Vaccine Scene 2001: Update and Overview

Harold E Buttram, MD

Part 2 of 2 (Part 1, References)

Other than those articles previously mentioned, and a few to be reviewed in a subsequent section of this paper dealing with allergies, there is a virtual vacuum of meaningful information in the current literature on the pertussis vaccine and vaccine-induced encephalitis. However, there is one area which promises to be fruitful in clinical and scientific knowledge about this field, however tragic it may be from a human standpoint:

There are at present increasing rates of imprisonment of parents or caretakers on conviction of infant deaths from the "shaken baby syndrome."(SBS) From first hand knowledge of one case and familiarity with others, we believe with virtual certainly that some of these convictions have been the result of misdiagnosis, the true cause of deaths having been vaccine reactions.(50)

In one case, for instance, 6 vaccines were given at 8 weeks of age to a severely compromised baby. Following a period of clinical deterioration, the baby became apneic about 14 days following the vaccines and, although later resuscitated in a hospital, died shortly after.

The father was subsequently charged with death of his infant from SBS. During the subsequent jury trial, vaccines were never mentioned by any witness or offered as a possible cause of the infant's death. As a result of this and other factors, the father was convicted of murdering his infant son and is now serving a life-sentence. If the truth were known, probably this story could be told many times over.

The MMR Vaccine (Measles - Mumps - Rubella) and Autism:

Probably the greatest concern with vaccines today rests with their possible causal relationship with the growing epidemic of neurobehavioral problems, especially autism, as reviewed in the previous section. Parenthetically, statistics may be open to question, but one cannot question the observations of veteran elementary school teachers who, in our experience, unanimously and emphatically report a marked increase in these disorders in recent years.

In regards to autism, probably the best statistics come from California, where a survey mandated by the California state legislature found a 273% increase incidence during the previous ll years.(51) Reports from education departments of several states and reports from the U.S. Congress on the rapidly increasing needs of classrooms for developmentally delayed children reflect comparable changes throughout the nation.(52)

As clearly shown in a graph prepared by Bernard Rimland, Ph.D., founding director or the Autism Research Institute with headquarters in San Diego, sharp rises in the incidence of autism in the U.S.A. took place immediately following the introduction of the MMR vaccine in l975, and in the United Kingdom following its introduction in l988.(53)

In our own practice we have carried out a partial sampling of the charts of autistic children seen here in the year 2000. Among 32 charts that were reviewed, it was found that in 16 cases (50%) the onset of autistic features in a previously normal child took place in a time-related fashion following the MMR vaccine.

It is important to point out that an uncombined measles vaccine had been in use in the U.S.A. since 1961, with only a slight rise in autism from 1961 to 1975 when the combined MMR vaccine came into use, bringing with it the sharp increases in autism. As a result of this, some are coming to believe that the 3 vaccines should be given separately, about which more will be said later.

In our opinion, one of the prime researchers in the field of autism is Vijendra Singh, Ph.D., Department of Biology, Utah State University, who published the report of a study in which he found that a large majority of autistic children tested had antibodies to brain tissue in the form of antibodies to myelin basic protein. He also found a strong correlation between myelin basic protein antibodies and antibodies to measles (almost all of the children had been immunized with the MMR vaccine, and none had had these diseases).(54)

If the MMR vaccine is causing autoimmune reactions, what would be the mechanism?

Although research in this area is in its infancy, we do know this:

Both measles and mumps fractions of the MMR vaccine are cultured in chick embryo tissue. As purely genetic material, viruses are highly susceptible to the process of "jumping genes," in which they incorporate genetic material from the tissues in which they are cultured.(55)

Furthermore, protein sequences in the measles virus have been found to have similarities to those found in brain tissues, (56) so that by the process of "mimicry," the formation of antibodies against one may cross react with the other, which the work of Dr. Singh tends to confirm.

