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http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/31/health/31VACC.html

Study of Hepatitis B Shots Finds No Link With M.S.

By REUTERS

ASHINGTON, May 30 — The hepatitis B vaccine does not cause multiple sclerosis or related neurological disorders, and it prevents a serious infection that can cause fatal liver cancer, experts said today.

The report, issued by the Institute of Medicine, is the third in a series of reports by experts who are looking at vaccines to see if they could cause serious side-effects in the population.

Hepatitis B is a virus transmitted in body fluids, and it can be passed on sexually, by sharing needles, in hospitals or via transfusions. It can damage the liver and cause liver cancer, liver failure and death.

More than 1 billion people worldwide are infected, and one in 20 Americans carries the virus. American children are routinely vaccinated against the virus.

But some people have feared that the vaccine might cause serious side-effects, including the development of multiple sclerosis.

Multiple sclerosis is caused when the immune system, for unknown reasons, attacks the nerve fibers. It can cause fatigue and eventually completely debilitate a patient.

The hepatitis B vaccine has also been linked with Guillain-Barre syndrome, a somewhat similar disease.

"Hepatitis B vaccine policy has been viewed skeptically by some because of concerns about vaccine safety and a perception that the virus itself does not pose a serious risk," Dr. Marie McCormick of the Harvard School of Public Health, who led the study, said in a statement.

Dr. McCormick said her committee of 14 experts found no strong evidence to suggest that the vaccination could cause such diseases, but recommended that experts keep an eye on their pattern and incidence.

Some activist groups campaign against routine vaccination, saying the risks are too high, but doctors are united in saying immunization has saved millions of lives and transformed medicine. Side-effects are inevitable, they say, but rare, and much less serious than the risk of disease.
 

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