Hot Topics - Vaccine-related issues - Immunity/Immune system

Hot Topics - Vaccine-related issues - Immunity/Immune system

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The Topics: *Alternatives *Big pharma *Big trouble *Conferences *Conflict of interest *Diseases and their vaccines *Legal/political *Miscellaneous *Research  *Vaccine-related issues

Vaccine-related issues - Immunity/Immune system

March 1-7, 2004

►March 2, 2004 - Study examines whether giving good bacteria reduces infections - Medical College of Georgia via www.eurekalert.org - "Whether giving good bacteria that normally helps keep the intestinal tract and immune system healthy can reduce infections in intensive-care patients is the focus of a new clinical study at the Medical College of Georgia...'When people are admitted to intensive care on broad-spectrum antibiotics, we know that 25 to 40 percent of them will get an infection with a resistant bacteria during their stay,' says Dr. Robert G. Martindale, gastrointestinal surgeon, nutritionist and principal investigator on the new study...As the name indicates, these antibiotics are designed to protect patients from infection by a broad range of agents. However, they also can wipe out the natural bacterial flora in the intestinal tract, a disruption with widespread consequences including making the intestinal lining more susceptible to bacterial invasion, impacting the health of colon cells and disarming the immune system."

Comment:  And if it is true that antibiotics also impair the immune system, this could well be a recipe of disaster.  (See Overuse: More Harm Than Good - Antibiotics May Lower Immune System.)

►February 27,  2004 - Microbiology. We get by with a little help from our (little) friends - journal article (Science) abstract 

►March 2, 2004 - Study examines whether giving good bacteria reduces infections - Medical College of Georgia via www.eurekalert.org 

►March 3, 2004 - Changes in immune system cause diseases: expert - The Navhind Times - "The former vice-chancellor of Manipal University and noted cardiologist, Prof B M Hegde, delivering the third Dr Emidio Afonso memorial lecture, said that diseases are created by changing the immune system of a living body and only human mind can prove to be the most powerful immune-booster...Prof Hegde, speaking before a gathering on the topic ‘Human immune system (A new look)’, at a special function organised by Dr Emidio Afonso Memorial Trust, in the city today, said that fruits, vegetables, proteins, hyperimmune sera, vaccinations, Ayurveda, exercise and social support can also supplement the human mind as the immune-boosters. “The trace minerals can also play a vital role in immune system,” he maintained...Any medicine, any tablet can provide relief to a person for a restricted time-span; however the same turns out to be a poison after its constant and uninterrupted use, he observed."

►March 1, 2004 - Fat cells may help fight disease - UPI via The Washington Times

►2004 - Red Wine Maintains Immune System - www.about.com

February 23-29, 2004

►September 25, 2003 - The Body's First Line of Defense - National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases 

►February 26, 2004 - Tiny doses of some toxins may make body stronger, theory says - Knight Ridder Newspapers via www.kentucky.com

February 16-22, 2004

►February 20, 2004 - Parents 'don't trust' vaccine - Parents choose not to immunise their children because they distrust official pro-vaccine information, according to new research. - The Dominion Post via www.stuff.co.nz - "They say the parents were highly educated and had collected information about immunisation from a wide range of sources before making their decisions...Most were worried about possible side effects from immunisation. Just under 60 per cent of parents thought immunisations were given too early and would weaken, rather than strengthen, their children's immune systems. They believed children would develop better immunity if they caught diseases naturally."

►February 17, 2004 - Hygiene hypothesis questioned - Previous exposure to influenza A virus increases predisposition to asthma - The Scientist

►February 16, 2004 - Disease-fighters in our mouths provide clues to enhancing the immune system - University of Washington via www.eurekalert.org - "Studies of natural antibiotics in our mouths may lead to new treatments for oral infections, as well as ways to boost the infection-fighting powers of mouthwashes, denture coatings, and wound dressings, according to a presentation at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). These compounds, called beta-defensins, are key components of our innate immune system...'Innate immunity describes the defenses that we're are born with; they're coded in our genes. In contrast, we develop the antibodies of our acquired immune system over time as we're exposed to bacteria and viruses,' said Dr. Beverly Dale, professor in the University of Washington Department of Oral Biology, School of Dentistry, and scientific director of the UW Comprehensive Center for Oral Health Research. 'It's when our innate defenses fail that the acquired immune system picks up the slack.'