As another factor, it is possible that the reaction rates in the second-generation vaccine recipients of today may be happening on a much larger scale due to previous sensitization of mothers from their vaccines, this sensitization being transmitted in turn to the fetus.(57)

A second prime researcher in the field of autism, in our view, is Dr. Andrew Wakefield, Reader in experimental gastroenterology, Royal Free Hospital and University College Medical School, London. This researcher and coworkers were the first to suggest a possible link between the triple MMR vaccine and clinical combination of autism with bowel disorder, now referred to as the autistic enterocolitis syndrome.

As a result Dr. Wakefield has become the center of a storm of controversy in the United Kingdom, as well as a highly sought speaker at conferences in the U.S.A. Although coauthor of many peer-reviewed clinical and scientific papers, the course of Dr. Wakefield's pioneering work in this field can be found in a series of three articles,(58-60) as well as his presentation to the United States House of Representatives Committee on Government Reform, April 6, 2000.(61)

In summary, Dr. Wakefield and coworkers have studied over l50 developmentally delayed children with colitis, in which enlarged and inflamed intestinal nodes are a prime feature. Wakefield stressed that patterns in these children appear to be distinct from other forms of inflammatory bowel disease, such as Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.

Working in collaboration with a state-of-the-art laboratory in Ireland, subsequent molecular studies from intestinal biopsies performed on these children detected measles virus genetic material in 24 out of 25 specimens (96%), in contrast with only 5% of detected measles virus in control specimens sent in a "blinded" fashion.

In explaining the ability of the MMR-derived measles virus to establish itself in the intestinal mucosa of affected children, Wakefield cited earlier reports warning of the potential of viral interference in the triple MMR vaccine, whereby one virus could interfere with another.(62,63)

Commenting on these early articles, Wakefield stated,

"The ability of mumps virus to interfere with the cellular immune response to certain strains of measles virus and thereby, in particular combinations potentially to reduce viral clearance and increase the risk of persistent (intestinal) infection, is an intriguing hypothesis to some of those involved in the current debate."(61)

Parenthetically, Dr. Wakefield is not opposed to the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines, but he does believe that their administration should be widely separated.

In an article just released at time of this writing in the Adverse Drug Reaction & Toxicology Review,(64) Andrew Wakefield and coauthor Scott Montgomery carefully reviewed the inadequacies of the early pre-licensing trials of the MMR vaccine with a maximum follow up of 28 days and even shorter periods in some of the studies.

They stressed that such short periods of observation following the vaccine were totally inadequate to detect delayed reactions, including pervasive developmental delay (autism), immune deficiencies, and inflammatory bowel disease, which are known from earlier published reports to occur following both the natural measles infection and the measles vaccine.

Again the authors reviewed earlier evidence of viral interference in which the near proximity in time of the natural infections of mumps, measles, chicken pox, and other viral infections in the pre-vaccine days resulted in increased incidence of autism and enterocolitis. This is particularly true because the measles virus is an enteropathic virus capable of causing acute gastroenteritis, mesenteric adenitis, and ileocolitis.

Perhaps the most interesting feature of the article is that it was reviewed by four leading British authorities, all of whom had previously held positions in the regulation and licensing of medicines.(65)

Taken as a body, the reviewers were supportive of the Wakefield/Montgomery paper, three highly so. Two of these will be quoted here:

Professor Duncan Vere, former member of the Committee on the Safety of Medicines, agreed that the periods for the tests were too short. "In almost every case," he wrote, "observations periods were too short to include the time of onset of delayed neurological or other adverse events."

He also added, "one not insignificant detail is whether compensation for vaccine damage is available to an injured child and family, or is denied by the authorities who advocate the vaccine whilst denying the risks on the inadequate (if extensive) evidence available."

Peter Fletcher, formerly a senior professional medical officer for the Department of Health wrote, "being extremely generous, evidence on safety (of the MMR) was very thin." Noting that single vaccines for measles, mumps, and rubella already existed, he argued, "caution should have ruled the day…The granting of a product license was definitely premature."

