Fwd: Flu in pregnant women 'can cause brain damage to unborn babies'

[Guest guest]

Scaremongering reaching new highs:

It will be interesting to see who actually sponsored this so-

called 'study'.

Maybe Wyeth - Maybe Pasteur? , if you can get a copy of this

article,

that would be great. In the meantime, remember that the flu vaccine

contains

mercury in almost all cases and that mercury in babies has been

linked with

an increased risk of autism and other neurological problems so trying

to

prevent neurological problems but shooting mothers full of mercury is

self-defeating at best.

Take care,

Meryl

Flu in pregnant women 'can cause brain damage to unborn babies'

Doctors urge

vaccination for expectant mothers after study high

Date: 12/28/2003; Publication: The Sunday Telegraph; Author: MICHAEL

DAY

Health Correspondent

The Sunday Telegraph

12-28-2003

Flu in pregnant women 'can cause brain damage to unborn babies'

Doctors urge

vaccination for expectant mothers after study highlights link between

fevers

and behavioural problems

Byline: MICHAEL DAY Health Correspondent

Section: News

DOCTORS ARE calling for pregnant women to be vaccinated against flu

after

new research indicates that the disease can cause brain damage in

unborn

babies.

A study of more than 6,000 children by Finnish and American

researchers

found that the offspring of mothers who suffered influenza or other

fevers,

as opposed to the common cold, in the last six months of pregnancy

were more

likely to suffer emotional and developmental problems, including

attention

deficit hyperactivity disorder, which means that children find it

difficult

to concentrate.

Dr Stefan Dombrowski, a clinical psychologist at Rider University in

New

Jersey, who led the research, said: " The message from this appears

clear:

women who are pregnant or planning a family should get jabbed now.

Pregnant

women who suffer any kind of fever should seek treatment to reduce

their

temperature. "

The current Department of Health guidance states that the flu vaccine

should

not be given routinely in pregnancy. However, Oxford, the

professor of

virology at Queen 's School of Medicine in London, and one of the

world

s leading authorities on influenza, said that the new study indicated

that

the Government should alter its position. " There is more and more

information that flu is very bad news during pregnancy. We should be

moving

toward the American position of encouraging all pregnant women, or

women who

are planning to have a baby, to get jabbed. " He added that the flu

vaccine

was " extremely safe " .

In the study, which is published in the American journal Birth Defect

Research, Dr Dombrowski blames the high maternal body temperatures

caused by

influenza, rather than the virus itself, for damaging the unborn

child. He

warns that other forms of fever can also harm the foetus, but says

that

preventing flu, which is the most common cause of the symptoms.

Prof Oxford said that the surge in immune chemicals called

inflammatory

cytokines, which the body produces to counter fevers, might also

directly

harm the unborn child.

" Real flu is a severe condition. It seems likely that it causes such

an

extreme immune reaction that there are effects felt by the baby, even

though

the virus itself is not thought to cross the placenta. "

The study by Dr Dombrowski and colleagues from the University of

Helsinki is

based on an investigation of the development of 6,388 Finnish

children from

their birth in the summer of 1976 until the age of 12. About 20 per

cent of

the mothers reported having had some sort of fever during middle or

late

pregnancy. A much smaller fraction of these women had real influenza.

The researchers also assessed the emotional development and school

performance of the children over the 12-year period. They discovered

that

the children of mothers who had suffered fever while pregnant tended

to be

more depressed and were likely to be below- average academically.

Dr Dombrowski said that children exposed to fever during pregnancy

were 30

per cent more likely to show signs of developing attention deficit

hyperactivity disorder, and that this could provide the explanation

for

their poorer school performance.

He noted, too, that the true extent of the psychological effects of

fever

during pregnancy might not become apparent until his team had

assessed the

more recent tests performed on the children when they were older.

Previous,

smaller studies have suggested that exposure to maternal influenza

increased

a baby's risk of developing more serious conditions, such as manic

depression and schizophrenia. They tend to appear in the late teens. A

commentary in the same issue of Birth Defect Research by

Cordero, the

United States Assistant Surgeon General, says that the study

highlights how

much medicine has to learn about the causes of birth defects,

particularly

in the second and third trimester when the unborn child's brain

begins to

develop rapidly.

One eminent American specialist in foetal medicine, Neil Silverman, a

professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at the University of

California, Los

Angeles School of Medicine, said: " This flu season has got off to an

alarming start with predictions that the worst is yet to come.

Pregnant

women and those hoping to become pregnant should seriously consider

vaccination. "

A spokesman for the Health Protection Agency said that flu levels in

Britain

had levelled off in the past few weeks, but added: " We can't rule out

big

outbreaks later in the winter. "

A spokesman for the Department of Health said that while it was

confident that the flu vaccine was completely safe in pregnancy, it

was sticking to its current advice that it should not generally be

given during pregnancy.

[Guest guest]

Write a letter to the editor. . . . .

> I wish I could be in a study for getting a flu vaccine when Allie

> was conceived. I didn't know I was preg (but I was) when I took a

> flu vaccine. Allie is autistic, none of my other kids are. Only time

> I ever took a flu vaccine.

>

> Debi

>

> > >

> > > The Sunday Telegraph

> > >

> > > 12-28-2003

> > >

> > > Flu in pregnant women 'can cause brain damage to

> > > unborn babies'

Since nobody is buying based on the flu prevention aspect they are

trying the argument that worked for Rubella.

Andy .. . . . . .

[Guest guest]

> Since nobody is buying based on the flu prevention aspect they are

> trying the argument that worked for Rubella.

>

> Andy .. . . . . .

I also received a rubella booster at six wks post partum, while

nursing Allie. That's right, I had a flu vaccine the first month of

pregnancy, a rubella booster myself at six wks while nursing, and

the hepB booster in her at nine month while she was still recovering

from bad case of chicken pox. All if this was 1999 and prior, when

they all had thimerosal. And now people wanna say vaccines have

nothing to do with it...

Debi