Vienna, Virginia http://www.909shot.com “Protecting the health and informed
consent rights of children since 1982.”
BLFisher Note: This is further evidence that vaccines,
like antibiotics, can place pressure on microorganisms to mutate in order to
survive. The larger question for public
health officials embracing the eradication of micoorganisms through forced mass
vaccination with multiple vaccines as their number one mission is: are they
going to take responsibilty for the multiple, more virulent organisms that may
plague humanity as a result of their narrow-minded view? Not likely. But certainly, the public has a
right and responsibility to question the mandate they have assumed.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010522/hl/cough_1.html
Tuesday May 22 1:12 PM ET
ORLANDO (Reuters Health) - The bacterium that causes
whooping cough is mutating to develop resistance to the vaccine used to
immunize Dutch schoolchildren against the disease, researchers report.
“It seems like the bacterium is changing part of its coat,
thereby disguising itself” from the immune system, according to Dr. Audrey King
of the National Institute of Public Health and the Environment in Bilthoven, the
Netherlands. She presented the findings here Tuesday at the annual meeting of
the American Society for Microbiology.
Until the advent of the pertussis (whooping cough) vaccine
in the early 1950s, the respiratory illness was a major cause of illness and
death, especially among infants and small children. Since the introduction of
the vaccine (usually administered as part of the diptheria-tetanus-pertussis combo
vaccine), rates for whooping cough have dropped dramatically in the developed
world.
However, in recent years whooping cough has been making
something of a comeback in the Netherlands, the United States and elsewhere.
Comparing old and new strains of the Bordetella pertussis bacterium under the
microscope, King and her colleagues found that, over time, “at least two
proteins located on the outside of the bacterium have been changed.” Since
vaccines work by “priming” the human immune system to recognize (and attack)
such proteins, these changes could explain why the pertussis vaccine now
provides Dutch children with weaker protection against whooping cough than it
did in years past.
This theory was supported by further studies in mice.
After administering the vaccine to a group of mice, King’s team infected them
with either an older or present-day version of the whooping cough bacterium.
The result? More mice infected with
current strains of pertussis showed signs of illness than those infected with
strains dominant in years past.
In an interview with Reuters Health, King stressed that
the whooping cough vaccine remains “effective against serious disease,” and
there is no cause for immediate alarm. And she said it is difficult to say
whether vaccines used in other countries share deficiencies similar to the form
of the vaccine used in the Netherlands.
“However, there is still room for improvement,” King
added, because whooping cough vaccines currently in use may not protect
children from less serious forms of illness. She recommends that children
receive booster shots of new and improved vaccines—that recognize the bacteria’s
altered “coat”—in those countries where they are available.
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