus revealed itself too late for it to be included in this year’s seasonal flu vaccine. But the H1N1-specific vaccine was manufactured in the same way as the regular vaccine: The shot form is made by growing the virus in hen’s eggs, purifying it and then treating it with a chemical that inactivates it. This technology has been used to make influenza vaccines for 60 years, and it has an excellent safety record. The nasal spray form is made by adapting the virus to temperatures below those typically found in the body. This allows it to reproduce in the relatively cool lining of the nose, but not in the lungs where it could cause harm. This technology has been used safely for more than 30 years. FluMist, a seasonal flu vaccine used since 2003, is made the same way.
The H1N1 vaccine has already been given to thousands of volunteers to determine whether it could protect them from the virus and to make sure that it caused no adverse reactions. Only then did the Food and Drug Administration license it.

Claim 3: "Dangerous adjuvants are in vaccines."
For some vaccines, substances called adjuvants (usually aluminum salts) are added to increase immune system response & spread a smaller quantity of antigen over more doses.

For one thing, the H1N1 vaccine doesn't have any. Secondly, even if there were aluminum salts in the vaccine, that wouldn't be a reason to fear it. There is no evidence aluminum-containing vaccines are a serious health risk or justify changes to immunization practice. Aluminum salts have been used as adjuvants for about 80 years, and there's much more aluminum in breast milk & infant formula than there is in the vaccines. Per the FDA:

During the first 6 months of life, infants could receive about 4 milligrams of aluminum from vaccines. That’s not very much: a milligram is one-thousandth of a gram and a gram is the weight of one-fifth of a teaspoon of water. During the same period, babies will also receive about 10 milligrams of aluminum in breast milk, about 40 milligrams in infant formula, or about 120 milligrams in soy-based formula.

All babies are either breast-fed or bottle-fed. Because both breast milk and infant formula contain aluminum, all babies have small quantities of aluminum in their bloodstreams all the time. The amount is very small: about 5 nanograms (billionths of a gram) per milliliter of blood (about one-fifth of a teaspoon). Indeed, the quantity of aluminum in vaccines is so small that even after an injection of vaccines, the amount of aluminum in a baby’s blood does not detectably change. In contrast, the amount of aluminum in the bloodstreams of people who suffer health problems from aluminum is at least 100 times greater than the amount found in the bloodstreams of healthy people.

Claim 4: "A flu vaccine can give you the flu... or worse."
The H1N1 vaccine comes in two forms; inactivated & live attenuated. It is impossible for the inactivated form of the vaccine to cause infection since the virus particles are dead. The live attenuated form used for the Monovalent Nasal-Spray Flu Vaccine ("FluMist"), contains weakened H1N1 virus. The risk of infection is extremely small from the nasal spray, and there are guidelines from the CDC on who should & shouldn't get the live attenuated form.
When you hear stories about how someone has come down with the Flu after getting a Flu shot, they more than likely were exposed to the Flu before being vaccinated. It takes two weeks for a person's body to build up immunity to the virus after being vaccinated, so if you were infected before you got the shot, you can still get sick.

One of the big arguments made by those against H1N1 vaccination is the risk of Guillain-Barré syndrome (a rare disorder in which a person’s own immune system damages the nerve cells, causing muscle weakness and sometimes paralysis), which was claimed to be a side-effect of the 1976 vaccine. While the CDC is monitoring this year's vaccine for any anomalies, it's important to keep in mind that the 1976 incidence of Guillain-Barré was barely higher than the normal rate, and you would still have a better chance of dying from a lightning strike, an airplane crash, or falling down than contracting Guillain-Barré.
From the CDC:

In 1976, there was a small risk of GBS following influenza (swine flu) vaccination (approximately 1 additional case per 100,000 people who received the swine flu vaccine). That number of GBS cases was slightly higher than the background rate for GBS. Since then, numerous studies have been done to evaluate if other flu vaccines were associated with GBS. In most studies, no association was found, but two studies suggested that approximately 1 additional person out of 1 million vaccinated people may be at risk for GBS associated with the seasonal influenza vaccine. It is important to keep in mind that severe illness and possible death can be associated with influenza, and vaccination is the best way to prevent influenza infection and its complications.
And of course, there is "post hoc ergo propter hoc." In the week after getting a vaccine, there are a fair amount of people that will be in car accidents. However, no logical person is going to argue that vaccines cause car accidents.

Claim 5: "The H1N1 vaccine & other vaccines contain the mercury-based preservative Thimerosal, which contributes to the development of autism and other brain development disorders."
This is a biggie, since it was a prime suspect of those linking vaccines to autism. Thimerosal is a mercury-containing organic compound (an organomercurial). Since the 1930s, it has been widely used as a preservative in a number of biological and drug products, including many vaccines, to help prevent potentially life threatening contamination with harmful microbes. When people hear "mercury," the gears inside the brain's imagination machine start turning. However, thimerosal is a derivative of ethylmercury, not methylmercury. They are entirely different chemical entities.

