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Flu Vaccine: No Good Evidence

by Damien Downing, M.D.

(OMNS, Jan 14, 2012) Is it wise to have the flu vaccine, or Tamiflu, or would you get better protection just from taking vitamin D? Having a vaccine should be a matter of personal choice; we don’t think that government or insurance companies or medical societies should be telling you what to do. If you’re bothering to read this then you’re clearly smart enough to make your own decisions about your own health. While you are deciding, here is a second opinion.

So What About Vaccines?

A major review appeared in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases (1) in October (principal author Prof. Michael Osterholm, a respected researcher into infectious diseases). The paper, which found only 31 studies worthy of inclusion out of a massive 5,700 screened, concluded that there was only good evidence for moderate flu vaccine efficacy in healthy adults, and no real evidence of protection in those over 65 years, or for that matter in children. Of course it is the elderly, and particularly the frail elderly, that doctors are more concerned about – and in whom 90% of flu cases occur – and there was no evidence that flu vaccine prevents flu infection in this group.

Let’s do that again; after nearly 6,000 studies of all sorts, there is no good evidence that flu vaccine prevents flu in its main target population.

The pooled effect in those healthy adults, aged 18 to 65, is reported as 57%, which means the vaccine roughly halves your chances of getting flu. What is well known about placebo effects can account for most of that 57% effect. If you know you’ve had a shot for the flu you think you’re invincible. But since the chance of getting flu in that age group was less than 3% to begin with, that’s really only about a 11/2 percent reduction. Rounding the figures off, if you’re a healthy adult, the flu vaccine will reduce your risk of actually getting the flu from 1 in 36 to 1 in 83. These are figures that are not offered in any of these studies.

Then of course, this all happens at a price. Whatever you may have heard, there is no such thing as a medication without the risk of side-effects. In vaccines that risk can also come from the adjuvants. A vaccine is a small dose of an organism plus adjuvants – chemicals that are irritants to the immune system and trigger it to react to the organism part. Without adjuvants vaccines generally won’t work. Popular adjuvants include the antibiotic gentamicin (too much of which can make you deaf), aluminum compounds (which probably contribute to Alzheimer’s and other neurological diseases) (2), and the mercury antiseptic, thiomersal/thimerosal (long known to be toxic and recently suspected in autism) – after all, they have to be toxic to work as adjuvants. Fluarix, one of the main brands of flu vaccine in the USA and UK, is stated by the manufacturers to contain both gentamicin and thimerosal.

We also used to think that flu vaccine prevented deaths from flu to a significant extent, even if it didn’t prevent overt infection – until we realized there was a major artifact at work. This is known as the healthy vaccine recipient effect, and the clue is in the name; a frail elderly person is much less likely to get down to their GP to have the vaccine than is a fit elderly person, who by the way is more likely to eat and live well, take vitamins and so on, and so has better resistance to viruses anyway.

What Osterholm and colleagues concluded, citing a couple of Californian studies, is that flu vaccine reduced all-cause mortality in those over 65 by a mere 4.6%. Is that worth the risk of adverse effects? That’s the choice you have to make but now you can make it knowing these facts.

Tamiflu

So if the vaccine can’t prevent you from getting the flu, how about Tamiflu (oseltamivir)? Well, it reduces the duration of flu symptoms by 1 to 11/2 days, and can give you other unpleasant symptoms, such as nausea and vomiting, and serious brain-fog (“I couldn’t think past a comma”), even according to the official website (3). But recently we became aware of another problem with Tamiflu; basically, the whole planet is starting to become resistant to it – already – as shown in the next new paper (4), actually a PhD dissertation at the University of Uppsala. Here’s how it works; Tamiflu is excreted largely unchanged by patients, and is barely affected by sewage treatment. So the drug enters the waterways, as was shown during a flu outbreak in Japan, where ducks, the natural reservoir for the virus, can pick it up. And when this happens, the virus can probably (which means that so far it has happened in a lab experiment) develop resistance to Tamiflu.

So Tamiflu, which governments were stockpiling and then handing out like candy in the last big flu outbreak, may already be on the fast track past its Sell By date. We’ve been here before, with overuse of antibiotics leading to seriously resistant hospital bugs like MRSA. But that took decades. We’ve managed to squander this resource much faster, and it shows that we live on a small planet – and there’s nowhere left to hide our waste. Everywhere is our doorstep now.

