Vaccine Information by PHILIP F. INCAO, M.D. May 5, 1999

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" WHAT in reality IS PREVENTED IS NOT the DISEASE BUT the ABILITY of our

CELLULAR IMMUNE SYSTEM to MANIFEST, to RESPOND to and to OVERCOME the

DISEASE! "

and this is not immunity - " VACCINATIONS are usually effective in

preventing an individual from manifesting a particular illness, but they DO

NOT IMPROVE the overall STRENGTH or HEALTH of the individual nor of the

immune system. Instead, VACCINATIONS MODIFY the REACTIVITY of the IMMUNE

SYSTEM, decreasing acute discharging inflammatory reactions and INCREASING

the TENDENCY to CHRONIC ALLERGIC and AUTO-IMMUNE REACTIONS. "

http://www.mercola.com/1999/archive/vaccine_information.htm

Vaccine Information

PHILIP F. INCAO, M.D. May 5, 1999

In order to use vaccinations wisely, we need to understand exactly how they

work. Until recently, the ìmechanism of actionî of vaccinations was always

understood to be simply that they cause an increase in antibody levels

(titers) against a specific disease antigen (bacterium or virus), thus

preventing ìinfectionî with that bacterial or viral antigen. In recent

years science has learned that the human immune system is much more

complicated than we thought. It is composed of two functional branches or

compartments that may work together in a mutually cooperative way or in a

mutually antagonistic way depending on the health of the individual.

One branch is the humoral immune system (or Th2 function), which primarily

produces antibodies in the blood circulation as a sensing or recognizing

function of the immune system to the presence of foreign antigens in the

body. The other branch is the cellular or cell-mediated immune system (or

Th1 function), which primarily destroys, digests and expels foreign

antigens out of the body through the activity of its cells found in the

thymus, tonsils, adenoids, spleen, lymph nodes and lymph system throughout

the body. This process of destroying, digesting and discharging foreign

antigens from the body is known as ìthe acute inflammatory responseî and is

often accompanied by the classic signs of inflammation: fever, pain,

malaise and discharge of mucus, pus, skin rash or diarrhea.

These two functional branches of the immune system may be compared to the

two functions in eating: tasting and recognizing the food on the one hand,

and digesting the food and eliminating the food waste on the other hand. In

the same way, the humoral or Th2 branch of the immune system ìtastesî and

recognizes and even remembers foreign antigens and the cellular or Th1

branch of the immune system digests and eliminates the foreign antigens

from the body. But just as too much repeated tasting of food will ruin the

appetite, so also too much repeated stimulation of the ìtastingî humoral

immune system by an antigen will inhibit and suppress the digesting and

eliminating function of the cellular immune system. In other words, over

stimulating antibody production can suppress the acute inflammatory

response of the cellular immune system! 1

This explains the polar opposite relationship between acute discharging

inflammations on the one hand and allergies and autoimmune inflammations on

the other hand. The more a person has of one, the less he or she will have

of the other! A growing number of scientists believe that the increase in

America, Europe, Australia and Japan in allergic and autoimmune diseases

(which stimulate the humoral or Th2 branch of the immune system) is caused

by the lack of stimulation of the cellular or the Th1 branch of the immune

system from the lack of acute inflammatory responses and discharges in

childhood. 2, 3, 4, 5 We need to identify the factors which cause this

shift in the function of the immune system or which cause allergies and

autoimmune diseases in childhood to increase!

If we now return to the original question of the mechanism of action of

vaccinations, we find what I believe is the key to the puzzle. A

vaccination consists of introducing a disease agent or disease antigen into

an individualís body without causing the disease. If the disease agent

provoked the whole immune system into action it would cause all the

symptoms of the disease! The symptoms of a disease are primarily the

symptoms (fever, pain, malaise, loss of function) of the acute inflammatory

response to the disease.

So the trick of a vaccination is to stimulate the immune system just

enough so that it makes antibodies and 'remembers' the disease antigen but

not so much that it provokes an acute inflammatory response by the cellular

immune system and makes us sick with the disease weíre trying to prevent!

Thus a vaccination works by stimulating very much the antibody production

(Th2) and by stimulating very little or not at all the digesting and

discharging function of the cellular immune system (Th1). Vaccine antigens

are designed to be unprovocative or ìindigestibleî for the cellular immune

system (Th1) and highly stimulating for the antibody-mediated humoral

immune system (Th2).

Perhaps it is not difficult to see then why the repeated use of

vaccinations would tend to shift the functional balance of the immune

system toward the antibody-producing side (Th2) and away from the acute

inflammatory discharging side (the cell-mediated side or Th1). This has

been confirmed by observation especially in the case of Gulf War Illness:

MOST VACCINATIONS CAUSE a SHIFT in IMMUNE FUNCTION from the Th1 side (acute

inflammatory discharging response) TO the Th2 side (CHRONIC AUTO-IMMUNE or

ALLERGIC RESPONSE). 6

The outcome of this line of thought is that, contrary to previous belief;

vaccinations do not strengthen or ìboostî the whole immune system. Instead

vaccinations over stimulate the ìtasting and rememberingî function of the

antibody-mediated branch of the immune system (Th2), which simultaneously

suppresses the cellular immune system (Th1) thus ìpreventingî the disease

in question.

WHAT in reality IS PREVENTED IS NOT the DISEASE BUT the ABILITY of our

CELLULAR IMMUNE SYSTEM to MANIFEST, to RESPOND to and to OVERCOME the DISEASE!

There is no system of the human being, from mind to muscles to immune

system, which gets stronger through avoiding challenges, but only through

overcoming challenges. The WISE USE of VACCINATIONS would be to USE THEM

SELECTIVELY, and NOT ON a MASS SCALE. In order for vaccinations to be

helpful and not harmful, we must know beforehand in each individual to be

vaccinated whether the Th1 function or the Th2 function of the immune

system predominates.