Expert consultation and data presented to the Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety (GACVS) indicate that the pharmacokinetic profile of ethyl mercury is substantially different from that of methyl mercury. The half-life of ethyl mercury is short (less than one week) compared to methyl mercury (1.5 months) making exposure to ethyl mercury in blood comparatively brief. Further, ethyl mercury is actively excreted via the gut unlike methyl mercury that accumulates in the body. (Source)

To put this in perspective, a vaccination has less ethylmercury (in the form of thimerosal) than the amount of methylmercury an adult/kid might possibly get from eating a tuna sandwich. The association between thimerosal in vaccines & autism has been a failed hypothesis as study after study has shown no linkage.
From Clinical Infectious Diseases (CID):

Three ecological studies performed in 3 different countries compared the incidence of autism with thimerosal exposure from vaccines. In each case, the nationwide removal of thimerosal—which occurred in 1992 in Europe and in 2001 in the United States—allowed robust comparisons of vaccination with thimerosal?containing and thimerosal?free products.

[In every country where it has been studied (Denmark, Sweden, Canada, the U.K. and the U.S.), numbers of cases of autism continued to RISE despite removal of thimerosal from vaccines, thereby disproving a link.]

From the FDA:
In 2004, the Institutes Of Medicine's Immunization Safety Review Committee issued its final report, examining the hypothesis that vaccines, specifically the MMR vaccines and thimerosal containing vaccines, are causally associated with autism. In this report, the committee incorporated new epidemiological evidence from the U.S., Denmark, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, and studies of biologic mechanisms related to vaccines and autism since its report in 2001. The committee concluded that this body of evidence favors rejection of a causal relationship between thimerosal-containing vaccines and autism, and that hypotheses generated to date concerning a biological mechanism for such causality are theoretical only. Further, the committee stated that the benefits of vaccination are proven and the hypothesis of susceptible populations is presently speculative, and that widespread rejection of vaccines would lead to increases in incidences of serious infectious diseases like measles, whooping cough and Hib bacterial meningitis.

Keep in mind that the single-dose, pre-filled syringes of flu vaccine do not even contain thimerosal. Nor does the FluMist, the nasal spray version of the vaccine. Only the multi-dose vials, which must be entered and re-entered ten times, contain the preservative, to safeguard agains bacterial contamination. No nurse wants to inject bacteria directly into the muscle of a child.

Claim 6: "There are too many vaccinations given to children. Too many, too soon."
While it's true there are more vaccines than ever against specific viruses and bacteria on the routine schedule, the vaccine load is actually much less than it once was.

Although the number of recommended childhood vaccines has increased during the past 30 years, with advances in protein chemistry and recombinant DNA technology, the immunologic load has actually decreased. The 14 vaccines given today contain less than 200 bacterial and viral proteins or polysaccharides, compared with more than 3000 of these immunological components in the 7 vaccines administered in 1980.

Study after study of this hypothesis have found the evidence lacking for "vaccine overload." It is simply another scare tactic used to frighten parents into not vaccinating their children. Every day your child's body fights off thousands of bacteria and viruses...if we're really worried about overloading the immune system, we ought to all live in sterile bubbles.

I hope this helps. Information about our upcoming flu vaccine clinics will be sent out sometime early this week...keep an eye on your email inbox!

Dr. Todd

Oct

14

2009

H1N1 Update - October 13

Written by Carrie Miller

We are starting to have confirmed cases of H1N1 in our school community.  Oregon State is now designated with widespread cases of H1N1.

Read more: H1N1 Update - October 13

Sep

14

2009

Preventing the Spread of the H1N1

Last Updated on Tuesday, 13 October 2009 11:49 Written by Carrie Miller

Like schools and other institutions where people gather, Oak Hill School takes very serious the threat of H1N1 influenza, as well as seasonal flu, that are expected to make many people ill in the coming months.

Do Your Part to prevent the spread of H1N1

Watch this entertaining video on the proper way to smother a cough or sneeze. (The video was designed for City of Eugene employees, but the advice is universal.) Here are the key points:

• Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.
• Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hand sanitizers can be used if soap and water are not available.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose, or mouth. Germs are spread this way.
• Stay home if you are sick! The CDC advises sick people to stay home for at least 24 hours after their fever is gone.
• If you are well but have an ill family member at home with H1N1 flu, or come into contact with other sick people, you can continue your usual routine, but monitor your health every day and stay home if you become ill.

If you have an underlying medical condition or are pregnant, you may be at higher risk and should call your health care provider for advice.

The signs and symptoms of H1N1 are similar to the season flu and consist of a fever and respiratory tract illness, including cough, sore throat, runny nose, headache, and muscle aches. A significant number of people who have been infected with H1N1 flu virus also have reported diarrhea and vomiting. Additional information on H1N1 can be found on the (Center for Disease Control) CDC's website.