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 |  Subject: Flu and H1N1 and H5N1  Thu 28 Jun 2012, 19:24 | |
| Flu jab gave our six-year-old son narcolepsy: Boy slept for up to 19 HOURS a day after reaction to vaccine.
Our son 'was like he was a puppet whose strings had been cut'
GlaxoSmithKline deny a 'causal link' between narcolepsy and Pandemrix
The parents of a schoolboy who was
struck down with narcolepsy after receiving a flu vaccine, said the
Government should have carried out more tests before issuing the drug.
Josh Hadfield, 6, lost muscle control and started sleeping for up to 19 hours every day just three weeks after getting the swine
flu vaccine Pandemrix. He would fall asleep up to every five minutes -
even when he was walking, eating and swimming - and suffer sudden
bouts of cataplexy (loss of muscle tone) when he laughed.
Now nearly two years later his mother Caroline, 41, said he was still suffering from the after effects of the controversial jab.
'I’m up with him around four times each night to feed him snacks and
also comfort him because he has horrendous nightmares,' she said.
'He used to be sent home from school every time he fell asleep but now
they have set aside an area in his classroom where he can take a nap.'
He is being treated with Ritalin and anti-depressants but has never returned to the happy-go-lucky boy he once was.
Earlier this year it emerged that the
swine flu vaccine he received, called Pandemrix, has been linked to
narcolepsy across Europe.
Previous studies have recorded a 13-fold increase in cases among
children who have received the jab and in July the European Medicines
Authority advised against giving it to the under-20s.
Mrs Hadfield, a civil servant, believes
the Government did not carry out sufficient tests before issuing it to
millions of people. She said: 'Nothing could convince me it was anything but the jab which caused Josh’s conditions. 'The Government had a knee-jerk reaction to swine flu and put out this vaccine, giving it to very young children. 'Josh was absolutely fine straight after the jab. But three weeks later he began sleeping for up to 19 hours a day.
'He was halfway through his reception class at school and he would
sleep as soon as I picked him up until the next morning. I had to bring
a push chair to collect him.
'He slept more than he was awake. He would fall asleep in just a few seconds up to every five minutes.
'It was like he was a puppet whose strings had been cut, he just fell to the ground.
'Before the jab he was completely healthy. He was one of the most
energetic boys that I have ever met. He was constantly on the go.
'His personality changed drastically as
well. We had this happy, cheerful little boy who turned into someone
who was aggressive and frustrated.'
Pandemrix protects against the H1N1 virus, which caused by the 2009 swine flu pandemic.
Only-child Josh received it at his
local GP surgery on January 21 2010 after Caroline was told he was “at
risk” of the virus as he was under five.
Tests in the UK have not revealed a link between the jab and
narcolepsy, but it has been confirmed in other countries, such as
Finland and Sweden.
In Finland, investigators found 79
vaccinated children and adolescents had developed narcolepsy, 12 times
more than they would expect. The Finnish government has accepted the
link and promised compensation and support for affected families.
Within three weeks of being given the jab, Josh began sleeping up to
19 hours a day and suffered from cataplexy episodes after extreme
laughter or fear.
He would “go ballistic” if mum Caroline
or dad Charlie, 46, tried to wake him up - often throwing pushchairs
or items of furniture at them.
Caroline took him to the doctors and medics spent a year trying to
diagnose him, giving him “test after test” including MRI scans, lumber
punctures and brain scans.
Josh was finally diagnosed with his
conditions in January this year and has since been put on high doses of
Ritalin, which he takes 45mg daily, and anti-depressants, which he
takes twice a day. His condition has now slightly improved but he has had to make “massive” changes to his life.
Caroline added: 'He is never hungry
throughout the day because of his condition. Funnily enough, he doesn’t
sleep much at night and that’s when he is hungry.' Caroline, who lives
in Frome, Somerset, with husband Charlie, a printer, is now campaigning
to raise awareness of the link.
In July, the European Medicines
Authority said studies showed a six to 13-fold increased risk of
narcolepsy in children and adolescents vaccinated with Pandemrix,
compared to those who had not been vaccinated.
But it believed the vaccine “is likely
to have interacted with genetic or environmental factors which might
raise the risk of narcolepsy, and that other factors may have
contributed to the results”.
A spokeswoman for the Medicines and
Healthcare products Regulatory Agency said the vaccine had already been
banned from use in the under-20s. She said: "The Finnish and Swedish
studies were considered as part of the European safety review of
Pandemrix earlier this year.
'The outcome of this review was that
Pandemrix may only be used in persons aged under 20 years if the annual
seasonal vaccine is not available and if there is a particular need to
immunise against H1N1.
'No restrictions on use in adults were
imposed, and the EU review acknowledged the important role that
Pandemrix played in reducing the consequences of H1N1 in Europe during
the pandemic.
'This risk is yet to be confirmed in other countries, and it is possible that other geographical factors in Sweden and
Finland, at the time of the pandemic, contributed in some way to the cases of narcolepsy seen after vaccination with Pandemrix. 'Further work is on-going to explore this, including a study in the UK'.A spokeswoman for the Department of Health said it could not comment on individual cases.
She added: 'We would advise these families to seek independent advice.'
The vaccine is manufactured by
GlaxoSmithKline, who pointed out that only seven children had been
reported to have developed narcolepsy out of six million doses given.
Dr Pim Kon, UK medical director for the company, said: 'There is
currently no evidence at all to suggest there is a causal link between
Pandemrix and narcolepsy. 'We are working very hard with the regulatory authorities to try to understand what is happening.'At
the end of day, patient safety is of utmost importance to us and we
wouldn’t ever put out a drug or leave it out there if we believed that
it actually was a true issue.' Source:-
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2073137/Boy-slept-19-HOURS-day-reaction-flu-jab.html | |
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