In individuals, in whom the Th1 function predominates, causing many acute

inflammations because the cellular immune system is over reactive, a

vaccination could have a balancing effect on the immune system and be

helpful for that individual. In individuals, in whom the Th2 function

predominates, causing few acute inflammations but rather the tendency to

chronic allergic or autoimmune inflammations, a vaccination would cause the

Th2 function to predominate even more, aggravating the imbalance of the

immune system and harming the health of that individual. This is what

happened in Gulf War Illness.

The current use of vaccinations in medicine today is essentially a

ìshotgunî approach that ignores differences among individuals. In such an

approach some individuals may be helped and others may be harmed. If

medicine is to evolve in a healthy direction, we must learn to understand

the particular characteristics of each individual and we must learn how to

individualize our treatments to be able to heal each unique human being in

our care.

VACCINATIONS are usually effective in preventing an individual from

manifesting a particular illness, but they DO NOT IMPROVE the overall

STRENGTH or HEALTH of the individual nor of the immune system. Instead,

VACCINATIONS MODIFY the REACTIVITY of the IMMUNE SYSTEM, decreasing acute

discharging inflammatory reactions and INCREASING the TENDENCY to CHRONIC

ALLERGIC and AUTO-IMMUNE REACTIONS.

Epidemiologic studies 7 8 9 have shown that as families improve their

living conditions, hygiene, nutrition, literacy and education, the risk of

life-threatening acute infectious , inflammatory diseases very much

decreases. Families with poor living conditions, hygiene, nutrition and

literacy would generally be most likely to benefit from vaccinations.

Families with good living conditions, hygiene, nutrition and education

probably would benefit from vaccinations very little or not at all.

Individuals with a tendency to allergic or autoimmune diseases are LIKELY

to BE HARMED BY VACCINATIONS.

SIDE EFFECTS of VACCINATION are usually ALLERGIC or AUTOIMMUNE inflammatory

reactions caused by the shift of the immune systemís reactivity from the

Th1 side to the Th2 side. Modern medicine is just beginning to recognize

this. 10 Modern MEDICINE HAS NOT SCIENTIFICALLY MEASURED the RISK/BENEFIT

RATIO of ANY VACCINE. 11 Research into the risks of vaccines is very

inadequate, according to two comprehensive reports on vaccines by the U.S.

Institute of Medicine in 1991 and 1994.

My preceding explanation of how vaccinations affect the immune system is

true also in animals. Vaccinations cannot make animals healthier, but only

good handling, environment and nutrition can make animals healthy and

resistant to disease. Vaccinating pigs may prevent them from having illness

from one particular strain of virus but will not improve their overall

resistance to other illnesses nor even to other strains of the same virus.

It is important to remember that an infection with a particular virus or

bacterium does not necessarily cause illness unless the resistance of the

individual is low. In the case of Japanese Encephalitis Virus (JEV), most

infections cause no symptoms and less than 0.1% of infected individuals

develop severe encephalitis. 12 Individuals living in poor conditions, with

poor hygiene, nutrition and education are at higher risk of serious

illnesses from JEV or any other infection. In such individuals a

vaccination would most likely be helpful.

VERY OFTEN the MEDIA EXAGGERATE the EXTENT of such outbreaks. Each

individual should freely decide, based on knowledge and not on fear and

hearsay, whether he or she or a child would benefit from a vaccination.

References

1 Parish, C.R. " The Relationship Between Humoral and Cell-Mediated

Immunity. " Transplant. Rev. 13 (1972):3.

2 Ronne, T. " Measles Virus Infection without Rash in Childhood is

Related to Disease in Adult Life. " The Lancet Ltd. (1985):1-5.

3 Odent, M.R., Culpin, E.E., Kimmel, T. " Pertussis Vaccination and

Asthma: Is There a Link The Journal of the American Medical Association

272(1994):588.

4 Cookson, W.O.C.M., and Moffatt, M.F. " Asthma: An Epidemic in the

Absence of Infection? " Science 275(1997):41-42.

5 ez, F.D. Role of viral infections in the inception of asthma

and allergies during childhood: could they be protective? Thorax 1994;49:

1189-91.

6 Rook, G.A.W., Zumla, A. " Gulf War Syndrome: Is It Due to a Systemic

Shift in Cytokine Balance Towards a Th2 Profile? " The Lancet 349 (1997):

1831-1833.

7 McKeown, T. The Modern Rise of Population. New York: Academic Press,

1976.

8 McKeown, T. The Role Of Medicine: Dream, Mirage, or Nemesis? New

Jersey: Princeton University Press 1979.

9 Sagan, L.A. The Health of Nations. New York: Basic Books, Inc., 1987.

10 Rook, G.A.W., Zumla, A. " Gulf War Syndrome: Is It Due to a Systemic

Shift in Cytokine Balance Towards a Th2 Profile? " The Lancet 349 (1997):

1831-1833.

11 Robin, Eugene, M.D. " Some Hidden Dimensions of the Risk/Benefit

Value of Vaccine " from the First International Public Conference on

Vaccination. andria, Virginia September 1997.

12 , T., Kneen, R., Dung, N.G., Khanh, V.C., Thuy, T.T.N., Ha,

D.Q., Day, N.P.J., Nisalak, A., Vaughn, D.W., White, N.J.

" Poliomyelitis-like illness due to Japanese encephalitis virus " Lancet

1998; 351: 1094-97

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Sheri Nakken, R.N., MA, Hahnemannian Homeopath

Vaccination Information & Choice Network, Nevada City CA & Wales UK

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