Vitamin D

Nobody could accuse us of overusing vitamin D. To begin with, we are almost all deficient, both in Northern Europe and the northern half of the USA (5). The final paper in this year’s crop (6) shows that the higher your blood level of vitamin D the lower your risk of catching flu, or respiratory infections in general.

The study found this to be true up to a vitamin D blood level over 100 nmol/L, which we used to think was excessive. But nowadays we don’t; the D*Action ( http://www.grassrootshealth.org/daction/index.php ) group located in San Diego have shown that you need to get even higher, above 125 nmol/L, in order to minimize your risk of developing most cancers, multiple sclerosis and other autoimmune diseases (7). Chances are the same applies to flu and chest infections. The problem is finding people with that high a vitamin D level to study them; D*Action found that it takes 9,600 IU per day of vitamin D by mouth to reliably get people above 100nmol/L (specifically, to get 97.5% of people there).

In the new UK study those with the highest vitamin D level – over 100 nmol/L – had about 50% the risk of getting respiratory infections of those with the lowest level – below 25nmol/L, which is truly deficient. All the subjects were Caucasians living in the UK, and you might expect that fair-skinned people would have a higher level of vitamin D, but this turns out not to be so – according to a 2009 study, again in the UK (8), Caucasian women have a slightly worse level of vitamin D than darker-skinned ones – no doubt because they heed the health warnings about skin cancer (now that’s a story for another time). They didn’t ask whether the subjects took any supplements, which could have made an even greater difference; a previous study in African-American women (9) found that a supplement of 800 IU per day of vitamin D reduced, and 2000 IU effectively wiped out, the risk of winter flu (see the chart below).

This was partly confirmed by a randomized controlled trial in Japanese schoolchildren which showed that 1200 IU reduced the incidence of confirmed influenza by 40% (10), and study at Yale which found that people with a serum vitamin D level over 38ng/ml (equivalent to 95 nmol/L, very close to the 100nmol/L used in the UK study) had half the chance of catching acute respiratory infections (11).

Before we get bogged down in the numbers, this is how I see it; if you live north of New York or Madrid you’re unlikely to have enough vitamin D in your system. You can improve that somewhat with diet, but with supplements you can probably make almost 100% certain (96% in fact) that you don’t get flu. How much vitamin D? At least 5,000 IU for an adult, and 10,000 is completely safe (or better still get it from sunlight – take a sunshine break now!). And if you do choose to have the vaccine, vitamin D might even make it work better (12).

OMNS is not specifically anti-vaccine, but we are very pro-personal choice; you can read our previous posting on this topic. (13) Get the facts, make up your own mind. Don’t accept coercion or baloney from governments. As Vera Hassner Sharav said, “Public health officials on both sides of the Atlantic have lost the public trust because they have been in league with vaccine manufacturers in denying that safety problems exist.”

Vaccines are a valuable asset and we shouldn’t squander them the way we did antibiotics. You’re not going to turn down rabies vaccine if you need it. But, equally, why ignore a gift of nature such as vitamin D?

References:

(To find a reference by PMID number, type or paste the number into the “Search” box at the top ofhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez )

1. PMID: 22032844, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=22032844

2. PMID: 21568886, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=21568886

3. http://www.tamiflu.com/hcp/influenza-treatment.aspx

4. http://uu.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2:453789

5. http://www.sunarc.org and also http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health-conditions/infections-and-autoimmunity/influenza/

6. PMID: 21736791, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=21736791

7. http://www.grassrootshealth.net/

8. PMID: 19649299, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=19649299

9. PMID: 16959053, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=16959053

10. PMID: 20219962, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=20219962

11. PMID: 20559424, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=20559424

12. PMID: 18298852, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=18298852

13. http://www.orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v07n02.shtml

Nutritional Medicine is Orthomolecular Medicine

Orthomolecular medicine uses safe, effective nutritional therapy to fight illness. For more information: http://www.orthomolecular.org

Find a Doctor

To locate an orthomolecular physician near you: http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v06n09.shtml

The peer-reviewed Orthomolecular Medicine News Service is a non-profit and non-commercial informational resource.

