Giving babies Tylenol may blunt vaccines' effects

[Guest guest]

Oh brother...I don't even know where to start with this one!http://news./s/ap/20091016/ap_on_he_me/us_med_tylenol_vaccines/printGiving babies Tylenol may blunt vaccines' effects

By MARILYNN MARCHIONE, AP Medical Writer Marilynn Marchione, Ap Medical Writer

48 mins ago

Giving

babies Tylenol to prevent fever when they get childhood vaccinations

may backfire and make the shots a little less effective, surprising new

research suggests.

It is the first

major study to tie reduced immunity to the use of fever-lowering

medicines. Although the effect was small and the vast majority of kids

still got enough protection from vaccines, the results make "a

compelling case" against routinely giving Tylenol right after

vaccination, say doctors from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

They wrote an editorial accompanying the study, published in Friday's issue of the British medical journal, Lancet.

The study only looked at preventive use of Tylenol — not whether it is OK to use after a fever develops.

Tylenol

or its generic twin, acetaminophen, is widely recommended as a

painkiller for babies. Many parents give it right before or after a

shot to prevent fever and fussiness, and some doctors recommend this.

The CDC's vaccine advisory panel says it is a reasonable thing to do

for children at high risk of seizures, which can be triggered by fevers.

However,

fever after a vaccine isn't necessarily bad — it's a natural part of

the body's response. Curbing fever, especially the first time a baby

gets a vaccine, also seems to curb the immune response and the amount of protective antibodies that are made, the new study found.

It was led by military and government scientists in the Czech Republic and was done at 10 medical centers

in that Eastern European country. It involved 459 healthy infants, 9 to

16 weeks old, who were getting vaccines against polio, pneumonia, meningitis, whooping cough, tetanus, hepatitis and other childhood diseases.

Half

were given three doses of Calpol, or paracetamol — a Tylenol-like brand

sold in Europe — during the first day after vaccination. The others

were given nothing besides the vaccines.

Babies

given the painkiller were significantly less likely to develop a fever

— 42 percent versus 66 percent of the others — and very few in either

group developed a high one.

However,

lower rates of protective antibody levels from several vaccines were

seen in the group given the drug. Levels remained significantly lower

in this group after booster vaccines, given when the babies were 12 to

15 months old.

Next, the researchers

looked at 10 other vaccine studies and found some supporting evidence

that using Tylenol to prevent fevers at the time of vaccination may

curb immune system response rates. The same may not be true of using the drug to treat fevers after they develop.

The

research was sponsored by Belgium-based GlaxoKline Biologicals,

which makes all the vaccines used in the study. Some authors have

financial ties to the company, including owning stock in it, and Glaxo had a role in reporting the results.

Even

with the fever-lowering drugs, more than 90 percent of children in the

Czech study achieved protection from the various vaccines after the booster dose, so the effect of lower levels of antibodies on any individual might be small, Dr. Chen and two other CDC doctors wrote in an editorial.

Yet

the consistency of findings from other studies makes "a compelling case

against" routine use of fever-lowering medicines during immunization,

they write.

It's not known if Tylenol

or other painkillers might reduce vaccine response in adults, but they

are less likely to develop a fever after vaccination or to be so

bothered by it, said Dr. Treanor, a vaccine specialist at the University of Rochester Medical Center in Rochester, N.Y., who had no role in the study.

Tylenol

is the only member of the family of over-the-counter pain relievers

that is not a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug, or NSAID.

"There's been speculation for a long time that the use of NSAIDs might have an effect" on antibody production after vaccination, but this is far from proved, Treanor said.

Given that so few children develop high fevers after vaccines, skipping the meds unless fever develops "may be the way to go," he said.

[Guest guest]

I have a feeling they figured out how it makes the vaccine reactions

actually worse... So they want people stop doing that... So nobody

blames the vaccines

wrote:

 

Oh brother...I don't even know where to start with this

one!

http://news./s/ap/20091016/ap_on_he_me/us_med_tylenol_vaccines/print

Giving babies Tylenol may blunt vaccines' effects

By MARILYNN

MARCHIONE, AP Medical Writer Marilynn Marchione,

Ap Medical Writer 48 mins ago

Giving

babies Tylenol to prevent fever when they get childhood vaccinations

may backfire and make the shots a little less effective, surprising new

research suggests.

It is the first

major study to tie reduced immunity to the use of fever-lowering

medicines. Although the effect was small and the vast majority of kids

still got enough protection from vaccines, the results make "a

compelling case" against routinely giving Tylenol right after

vaccination, say doctors from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

They wrote an editorial accompanying the study, published in

Friday's issue of the British

medical journal, Lancet.

The study only looked at preventive use of Tylenol — not

whether it is OK to use after a fever develops.

Tylenol

or its generic twin, acetaminophen, is widely recommended as a

painkiller for babies. Many parents give it right before or after a

shot to prevent fever and fussiness, and some doctors recommend this.

The CDC's vaccine advisory panel says it is a reasonable thing to do

for children at high risk of seizures, which can be triggered by fevers.

However,

fever after a vaccine isn't necessarily bad — it's a natural part of

the body's response. Curbing fever, especially the first time a baby

gets a vaccine, also seems to curb the immune response and the amount of

protective antibodies that are made, the new study found.

It was led by military and government scientists in the

Czech Republic and was done at 10 medical centers

in that Eastern European country. It involved 459 healthy infants, 9 to

16 weeks old, who were getting vaccines against polio, pneumonia, meningitis, whooping cough, tetanus, hepatitis and other

childhood diseases.

Half

were given three doses of Calpol, or paracetamol — a Tylenol-like brand

sold in Europe — during the first day after vaccination. The others

were given nothing besides the vaccines.

Babies

given the painkiller were significantly less likely to develop a fever

— 42 percent versus 66 percent of the others — and very few in either

group developed a high one.

However,

lower rates of protective antibody levels from several vaccines were

seen in the group given the drug. Levels remained significantly lower

in this group after booster vaccines, given when the babies were 12 to

15 months old.

Next, the researchers

looked at 10 other vaccine studies and found some supporting evidence

that using Tylenol to prevent fevers at the time of vaccination may

curb immune system

response rates. The same may not be true of using the drug to

treat fevers after they develop.

The

research was sponsored by Belgium-based GlaxoKline Biologicals,

which makes all the vaccines used in the study. Some authors have

financial ties to the company, including owning stock in it, and Glaxo had a role in

reporting the results.

Even

with the fever-lowering drugs, more than 90 percent of children in the

Czech study achieved protection from the various vaccines after the booster dose, so the

effect of lower levels of antibodies on any individual might be small, Dr. Chen and

two other CDC doctors wrote in an editorial.

Yet

the consistency of findings from other studies makes "a compelling case

against" routine use of fever-lowering medicines during immunization,

they write.

It's not known if Tylenol

or other painkillers might reduce vaccine response in adults, but they

are less likely to develop a fever after vaccination or to be so

bothered by it, said Dr. Treanor, a vaccine specialist at the University of Rochester

Medical Center in Rochester, N.Y., who had no role in the study.

Tylenol

is the only member of the family of over-the-counter pain relievers

that is not a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug, or NSAID.

"There's been speculation for a long time that the use of NSAIDs might have an

effect" on antibody production after vaccination, but this is far from

proved, Treanor said.

Given that so few children develop high fevers after vaccines, skipping the

meds unless fever develops "may be the way to go," he said.