Childhood Immunizations and the Increasing Incidence of Atopy (Allergies):

The increasing incidence of allergic disorders in Western nations is now universally recognized, with every third child in industrialized societies having an allergic disorder.(66) In some areas the incidence of asthma has increased 200% in the past 20 years.(67) Another survey showed a 46% increase in death rate nationwide from asthma between 1977 and 1991.(68)

There is a school of thought that the so-called minor childhood illnesses of former times, including measles, mumps, rubella (German measles), and chicken pox, which entered the body through the mucous membranes, served a necessary and positive purpose in challenging and strengthening the immune system of these membranes.(69)

In contrast, the respective vaccines of these diseases are injected by needle directly into the system of the child, thereby bypassing the mucosal immune system. As a result, mucosal immunity remains relatively weak and stunted in many children, complications of which may be the rapid increase in asthma, eczema, nasal allergies, food allergies, and a general pattern of sickness in today's children.

It has not gone unnoticed that the increasing incidence of atopic disorders has coincided in a time-related fashion with the childhood vaccine programs, and reports are now appearing from widely separated geographic areas in which vaccinated children were found to have significantly more allergic disorders than children with limited or no vaccines.(70-73)

The suspected role of the pertussis vaccine in potentiating allergic disorders tends to be confirmed in animal studies(74-76) as well as a human study.(77) Thimerosol, an organic mercurial compound widely used as a preservative in vaccines, also has been studied for its sensitizing properties.(78)

Among these, the study by Kosecka and coworkers(74) deserves special emphasis: In the study rats were sensitized to ovalbumin (OA) by injection of OA alone or together with a very small dose of pertussis toxin. In each group secretory responses to nerve stimulation, serum IgE levels, and intestinal mast cell counts were determined.

It was found that sensitization was very transient (14 days) when OA was given alone but when the OA was combined with pertussis toxin, the intestinal mast cell count, serum IgE levels, etc, remained elevated for 8 months. The authors concluded that their findings indicated that when tiny amounts of pertussis toxin were administered with a food protein, it would result in long-term sensitization to the antigen and altered intestinal neuroimmune function.

Are Vaccines Skewing the Human Immune System?

In brief summary, the immune system is divided into two major classes: Cellular immunity, in which the mucous membranes of the body play a prominent role, and humoral immunity, with the production of antigen-specific antibodies by plasma cells in the bone marrow.

Cellular immunity, which involves macrophage activation and the cytotoxic T lymphocyte as its major agents, is responsible for control of viruses, fungi, as well as bacteria. Humoral immunity, on the other hand, is predominantly involved in control of bacteria.

Both of these classes are governed by TH lymphocytes, the "T" referring to the thymus gland, from which they are derived, and the "H" referring to a helper or activating activity. Early in life these "naïve" or uncommitted TH lymphocytes are differentiated into either armed TH1 cells, which governs in cellular immunity or armed TH2 cells, which governs in humoral immunity.

This initial differentiation , at which naïve TH cells become either armed TH1 cells or armed TH2 cells has a critical impact on the outcome of adaptive immune response, depending on whether it is dominated by macrophage activation of the former or antibody production of the latter.(79)

It has been found that this differentiation is profoundly affected by cytokines, which are produced by lymphocytes and serve as chemical messengers. The two cytokines, Interleukin 12 and Interferon gamma, in vitro, tend to promote the development of TH1 cells. Interleukin 4, 5, 6, and 10, on the other hand, tend to promote the differentiation of TH2 cells.(80)

Once one subset becomes dominant, it is difficult to shift the response to the other subset, as the cytokines from one subset tend to dominate the other. The overall effect is that certain reponses are dominated either by humoral (TH2) or cell-mediated (TH1) responses.(81)

Among the different cytokines, some have been shown to have damaging effects: Interleukin I may cause increased blood brain barrier permeability and meningeal inflammation(82) and brain damage in experimental animals.(83) Interferon-gamma has been found to reduced the intestinal barrier and increase permeability,(84,85) and to bring about profound morphological, functional, and permeability changes in human brain blood-vessel endothelial cells.(86)

The study by Pabst and coworkers, previously mentioned as the first of its kind, with the testing of cytokines before-and-after the MMR vaccine, found that the predominant response was an increase in interferon-gamma.(11) As has just been shown (references 84 and 85), interferon gamma increases intestinal permeability. Does this tie in with the findings of increased intestinal permeability that has been found in children with autism(87) and consequently with the MMR vaccine?