Editorial Review Board:

Ian Brighthope, M.D. (Australia)
Ralph K. Campbell, M.D. (USA)
Carolyn Dean, M.D., N.D. (Canada)
Damien Downing, M.D. (United Kingdom)
Michael Ellis, M.D. (Australia)
Martin P. Gallagher, M.D., D.C. (USA)
Michael Gonzalez, D.Sc., Ph.D. (Puerto Rico)
William B. Grant, Ph.D. (USA)
Steve Hickey, Ph.D. (United Kingdom)
James A. Jackson, Ph.D. (USA)
Michael Janson, M.D. (USA)
Robert E. Jenkins, D.C. (USA)
Bo H. Jonsson, M.D., Ph.D. (Sweden)
Thomas Levy, M.D., J.D. (USA)
Jorge R. Miranda-Massari, Pharm.D. (Puerto Rico)
Karin Munsterhjelm-Ahumada, M.D. (Finland)
Erik Paterson, M.D. (Canada)
W. Todd Penberthy, Ph.D. (USA)
Gert E. Shuitemaker, Ph.D. (Netherlands)
Robert G. Smith, Ph.D. (USA)
Jagan Nathan Vamanan, M.D. (India)

Andrew W. Saul, Ph.D. (USA), Editor and contact person. Email:omns@orthomolecular.org

Readers may write in with their comments and questions for consideration for publication and as topic suggestions. However, OMNS is unable to respond to individual emails.

To Subscribe at no charge: http://www.orthomolecular.org/subscribe.html

To Unsubscribe from this list: http://www.orthomolecular.org/unsubscribe.html

(OMNS, March 13, 2012) The news media proclaim that taking vitamin supplements is of no value and, somehow, actually dangerous. You have heard an earful from reporters. Now let’s hear from doctors.

Michael Janson, M.D.:

The standard American diet does not provide even the RDA. Two-thirds of all meals are eaten outside the home, and nearly half of them are in fast food joints. You can’t expect this to provide all the necessary nutrients, and many studies show that it does not. A large number of people admitted to hospitals are found to have deficiencies, and the problems worsen in the hospital. Those given supplements have a lower rate of complications, faster discharge from the hospital and fewer deaths. Vitamin companies do not send doctors on expense paid vacations or “seminars,” as do the drug companies for prescribing their drugs, and vitamins are safe and cheap. But surely this does not influence pharmaceutical-advertising-paid-for media!

Vitamin E in high doses (800 IU) enhances immunity in healthy elderly subjects. Vitamin C in doses (2,000 mg) far above the RDA (90 mg) significantly reduces allergic rhinitis and asthma and speeds the recovery from airway constriction induced by histamine. Vitamin B1 (thiamine) was used successfully to treat trigeminal neuralgia, as described in an article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association way back in 1940.

Many people are losing their faith in the medical profession because many doctors are unwilling to accept what is becoming common knowledge: nutrition and nutrient therapies are safer, cheaper and more effective than most other medical treatment. It is clear that most media reporters do not know the current nutrition literature, they do not know the old literature, and they do not know the middle-aged literature. If they do not know the literature, they should not be writing articles.

Martin Gallagher, M.D., D.C.:

I have been a practicing physician for 37 years. During that time, I have directly treated and supervised over 12,000 patient encounters per year. With each patient, I have prescribed a variety of vitamins, minerals, homeopathic medicines, and herbs. I have to date not encountered a single complication, anaphylactic reaction or death. The doses have been well above the RDA’s for vitamins and minerals. In fact, the IV treatments include doses of ascorbate (vitamin C) that vary from 10,000 to over 100,000 mg per treatment session.

At a time when the leading cause of death in the US is correctly prescribed medication, we need to embrace, not chastise, nutritional supplements.

Robert G. Smith, Ph.D.:

Most people in modern societies have vitamin and mineral deficiencies because these nutrients are removed by industrial food processing. Vitamin and mineral supplements are effective in preventing deficiencies that cause major illness such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, arthritis, osteoporosis, dementia, and many others. Supplements of vitamins and minerals, when taken in proper doses large enough to work (For example: vitamin C for an adult at 3,000 – 6,000 mg/day, and much more when stressed or sick), are safe and effective — and far less expensive than taking prescribed drugs overblown by the medical profession and media.

Michael J. Gonzalez, Ph.D.:

Research in Europe has shown that long-term users of antioxidant vitamin supplements have a 48% reduced risk of cancer mortality and 42% lower all-cause mortality. [1] The media did not bother to mention it. There is in fact overwhelming clinical evidence to justify the use of nutritional supplements for the prevention of disease and the support of optimal health. The Lewin Group estimated a $24 billion savings over 5 years if a few basic nutritional supplements were used in the elderly. [2] On the other hand, prescription medication kills over 100,000 people a year. [3]

Thomas Levy, M.D.:

There are more politics in modern medicine than in modern politics itself. Today’s average physician deserves even less trust than today’s average politician, as doctors continue their refusal to allow the scientific data on the profound benefits of vitamins and other antioxidant supplements to reach their eyes and brains. And the staunch support of a press, which collectively no longer has a shred of journalistic or scientific integrity, completes the framing of today’s colossal medical fraud. Money always rules the day: properly-dosed vitamins would eliminate far too much of the profit of prescription-based medicine.

