2 ALS Cases May Be Linked to Gardasil Vaccine

[Guest guest]

and are we surprised that Merck doesn't think they were caused by

Gardasil?

http://children.webmd.com/vaccines/news/20091016/rare-disease-may-be-linked-vaccine?src=RSS_PUBLIC

2 ALS Cases May Be Linked to Gardasil VaccineResearchers

Believe Cervical Cancer Vaccine Could Be Linked to Cases of Lou Gehrig's

Disease

By Charlene Laino

WebMD Health News

Reviewed by Louise Chang,

MD

Oct. 16, 2009 (Baltimore) -- Researchers believe that there may be a link

between a vaccine against

cervical cancer and a rapidly progressive, fatal disease in two young

women.

Both the timing of the symptoms and autopsy results “suggest a link

between” the

Gardasil vaccine and the fatal cases of

amyotrophic

lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, says

Lomen-Hoerth, MD, director of the ALS Center at University of

California San Francisco Medical Center.

With only two confirmed cases, “we don’t know for sure if it’s

coincidence or if they’re connected [to the vaccine],” she tells WebMD.

“We hope that by raising awareness, we will become aware of any other

cases. "

Pam Eisele, a spokeswoman for Merck & Co., which makes the vaccine,

says the company cannot comment specifically on the cases as it has not

seen the data.

“However, after carefully reviewing all the information available to us

about reported adverse events, including reports of deaths, Merck does

not believe these events have been caused by Gardasil,” she

says.

The vaccine has been given to more than 7 million girls and young women

nationwide.

Gardasil and ALS: ’s StoryThe tragic story of one of

the girls, Tetlock, is chronicled on “’s Journey,” a web site

created by her parents to publicize her case and get others with similar

symptoms to come forward.

http://jenjensfamily.blogspot.com/

The first sign that something was wrong was when 14-year-old

tripped on a hurdle that others in her class cleared easily, according to

the web site. That was just months after her third and final booster

Gardasil shot, Lomen-Hoerth says.

The disease rapidly progressed; both her legs, and then her arms became

weak, Lomen-Hoerth continues. began to limp and had trouble

gripping objects. She felt pins and needles in her feet, and her muscles

atrophied, she tells WebMD.

Within a year, was paralyzed, a quadriplegic breathing only with

the help of life support. She died shortly afterward, Lomen-Hoerth

says.

Throughout the course of her illness, ’s mind was as sharp as ever,

she adds.

The other patient, a 20-year-old, developed similar symptoms within four

months of her first Gardasil shot, Lomen-Hoerth says. The disease

followed a similar course, and the girl died 28 months later.

Rapidly Progressive CourseIn addition to the short time

span between vaccination and the onset of symptoms, several other factors

made the researchers suspect a link to Gardasil vaccination, Lomen-Hoerth

says.

In both young women, the disease progressed more quickly than typical for

young ALS patients, she says.

Additionally, at autopsy, “we were surprised that the spinal cord was so

inflammatory. That is very different from what we normally see in ALS,”

she says.

The pathology features “all support a temporal association between [the

illness] and vaccination,” Lomen-Hoerth says.

She spoke at the annual meeting of the American Neurological

Association.

Because it is extremely rare, affecting just one in 2-3 million young

people, there are very few studies of juvenile ALS, Lomen-Hoerth

says.

Her team plans further study comparing the symptoms and pathological

features of young adults with ALS who got the Gardasil vaccine to those

who didn’t get the shots. “If the features are identical, then we’ll know

[the vaccine] is not the cause,” Lomen-Hoerth says.

In the meantime, she and colleagues have met with scientists from the FDA

and CDC to scour their adverse-event database, called the Vaccine Adverse

Event Reporting System (VAERS), for any other reports linking ALS to

Gardasil or other vaccinations. “So far, we haven’t found any,” she

says.

Merck is also continuing to work with the CDC and FDA to monitor any

adverse events that may have been caused by the vaccine, according to

Eisele.

Yadollah Harati, MD, a neurologist at Baylor College of Medicine in

Houston, says the findings raise a red flag.

The fact that “the postmortem studies show distinct immunological

features different from what is typical of ALS” suggest an association

between vaccination and ALS, he says.

“I will be asking any of my young patients with ALS whether they received

the Gardasil vaccine,” he tells WebMD. “I have one 20-year old ALS

patient, and we didn’t think to ask that.”

SOURCES

134th Annual Meeting of the American Neurological Association, Baltimore,

Oct. 11-14, 2009.

Lomen-Hoerth, MD, director, ALS Center, University of

California San Francisco Medical Center.

Pam Eisele, Merck & Co.

Yadollah Harati, MD, department of neurology, Baylor College of Medicine,

Houston.

’s Journey blog.

© 2009 WebMD, LLC. All rights reserved.

Sheri Nakken, R.N., MA, Hahnemannian

Homeopath

Vaccination Information & Choice Network, Washington State, USA

Vaccines -

http://www.nccn.net/~wwithin/vaccine.htm or

http://www.wellwithin1.com/vaccine.htm

Vaccine Dangers, Childhood Disease Classes & Homeopathy

Online/email courses - next classes start October 28 & 29

http://www.wellwithin1.com/vaccineclass.htm or

http://www.wellwithin1.com/homeo.htm