Whooping cough outbreak linked to vaccinated children

Whooping cough outbreak linked to vaccinated children







San
Rafael - An investigation by California doctors has revealed that the
state's latest outbreak of whooping cough centered around children who
had already received the whooping cough vaccine, Reuters reports.


The
study, led by infectious disease specialist Dr. David Witt, was
initiated after an unusually large number of whooping cough cases were
admitted to Kaiser Permanente Hospital in San Rafael, California in
2010. After examining the records of juvenile whooping cough patients
over an 8-month period, the doctors discovered that 81 percent of
patients had received the full series of whooping cough shots, and 11
percent had received only some of the shots.

The remaining 8 percent had not received any immunizations for whooping cough. "What was very surprising was the majority of cases were in fully vaccinated children,"
Witt said. "That's what started catching our attention." After
further analysis, Witt and his team surmised that the effectiveness of
the vaccine wears off after several years, creating the need for
additional inoculations. Unfortunately, drug maker Glaxo Smith Kline
(GSK), the manufacturer of the whooping cough vaccine, did not bother
to perform long-term studies of its effectiveness. A company
spokesperson confirmed this disturbing fact in an email to Reuters,
stating that GSK never studied the duration of the vaccine's protection
after the shot was given to four- to six-year-olds.

Dr.
Tom Clark, a medical epidemiologist with the Center for Disease
Control (CDC), also provided a troubling analysis of the situation.
"It's likely if we move doses around we'd shift the burden of disease,
but not necessarily reduce it," he said. However, these explanations
alone do not account for the new epidemic of whooping cough in
California. According to the New York Times,
vaccination rates have remained steady as cases of whooping cough have
skyrocketed in the state. In addition, other scientific studies have
confirmed a link between vaccines and an increased risk of infectious
diseases. In 2009, four separate Canadian studies concluded that the seasonal flu shot massively increases the likelihood of contracting the H1N1 flu. According to Science

Daily,
recipients of the seasonal flu vaccine were up to 250% more likely to
be infected by the H1N1 variant than those who did not receive the
injection. Revelations like these should be a reminder to parents to
do as much research as possible and weigh the risks and benefits before
allowing their children to receive vaccines.


Source:-
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/323187#ixzz1ser0LbYa