William B. Grant, Ph.D.:

Modern lifestyles including wearing clothes and sunscreen and working and living largely indoors have led to widespread vitamin D deficiencies. Numerous ecological and observational studies have found correlations between higher solar UVB doses and vitamin D concentrations and reduced risk of many types of cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, bacterial and viral infectious diseases, autoimmune diseases, falls and fractures, cognitive impairment, and many more types of disease. To compensate for lack of sun exposure, 1,000-5,000 IU per day of vitamin D3 should be taken to raise serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations to at least 30-40 ng/ml (75-100 nmol/L). These amounts are safe for all but those with granulomatous diseases, who can develop hypercalcemia. 1,000 to 5,000 IU/day of vitamin D is effective in reducing risk of many types of diseases, as shown in a number of randomized controlled trials, such as cancer, falls and fractures, type A influenza, and pneumonia.

W. Todd Penberthy, Ph.D.:

Niacin in particular has been shown to provide exceptional benefit in treating cardiovascular disease in clinical trial after clinical trial [4]. By comparison, the popular diabetes drug Avandia was recently found to cause a 43% increase in heart attacks in diabetics. [5] This came out onlyafter Avandia had already become the most popular diabetes drug in the world! Never underestimate the power of market-driven forces to sell drugs, and books, such as The End of Illness by Dr. Agus, instead of proper information regarding what actually works best.

People are amazed how quickly simply taking supplemental niacin corrects high cholesterol, high triglycerides, low HDL (the good cholesterol) and VLDL. All of these parameters are pushed in the healthier direction because niacin ultimately functions inside the body in over 450 reactions. There is a reason niacin continues as a preferred therapy for doctors in the know, using niacin therapy for over 50 years now. Niacin works better than any drug to correct dyslipidemia.

One thing to always remember is this. You can “prove” that any drug or vitamin does not work if you are not using high enough doses to achieve the correct concentration of the molecule. Furthermore, all biochemical pathways rely on more than one molecule to function properly, so generally one drug/vitamin is not enough for optimal health. Our bodies rely on vitamins, not drugs, to routinely stave off illness by means we often take for granted. Sometimes we need much more of these essential molecules. This is common sense, and it is known as orthomolecular medicine.

James A. Jackson, Ph.D.:

For over twenty years, I was the laboratory director of a federally approved clinical reference laboratory. We accepted samples from all the United States and foreign countries. We measured all the fat soluble and water soluble vitamins in blood and urine. It was common to find vitamin deficiencies in both males and females, whether children or adults. The most common vitamin deficiencies were vitamin C and vitamin D3. The clinic’s physicians treated the patients with the appropriate vitamins and were monitored by our laboratory. Many were helped by the vitamin replacement treatment, including those with complaints such as headache, joint and muscle pain, chronic fatigue syndrome, and ADHD. We published many of these cases in the Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine. (http://orthomolecular.org/library/jom/index.shtml)

Ian Brighthope, M.D.:

Over 70% of Australians consume vitamins on a regular basis. A search of the department of health’s database reveals no serious adverse reactions or deaths have occurred in the Australian population over the past ten years from the use of complementary medicines. There is an extreme bias against very low to extremely low risk products by government regulators and health professionals working within and outside the establishment institutions.

Robert Jenkins, D.C., M.S.:

I have been in practice for 52 years and have treated thousands of patients with diet and nutritional supplements for numerous health conditions ranging from hypertension, diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, metabolic syndrome, irritable bowel syndrome, and many others. I have yet to experience adverse patient reactions from taking nutritional supplements. I have lectured second year medical students at two medical schools in the Philadelphia, PA area. When I asked those students how much nutritional training they had received, they all held up their hands with the sign of zero. The pharmaceutical industry makes sure medical students are trained in how to prescribe their drugs, while no positive mention is made of nutritional supplements. Why would anyone think that our modern medical doctors are to be considered authorities on nutritional supplementation for health conditions when they are not trained to do so? When this lack of nutritional education is combined with the news media’s ignorance of supplements and their benefits, we have “the blind leading the blind.”