►February 16, 2004 - Mouth Microbes May Help Shape Immune System, Says Stanford Research Team - Stanford University Medical Center via Business Wire - "The immune system may be shaped by some of the very agents it exists to fight, according to research by David Relman, MD, associate professor of medicine and of microbiology and immunology at Stanford University School of Medicine."

Comment:  What significance, if any, does this have re: the practice of bypassing the normal exposure to immune system agents via the use of vaccines?

►February 15, 2004 - Study finds link between stronger immunity, exposure to dogs (requires registration) - KRT Wire via Milwaukee Journal Sentinel via The Kansas City Star - "Infants who have a certain gene and live with a dog have stronger immune systems than those who don't and are less likely to develop allergies or eczema, a University of Wisconsin-Madison research study shows...However, the authors warn that the results are still preliminary and say that parents shouldn't introduce pets into the household just to try to prevent potential allergies."

February 9-15, 2004

►February 12, 2004 - Immune system's attack dogs kept on genetic leash - Loss of restraint may contribute to lupus, other autoimmune disorders - Washington University School of Medicine via www.eurekalert.org - "When they're not busy battling invaders, some of the cells that act as the attack dogs of the mouse immune system have to be kept on a genetic leash to prevent them from mounting inappropriate attacks on the mouse's own tissues, researchers from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found...'We used to think of mature immune cells like T cells and B cells as metabolically inactive when waiting for infections or other signals that trigger an attack,' says Stanford Peng, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of internal medicine and of pathology and immunology. 'We're now thinking these resting cells actually are very metabolically active, and they are kept in a quiescent state by genes actively working to shut down activating proteins.'"

►February 11, 2004 - Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired? - The Health Report - During the winter months it always seems that people are "getting sick" more so than during any other time of the year. And why is it that some people are always under the weather and others are not? The answer is in the body's ability to fight off disease, or in other words, the strength of your immune system. - The Orange Bulletin

►February 10, 2004 - Cold got you miserable? Those symptoms might be healing you - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - "Let that runny nose run. Cough and sneeze away. A little fever? Let it rise. Just say 'no' to decongestants, antihistamines, cough drops, Advil, aspirin, and everything else that might bring blessed relief to those miserable symptoms...The best medicine for cold and flu symptoms may be no medicine...A relatively new field called evolutionary or Darwinian medicine argues that treating symptoms of some diseases may actually make the illness worse."

Comment:  What does this say about how health promoting "symptomless" immune reactions via vaccines are? 

January 26 - February 8, 2004 (2 weeks combined due to illness)

►February 7, 2004 - CSU studies method to breed out disease - www.coloradoan.com - "Colorado State University researchers are trying to breed a better elk herd, one that's resistant to chronic wasting disease...About 1 percent of elk in wild and captive populations have a variant gene believed to be resistant to wasting disease, a fatal brain and nervous-system infection. Researchers will try to increase the percentage of animals with the gene through an elk-breeding project near Durango."

►February 8, 2004 - The cost of hunger - Feeding the world's children today can produce incredible returns for the global economy in the future - www.indystar.com

Comment:  Well-nourished children are also far more likely to avoid long-term negative consequences (including death) from childhood (e.g., measles) and other diseases.

►February 4, 2004 - Overuse: More Harm Than Good - Antibiotics May Lower Immune System - Acute otitis media, also known as a middle-ear infection, is the most common illness for which children receive antibiotics, according to Thomas Fischer, member of the New York Region Otitis Project Committee and emergency medicine specialist at the Stony Brook University Hospital. "There are millions of prescriptions dispensed each year," he said. - Suffolk Life Newspapers

►February 7, 2004 - Skin's immunity helped with a little stress - Medical News Today - "A series of studies in rats and mice suggests that short bouts of stress increase the skin's ability to fight infections and heal minor wounds...The immune response of animals exposed to acute stress – about two hours of restraint – was two to four times higher compared to non-stressed animals...This was true when the animals' skin was treated with chemical or protein antigens immediately after a stressful event. An antigen is any substance that the immune system reacts to by producing cells and antibodies...Stress plus exposure to the antigen triggered an immune response that remained strong for weeks to several months later, when the animals were re-exposed to the irritant without further restraint."

►February 4, 2004 - Probiotic bacteria health boon - Gut-friendly bugs don't have to be alive to boost immune system. - Nature

►January 26, 2004 - Fat Cells Boost Immune System - HealthCentral

January 19-25, 2004

►January 21, 2004 - Scientists identify cell defects that limit immune system's impact on late-stage tumors - Cedars-Sinai Medical Center via  www.eurekalert.org 

►January 23, 2004 - UI scientists study effects of alcohol on immune system - The Daily Iowan - "In ongoing efforts to study the effects of chronic alcoholism on the human immune system, which makes users more susceptible to infectious diseases, UI Hospitals and Clinics scientists have conducted the first successful experiments in the country using mice for research involving long-term alcohol use."