In both the New England Journal of Medicine(88) and the journal, Thorax,(89) articles have appeared stating that a healthy immune system has a "bias" towards the TH1 immune system, while people with allergies, asthma, and diseases of an autoimmune origin have what is known as the TH2-skewed immune response. However, either antibodies or T cells of the cellular immune system can cause tissue damage in autoimmune diseases.(90)

A study of cytokine levels in 20 autistic children by S Gupta and coworkers found that TH1 cytokines were consistently lowered and TH2 cytokines were consistently elevated as compared with controls.(91) Once again, does this tie in with immunizations? Are immunizations tilting the immune systems into TH2-skewed immune response? Considering that vaccines are administered by parenteral injection, designed primarily to stimulate antibody response, this would appear to be the case.

However, we cannot know the answers to this and other similar questions until definitive studies are done, testing both the immediate and long-term effects of vaccines on the human system. Among these, the testing of cytokines and related lymphocyte subpopulations before-and-after immunizations appear to be the most promising.

Gulf War Syndrome, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and Fibromyalgia

In a study of 33 veterans suffering with symptoms of Gulf War Syndrome, there were marked increases in markers indicating increased coagulability of the blood of the subjects as compared with healthy controls.(92)

The authors hypothesized that exposures to chemical, biological, warfare pathogens, and/or vaccine adjuvants (including the controversial anthrax vaccine) during the Persian Gulf War had brought about immune reactions which had activated the coagulation system by the cross reaction of antibodies with antithrombotic (anticlotting) proteins lining the endothelial surfaces of blood vessels, the end result being a deposition of fibrin within blood vessels and a reduction of blood flow. Similar hypercoagulability states have been found in patients with the chronic fatigue syndrome.(93)

At this point no one knows to what extent each of the various exposures (chemicals, biological warfare, and/or vaccines) played in the pathogenesis in the Gulf War Illness, but serious investigators have little doubt it was a combination of these exposures that caused the illness. Considering that the GWS and CFS have much in common clinically as well as in laboratory findings, should we not be investigating the possibility that two conditions have similar causes?

Are Vaccines Bringing about Genetic Change?

In a Letter-to-the-Editor of Science Magazine in October 1967, Joshua Lederberg, Department of Genetics, Stanford University School of Medicine, warned about live-virus vaccines:

"In point of fact, we (are practicing) biological engineering on a rather large scale by use of live viruses in mass immunization campaigns…..Crude virus preparations, such as some in common use at the present time, are also vulnerable to frightful mishaps of contamination and misidentification."(94)

In a larger sense, the question about the possible effects of vaccines in causing adverse genetic changes might be considered as the black hole of scientific knowledge. Even if it is taking place, do we have the technology to identify it?

For the present, however, genetic abnormalities have been found only in persons with major vaccine-related 0health disorders, as reviewed below:

To date, a careful review of the world's literature has disclosed only two publications reporting on adverse genetic changes known or suspected to be related to vaccines: In a study from Italy, 30 patients with post-vaccine diseases of the central nervous system were tested for Herpes virus and tissue typing (HLA A,B,C, HLA DR-DQ).

The comparison of the patients with controls showed an increased presence of HLA A3 and DR-7, reflecting genetic change in 73.3% of patients.(95) In the second report, a three-year study was done in collaboration with the University of Michigan School of Medicine involving 24 gulf war veterans with a pattern of symptomatic health disorders that have been referred to as the Persian Gulf War-Related Illness.