Gert Schuitemaker, Ph.D.:

In the Netherlands, a report of the Dutch Health Council states that less than 2% of the population is eating according to official dietary guidelines. [6] Moreover, the authorities state that, even if a person is eating according to the dietary guidelines, he is not getting enough vitamin A, D, folic acid, iron, selenium and zinc. [7] Research in a Dutch hospital showed that 40% of patients at the time of admission were malnourished.[8] So, dietary supplements are necessary. Usually, chronic diseases, developing with increasing age, are treated with medicines, inevitably accompanied with the risk of severe side effects and unnecessary deaths. While the basis of many chronic diseases is a metabolic disturbance and nutritional deficiencies, the best treatment approach is good nutrition, including the use of dietary supplements. The “danger” of vitamins and minerals lies in chronic deficiencies, not in alleged toxic effects. Following the scientific literature on a daily basis, in 30 years, I have not seen any harmful effect from supplements.

Damien Downing, M.D.:

The more toxins you are exposed to, the more nutrients you will use up in dealing with them. Every year, we are exposed to more and more toxins, and our DNA has had no time to adapt. Heavy metals such as lead, mercury, fluorine; pesticides including the newer ones like glyphosate (“Roundup”); flame retardants that are even contaminating the Arctic; and hundreds of thousands of other new-to-nature molecules that every human has to deal with. And like it or not, pharmaceutical medications are mostly toxins too.

At the same time, intensive farming, soil depletion and poor diets (often foisted on us for spurious reasons such as fear of cholesterol) mean that it’s normal to be deficient now. We are deficient in vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients as well.

What chance does a human have? A much better one if she doesn’t buy the hype from big companies, the dogma from pharma-paid scientists, and the bullying from governments. Take your vitamins.

Steve Hickey, Ph.D.:

Over the past three centuries, the frequency of deficiency and infectious diseases has been reduced, through improved nutrition and better hygiene. Throughout this time, however, the role of nutrition has been belittled by the authorities. These same authorities now reject the idea that nutritional supplements can prevent our current chronic diseases. Thus, as a result of such authoritarian medicine, we may have replaced the horrors of pellagra, scurvy, and rickets with those of dementia, heart disease, and cancer. If so, it is likely that people in the future will look back with similar dismay on the current and needless destruction of health. How will we answer them, when they ask how could we have allowed this to happen?

Dean Elledge, D.D.S., M.S.:

The high-carbohydrate, nutrient-poor diet is a primary contributing factor in dental diseases. [9] Vitamin D and vitamin C are safe to use in dentistry to help the patient recover from dental diseases. Vitamins in general help reduce inflammation, and antioxidant vitamins reduce the inflammation in periodontal disease. Vitamin supplements improve antioxidant reserves.

Michael Ellis, M.D.:

I see so many patients in conventional general practice who are deficient in vitamins. I had one patient who had ended up in a hospital neurosurgical unit only to be found to have severe B12 deficiency. The foods that most people eat are high in sugar, processed, and denatured of essential nutrients. All patients need, at the very least, daily multivitamins.

Ralph Campbell, M.D.:

We have had lots of talk of the alleged “toxicity” of vitamins over the decades I have been in pediatric practice. I remain leery of the validity of such accusations. Most are just uninformed regurgitation of poorly designed studies. If alert, a clinician can easily detect vitamin deficiencies, and with experience, quickly spot suboptimal vitamin levels. The medical establishment seems to be increasingly aware of vitamin D, B12 and folic acid deficiency. What is taking the media so long?

Karin Munsterhjelm-Ahumada, M.D.:

I have been a physician for 35 years. For the last 20 years, I have worked with combining general medicine with nutritional (orthomolecular) medicine, the practice of preventing and treating disease by providing the body with optimal amounts of substances which are natural to the body, principally vitamins and minerals. I have had good opportunity to compare the results of my work as a GP from the time before I got knowledge of vitamins and minerals as therapeutic substances with the time after I had learned to integrate them in my work with patients. I can today certify that I have seen a great number of very positive results after beginning to integrate vitamins in my clinical work. The results have been particularly fine in neurologic and psychiatric conditions, including schizophrenia, and in hormonal and infectious diseases. During these last 20 years I have not seen severe side effects of orthomolecular substances. On the contrary, I have often been able to decrease the dosage of strong pharmaceutical drugs that carry severe side effects. This has led to a completely new and better quality of life for my patients, and for myself as a doctor.

