Swine Flu Vaccine caused neurological illnesses and deaths in 1976

[AikidoSoul]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/09/health/09vaccine.html?_r=1&hp

Fear of a Swine Flu Epidemic in 1976 Offers Some Lessons, and Concerns, Today

By ANDREW POLLACK
Published: May 8, 2009

With fears of swine flu engulfing the nation in 1976, Janet Kinney got vaccinated to make sure she would be able to take care of her children. Instead, her children ended up taking care of her.

About a week after getting the swine flu shot, she recalled, “I was so weak I couldn’t push down the toaster button.” She spent a month in the hospital, paralyzed from the neck down, before gradually recovering.

With health authorities now gearing up for what could be a huge vaccination campaign against a new strain of swine flu, the experience of 1976 is raising a note of caution.

The feared swine flu epidemic of 1976 never materialized. And several hundred people, including Ms. Kinney, who is now 68 and lives in Gig Harbor, Wash., developed Guillain-Barré syndrome, a rare neurological condition that causes temporary muscle weakness or paralysis. More than 30 of those people died.

Many experts say they do not think a vaccine for the new flu strain, called H1N1, would raise a similar risk for Guillain-Barré. But answering that question is difficult because to this day, no one has figured out why the 1976 vaccine caused the disease, in which the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks the nerves.

Indeed, some researchers still question whether the vaccine did cause Guillain-Barré, particularly since flu vaccines in other years have been linked to little or no risk of the disease.

“It doesn’t make sense that one flu strain would cause Guillain-Barré syndrome where none of the others have,” said Dr. Paul A. Offit, a vaccine expert at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Still, many experts consider the matter settled. The Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences concluded after an extensive review in 2003 that the “evidence favored acceptance of a causal relationship” between the 1976 vaccine and the syndrome. It stopped short, however, of saying the evidence “established” a causal relationship.

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[CoffeeCat]

1. So, they still don't take full responsibility...

...and we're supposed to gleefully line up once again and take chances with our lives?

Sorry. No.

I'd seriously rather take my chances with the Swine Flu.

[stray cat]

4. The vaccine isn't mandated - so no problem

[kestrel91316]

2. I'd venture a wild-assed guess that flu vaccine production techniques have

improved just a tad in the ensuing 33 years. You know, medical and scientific progress and all that.

But I'm not worried. I got the swine flu in 1976 and, like the vast majority of recipients, suffered no ill effects.

Anesthesia used to kill lots more people than it does now. I don't base my concerns about anesthesia safety on the state of affairs 30-40 years ago, either.

[uppityperson]

5. I have had that thought also, things have changed a bit in the last 33 yrs.

[AikidoSoul]

6. Everybody is different in the way they respond

to a variety of drugs including flu vaccines and anesthesia. I was operated on when I was 19 years old and the anesthesia put me into a coma. I have two family members who died from anesthesia, and I lost a cat to it during a teeth cleaning procedure.

Death by anesthesia is one of the most under-reported causes of death. There are may good reports on this, including an excellent one in the British Medical Journal (BMJ). Run a search and it is fairly easy to find articles about how hospitals tend to hide anesthesia death statistics.

[MineralMan]

3. I got the swine flu vaccine, and had no side effects at all.

There is a risk with anything injected into your body. Assessing that risk and measuring it against the benefits is all part of dealing with modern medical care.

How many cases of Guillain-Barré were there from that vaccination? I have no idea, but I suspect it was a very, very low number, compared to the number of doses given.

I took that vaccine because I believed that there was some really important reason for its introduction at that time. Frankly, I was concerned that some biological warfare agent had escaped. I was probably wrong, but I had the vaccine.

I get the flu vaccine every year. So far...no flu, and no side effects.

[enlightenment]

7. I got very sick after the swine flu shot.

Never so severe as to be hospitalized, but down for the count for quite awhile. The most severe illnesses were probably low, but there were a lot more people like me, who became very debilitated for weeks afterward. I would have preferred the flu (and having actually had 'real' influenza, I speak from experience).

The year I actually contracted influenza - and spent two weeks flat on my back bargaining with the barge-master, and months recovering after that - I had dutifully gotten the flu shot and was, presumably (and according to my doctors, who spent much time shaking their heads and muttering that "I shouldn't have the flu") protected.

It's a crap shoot. Works great for some, not so much for others.