►January 20, 2004 - Fat cells fight disease, Purdue University researchers find - Purdue University

►Your Baby's Developing Immune System - How baby's immunities mature -- and illnesses to watch for. - "Most babies average between 8 and 12 colds a year. That's because children are born with an immature immune system that isn't very effective at fighting illness. To work, baby's system needs to be exposed to different kinds of sicknesses so it can store knowledge about them and use that knowledge to battle those invaders in the future."

Comment:  Do never vaccinated, breastfed babies have 8-12 colds a year?  And, if to work "baby's system needs to be exposed to different kinds of sicknesses so it can store knowledge about them and use that knowledge to battle those invaders in the future", is it safe to assume exposure to vaccine antigens has the same effect on baby's immune system as the actual diseases?

►January 19, 2004 - Scientists say singing boosts immune system - www.abc.net.au

January 12-18, 2004

►January 14, 2004 - How does the immune system work? - The immune system is the body's silent but powerful defense mechanism against "foreign invaders". - Arizona City News via www.zwire.com - "How do we build the immune system? There are several factors involved in building and maintaining a super immune system. These include exercise, rest, mental attitude and optimal immune system nutrition. Americans and their animals are generally weak in all four areas."

Comment:  It's nice to see an article in the mainstream press that deals with the true cause of illness, and doesn't buy into the pill and/or vaccine for every ailment.  But if sickness is due to the absence of immunization, then we're "in like Flint"!

►January 13, 2004 - Stress, Personality Weaken Resistance to Illness - Washington Post via The Ledger Online

January 5-11, 2004

►January 2, 2004 - Is flu stronger, or are we weaker? - (registration required) - BioMedNet - "'We don't really know,' said Wendy Barclay at the University of Reading, 'but there are two possibilities.' If Fujian flu is truly more virulent, it could be that the virus has changed in some way. But many virologists don't believe Fujian flu is unusually virulent. It is feasible that the patients' themselves are different somehow, and are more susceptible to the effects of the infection."
 

►January 7, 2004 - Studies have shown meditation may boost the immune system - The Baltimore Sun via Seattle PI - "A funny thing happened to meditation on the way to the 21st century. It got demystified, and in the process became acceptable to mainstream America...You won't hear people talking about Nirvana much with today's Westernized meditation, and there's hardly a crystal in sight. Instead scientists are studying Buddhist monks with electroencephalographs and magnetic resonance imaging."

 

►January 6, 2004 - Unlocking mysteries of the immune system may be the key in curing inflammatory disease - Kansas City Nursing News

 

Comment:  What is it going to take for the general public to get the fact that the immune system is being tinkered with via vaccines in spite of the fact that it is understood, and not because of it?  And when will the public realize that this fact is not a trivial one and carries with it great risk?

►January 5, 2004 - Ward off those winter ailments - The Telegraph, UK - "Who gets them (colds)? Almost everybody. Adults suffer an average of two to five a year and children seven to 10 a year. Because we produce antibodies each time we have a cold, we get fewer as we grow older."

Comment:  Vaccines are given under the assumption that they trick the body into producing antibodies and react otherwise similarly to what occurs naturally.  But is that actually the case?  And what are the ramifications if it is not?

►January 3, 2004 - Toxins lead to healthier lives? - 'Revolutionary' research suggests billions can be saved in cleanup costs - Insight Magazine via www.worldnetdaily.com - "Hormesis, the scientific theory that humans actually need small amounts of poison in their diets, could be the most important environmental event of the 21st century if proved valid. Billions of dollars could be saved in environmental cleanup costs, say researchers, while at the same time improving the health of all organisms, including humans...But at first examination, hormesis appears kooky. The knee-jerk reaction is to reject this phenomenon as pseudoscience or propaganda by polluters, and a few uninformed observers have done just that."

December 29, 2003 - January 4, 2004

none selected this week

 

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DISCLAIMER:    All information, data, and material contained, presented, or provided here is for general information purposes only and is not to be construed as reflecting the knowledge or opinions of the publisher, and is not to be construed or intended as providing medical or legal advice.  The decision whether or not to vaccinate is an important and complex issue and should be made by you, and you alone, in consultation with your health care provider.