Conclusion:

The old saying remains true: the person who says it can’t be done should not interrupt the person successfully doing it. Progressive doctors prescribe vitamins because they work. If your doctor doesn’t “believe” in vitamins, maybe it is time for him or her to change such an antiquated belief system in favor of the true clinical evidence.

For further reading:

How to Learn More about Nutritional Medicine: Information Archive and Locating a Practitionerhttp://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v06n09.shtml

How Doctors Use (Or Should Use) Vitamin Therapy http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v06n25.shtml

A Guide to Free, Peer-Reviewed Nutritional Medicine Information Onlinehttp://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v07n08.shtml

Intravenous Vitamin C as Cancer Therapy: Free Access to Twenty-One Expert Video Lectures Online http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v07n03.shtml

Additional Resources on Nutritional Therapeutics http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v06n27.shtml

References:

1. Li K, Kaaks R, Linseisen J, Rohrmann S. Vitamin/mineral supplementation and cancer, cardiovascular, and all-cause mortality in a German prospective cohort (EPIC-Heidelberg). Eur J Nutr. 2011 Jul 22.

2. Suh DC , Woodall BS, Shin SK , Hermes-De Santis ER. Clinical and economic impact of adverse drug reactions in hospitalized patients. Ann Pharmacother . 2000;34(12):1373-9.

3. Lazarou J, Pomeranz BH, Corey PN. Incidence of adverse drug reactions in hospitalized patients: a meta-analysis of prospective studies. JAMA . 1998 15;279(15):1200-5.

4. Carlson LA: Nicotinic acid: the broad-spectrum lipid drug. A 50th anniversary review. J Intern Med, 2005; 258: 94-114.

5. Nissen SE, and Wolski K: Effect of rosiglitazone on the risk of myocardial infarction and death from cardiovascular causes. N Engl J Med, 2007; 356: 2457-2471.

6. Significant trends in food consumption in the Netherlands. The Hague: Health Council of the Netherlands, 2002; publication no. 2002/12.

7. Voedingscentrum. Richtlijnen goede voedselkeuze. [The Netherlands Nutrition Centre. Guidelines Good Nutritional Choice] 2011.

8. Naber TH, Schermer T, de Bree A et al. Prevalence of malnutrition in nonsurgical hospitalized patients and its association with disease complications. Am J Clin Nutr. 1997 Nov; 66(5):1232-9.

9. Elledge DA. Effective hemostasis and tissue management. Dentistry Today, Oct 2010, p150.

Nutritional Medicine is Orthomolecular Medicine

Orthomolecular medicine uses safe, effective nutritional therapy to fight illness. For more information: http://www.orthomolecular.org

Find a Doctor

To locate an orthomolecular physician near you: http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v06n09.shtml

The peer-reviewed Orthomolecular Medicine News Service is a non-profit and non-commercial informational resource.

Editorial Review Board:

Ian Brighthope, M.D. (Australia)
Ralph K. Campbell, M.D. (USA)
Carolyn Dean, M.D., N.D. (Canada)
Damien Downing, M.D. (United Kingdom)
Dean Elledge, D.D.S., M.S. (USA)
Michael Ellis, M.D. (Australia)
Martin P. Gallagher, M.D., D.C. (USA)
Michael Gonzalez, D.Sc., Ph.D. (Puerto Rico)
William B. Grant, Ph.D. (USA)
Steve Hickey, Ph.D. (United Kingdom)
James A. Jackson, Ph.D. (USA)
Michael Janson, M.D. (USA)
Robert E. Jenkins, D.C. (USA)
Bo H. Jonsson, M.D., Ph.D. (Sweden)
Thomas Levy, M.D., J.D. (USA)
Jorge R. Miranda-Massari, Pharm.D. (Puerto Rico)
Karin Munsterhjelm-Ahumada, M.D. (Finland)
Erik Paterson, M.D. (Canada)
W. Todd Penberthy, Ph.D. (USA)
Gert E. Schuitemaker, Ph.D. (Netherlands)
Robert G. Smith, Ph.D. (USA)
Jagan Nathan Vamanan, M.D. (India)

Andrew W. Saul, Ph.D. (USA), Editor and contact person. Email:omns@orthomolecular.org Readers may write in with their comments and questions for consideration for publication and as topic suggestions. However, OMNS is unable to respond to individual emails.