Among these, 50% were found to have abnormal RNA, indicating chromosomal damage after "toxic events."(96) Although the report from the University of Michigan Medical School comments only on toxic chemical exposures in the Gulf War, vaccines may also have played a role, especially the controversial anthrax vaccine.(97) Perhaps the greatest significance of these reports, aside from the findings, is simply in the fact that scientific investigations have begun in this very important area.

Thimerosal (Mercury) in Some US Licensed Vaccines:

According to recent revelations based on tables provided by the U.S. Center for Disease Control,(98) among the six vaccines required during 2, 4, and 6 months ages, which include DTaP, Hepatitis B, Hib, and IPV, if one includes the 25 micrograms of mercury in most DTaP vaccines, 12.5 micrograms in some Hepatitis B vaccines, and 25 micrograms in some Hib vaccines, theoretically it is possible that some infants are receiving over 100 times the amount of mercury that the US Environmental Protection Agency says is the maximum allowable daily exposure.(99)

(Current EPA standards allow a maximum of 0.1 micrograms per kilogram of body weight as the maximum safe dose of mercury per day.)

For centuries mercury has been known to be a potent neurotoxin and one of the most toxic of the heavy metals. A possible mechanism for this toxicity was recently disclosed in an animal study in which mercury vapor exposures resulted in retrograde degeneration of neuronal (brain) membranesm producing molecular lesions similar to those seen in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease.(100)

Recently it has also been shown to be sensitizing,(78) so that along with pertussis and the Hib vaccine,(35,74) we have 3 potentially sensitizing agents in this group of vaccines.

Conclusions:

Having in mind the foregoing material and today's vaccine scene, one is reminded of Hamlet's words when he said, "The times are out of joint."

By federal, state, and school policies, parents are being compelled to keep up-to-date on their children's vaccines whether they wish it or not, and then when serious health problems ensue, as appears to be increasingly the case, parents are told that the vaccines had nothing to do with it.

In more than a few instances, parents are threatened with having their children placed in a foster home if they refuse to complete the recommended course of vaccines, and in some cases this has actually been carried out.

Today we have a system in which vaccine production by the pharmaceutical companies is largely self-regulated. Naturally these companies are interested in profits from their products which, in itself, is not wrong. However, when arbitrary decisions in the mandating of vaccines are made by government bureaucracies, who are highly partisan to the pharmaceuticals, with no recourse open to parents, we have all the potential ingredients for a tragedy of historical proportions.

Nothing written in this paper is intended to imply that immunizations, when used in judicious moderation, do not at times serve a necessary purpose. However, simple observation throws strong suspicion on childhood vaccines, in their present numbers and forms, as posing one of the major causes of the increasing pattern of sickness, allergies, autism, and other neurobehavioral problems now being seen in our youngsters.

For sake of argument, let us assume that scientific proof eventually implicates the vaccines as one of the prime sources of these problems and that, in addition, it becomes known that safer methods could have been found to accomplish the same ends if they had been sought.

If we continue to enforce the vaccine programs as at present, one shudders to think what future generations will think and write about us. Mistakes might be forgiven, but not the enforcement of those mistakes. If such does prove to be the case, we can rest assured that they will be neither kind nor charitable in their judgments of us.

References

Part 1

DR. MERCOLA'S COMMENT:

Dr. Buttram has done an outstanding job of providing an accurate and current overview of this complex area. I am constantly amazed at how he consolidates this information. He is to be hugely congratulated for his hard work in compiling this information and giving such a balanced and accurate perspective of the central issues that are involved.

Dr. Buttram is a gentle humble God loving man and one of the major pioneers in the vaccine awareness movement. I have known his associate Dr. William Kracht for many years.

If you are on the east coast and require physicians who believe and apply most of what I recommend in this newsletter I could not recommend their clinic more highly.

Woodland Medical Center
5724 Clymer Road
Quakertown, PA 18951
215-536-1890

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