Vaccinations May Increase Death Toll

[Guest guest]

http://www.mercola.com/2001/dec/26/vaccinations.htm

Vaccinations May Increase Death Toll

By Helen Pearson

Inadequate vaccines can encourage the emergence of nastier bugs, placing the

unprotected at risk, a new mathematical model shows. The effect could

undermine future vaccination programs.

Many vaccines save people from dying of a disease, but do not stop them

carrying and transmitting it. Over a few decades this may cause more

virulent strains to evolve, predict Read and his colleagues of the

University of Edinburgh, UK(1).

In some situations, such as in areas endemic for malaria, deadlier disease

strains could kill more people than vaccination saves. Most of the time the

benefits of vaccination will be eroded.

Vaccines for HIV, and hepatitis B and C " give most cause for concern " , says

immunologist Bangham, of Imperial College in London. These viruses

are difficult for the body's immune system to eradicate, leaving them time

to reproduce and evolve. Tearaway strains of flu also emerge regularly and

evade existing vaccines.

Infections that linger in the body are more likely to meet a second bug,

explains evolutionary biologist Dieter Ebert from the University of Fribourg

in Switzerland. The competition drives pathogens to evolve faster, nastier

killing tactics to get the most from their host.

Don't Encourage Them

Vaccines that encourage evolution include those that slow a disease-causing

organism's growth or target its harmful toxin. These types are being pursued

to fight diseases such as anthrax and malaria. The possibility that these

might save individuals but harm populations " has not been considered

before " , says Ebert, and should be a factor in public-health policy.

Most existing vaccines, such as those for smallpox, polio and measles, are

very effective as they use a different strategy. They stimulate a natural

immune reaction which either kills off subsequent infections or blocks

pathogen reproduction and transmission altogether.

Read does not advocate halting such programs. New vaccines should similarly

aim to prevent pathogens getting a toehold, says Bangham; many in the

pipeline do not.

Several different vaccines are being developed to fight malaria: results of

clinical trials for one that interrupts the life cycle of microorganism

Plasmodium falciparum were announced last week(2). 'Multivalent vaccines'

that target several different parts of a pathogen or life cycle at once are

the better choice, Read suggests.

Nature December 13, 2001

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

----

DR. MERCOLA'S COMMENT:

Many people will not realize that Nature is one of the most prestigious

scientific journals in the world. I point that out to highlight the fact

that the concern with vaccines is actually starting to be voiced by some

well respected scientists.

Additional Comment from Dawn of PROVE:

Being healthy becomes an even more elusive goal if you primarily rely on

vaccines to get there. When you read this article, keep in mind that

children now receive as many as 39 doses of vaccines for 12 different viral

and bacterial illnesses and there are literally hundreds of new vaccines in

development.

It is also interesting to keep in mind that the bacteria strains chosen for

inclusion in the pnuemococcal vaccine for children were specifically chosen

because they are the strains that have evolved to be the most antibiotic

resistant. It is very difficult to do fair and comprehensive risk/benefit

analysis when there is so much about the unintended consequences of vaccines

that have yet to even be studied.

More is not better - educated parents everywhere will continue to demand

having options for their individual children and the legal right to exercise

those options.