To Subscribe at no charge: http://www.orthomolecular.org/subscribe.html

To Unsubscribe from this list: http://www.orthomolecular.org/unsubscribe.html

Swine Flu, Pandemrix and Narcolepsy

by Karin Munsterhjelm-Ahumada, M.D.

(OMNS, March 20, 2012) The swine flu pandemic of 2009 was caused by a type A influenza (H1N1) virus. This virus was originally referred to as “swine flu” because many of the genes of this new virus were very similar to influenza viruses that normally occur in pigs in North America. The H1N1 virus is genetically similar to the 1918 pandemic virus, as determined from victimes of the latter who were buried, and later disinterred, in Svalbard. It was responsible for most of the outbreaks up until 1956 and then disappeared.

However, this new virus was actually quite different from the typical swine flu viruses. This virus first caused illness in Mexico and the United States in March and April, 2009. This novel H1N1 flu spread from person to person, unlike typical swine flu. In 2009 vaccines were being developed for the prevention of swine flu in humans. http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=99584

On 11 June 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that the swine flu had developed into a full scale world epidemic – a pandemic alert to Phase 6. Margaret Chan, the Director-General of WHO, commented on the situation in a somewhat ambiguous way. While stressing that the swine flu had reached a serious pandemic level, she declared later in the same statement that the illness seemed to be mild and that most of the patients would recover without medical intervention. http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/statements/2009/h1n1_pandemic_phase6_20090611/en/index.html

The world chose to listen to the first part of her message.

Two pharmaceutical companies GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Novartis had, under considerable time pressure, developed a vaccine against the swine flu. Since the cultivation of an adequate amount of virus to generate the vaccine requires time, GSK and Novartis decided to formulate a weaker vaccine but strenghten it with an adjuvant that contains squalene. Immunologic adjuvants are substances, administered in conjunction with a vaccine, that stimulate the immune system and increase the response to the vaccine http://www.who.int/vaccine_safety/topics/adjuvants/squalene/questions_and_answers/en/. Although squalene is a natural substance found in methabolic pathways of the body, its inclusion in a vaccine is controversial and it is not in use in the USA.

On 25 September 2009, the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) approved Pandemrix, the swine flu vaccine produced by GSK and Focetria produced by Novartis.http://justthevax.blogspot.com/2009/09/eu-approves-gsk-pandemrix-and-novartis.html The vaccine would be ready for use that October.

In Sweden, Finland, Norway and Iceland, the authorities explicitly set the goal of vaccinating the entire population http://www.svd.se/nyheter/inrikes/massvaccinering-raddade-sex-liv_6851143.svd. In this respect, it is of interest that the governments of these countries, already before the outbreak of the swine flu, had concluded an agreement with GSK, according to which they were assured the delivery of pandemic vaccines, if needed. In addition, the contract stipulated that, in a situation characterized as a pandemic by the WHO, the same Nordic countries would have ten days to decide whether or not to accept delivery of the vaccine in question. Hence, the purpose of the agreement was to assure that the entire populations of these countries would receive vaccinations. Finally, the contract protected GSK from any claim for financial compensation in case the delivered vaccine would have any side effects.

When WHO declared the swine flu to be a Phase 6 pandemic, the agreement referred to above was automatically activated.

Mass vaccination started in Finland and Sweden in October 2009. In order to cover the largest possible percentage of the population, the authorities initiated an enormous public relations campaign, which could be described in terms of a “moral persuasion.” Solidarity became the slogan: “Be vaccinated to protect your fellow citizens.” Those who questioned the vaccination program (small groups of vaccine opponents or just people who were hesitant) were looked upon with disapproval.

In contrast to these vaccine – enthusiastic countries, the politics of vaccination within the rest of the European Union varied immensely among its member states. Poland, for example, decided not to buy vaccines at all due to the strict agreement conditions required by the pharmaceutical companies. Denmark’s order covered only “risk groups”. http://www.svd.se/nyheter/inrikes/svd-granskar-sveriges-vaccinering-mot-svininfluensan_6843475.svd

The expected second wave of the influenza never appeared. The epidemic gradually declined during the first half of 2010. The same year, on 10 August, WHO officially declared the end of the epidemic. The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) stated that the swine flu was less dangerous and had a lower mortality rate than the seasonal influenza. Thus, apparently the swine flu would not have been a dangerous epidemic even without the mass vaccination. Interestingly, also that same year, vitamin D was shown to prevent influenza in children. (1)

In Sweden, 60% of the population had been vaccinated, while in Finland 50% was covered. In contrast, the figures in Germany and Poland were only 8 and 0% respectively. In the history of Swedish health care this pandemic campaign amounted to one of the most expensive ever. Enormous amounts of taxpayer money were at stake. http://www.svd.se/nyheter/inrikes/svd-granskar-sveriges-vaccinering-mot-svininfluensan_6843475.svd

Meanwhile, the media had become silent on this issue ; there was no further discussion about the swine flu anymore.

Then the blow came:

“The absolutely worst thing that could happen,” commented Richard Bergström, the Director – General of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations, EFPIA. “The worst nightmare of both the industry and the health authorities is an illness that turns out to be mild, while the vaccine that was supposed to prevent a dangerous epidemic causes a severe side effect that was previously unknown.” http://www.kostdemokrati.se/nyheter/files/2012/02/SvD-sid-14-19.pdf

In August 2010, Finland reported an increased occurrence of narcolepsy in children and youngsters vaccinated with Pandemrix. On 1 September 2010, Finland stopped all Pandemrix vaccinations. http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/09/10/swine-flu-vaccine-may-have-caused-narcolepsy.aspx

Narcolepsy is a severe chronic neurologic disease that not only results in a disabling fatigue, which typically results in the patient falling asleep anywhere and at any time. It might also lead to panic attacks and a state of exhaustion. For many, the worst consequences are the symptoms of cataplexy. This condition causes the narcolepsy patient, when expressing strong feelings such as laughter or crying, to suddenly lose muscular control. The legs give way, speech gets slurred, the gaze goes unfocused and the person gives the impression of being drunk. In some patients, frightening hallucinations appear when falling asleep or waking up.

On 1 September 2011, the Finnish National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) admitted, that for Finnish children and youngsters age 4-19, there was a new and obvious connection between Pandemrix and narcolepsy. As stated in THL’s press release, “The increased risk associated with vaccination amounted to six cases of narcolepsy per 100,000 persons vaccinated in the 4-19 age group during the eight months following vaccination. This was 12.7 times the risk of a person in the same age group who had not been vaccinated.” http://www.thl.fi/en_US/web/en/pressrelease?id=26352 This statement was made almost exactly two years after the THL’s earlier statement made in the midst of the swine flu hysteria that everyone should be vaccinated with Pandemrix and that it would be safe. In that original statement, the director of the THL emphasized that the squalene adjuvant could increase the side effects of the vaccine to some extent. However, he stated, these side effects would not be dangerous. http://www.tohtori.fi/?page=5833192&id=0169960

In Sweden, at least 150 children are now suffering from narcolepsy caused by Pandemrix vaccine. In Finland, the number is approximately 100. In both countries the number is probably growing. Narcolepsy is a disease with lifetime consequences, and the risk that Pandremix may have caused other neurological illnesses has not yet been excluded. Many have already began to compare this tragedy with the thalidomide catastrophe. http://www.svd.se/nyheter/inrikes/medicinsk-tragedi-med-ett-absurt-slut_6861775.svd

No European countries had a particularly high rate of deaths due to the swine flue. Germany had the same death rate as Sweden, which was 0.31/100 000, although Sweden vaccinated 60% and Germany only 8%. This implies that the vaccine did little to prevent deaths. The responsible authorities have not yet commented on this matter of fact. http://www.svd.se/nyheter/inrikes/massvaccinering-raddade-sex-liv_6851143.svd

Last year the Finnish government promised full compensation for those who have developed narcolepsy as a consequence of the vaccination. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-05/finnish-government-to-compensate-pandemrix-narcolepsy-victims.html. While Sweden did, indeed, follow the Finnish THL in admitting the connection between the vaccine and the disease, the Swedish authorities have not yet decided whether and how to provide appropriate compensation.

In February 2012, Svenska Dagbladet, a widely read newspaper in Sweden, presented an informative and accurate series of articles on this theme. They describe some of the affected children narrating how difficult it is to live with narcolepsy http://www.svd.se/nyheter/multimedia/artikel_6840743.svd

According to the authorities, much research is still underway concerning the details of the vaccine injury. Taking the pressure from the public and the affected families into account, it will be difficult for them to avoid carrying out a thorough investigation. Let’s hope so.

References:

1. Urashima M, Segawa T, Okazaki M, Kurihara M, Wada Y, Ida H. Randomized trial of vitamin D supplementation to prevent seasonal influenza A in schoolchildren. Am J Clin Nutr. 2010 May;91(5):1255-60.

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