Typhoid vaccine a useless dud, health authorities admit

(NaturalNews) The United Kingdom's Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has announced that a typhoid vaccine given to more than 700,000 people in the past two years was partially ineffective.

The
vaccine in question, Sanofi Pasteur's Typhim Vi, is designed to prevent
infection with the bacteria that causes typhoid fever. Although typhoid
fever is rare in the United Kingdom and other first world countries, it
remains endemic in many parts of the world, particularly southern Asia.
Many health agencies recommended vaccination for anyone traveling to
countries where the disease is prevalent.

Typhoid fever is
transmitted through contact with the feces of an infected person and
spreads most rapidly in areas with poor hand washing practices or water
sanitation systems. Because it is a bacterial disease, it can be treated
with antibiotics.

After tests revealed that many samples of the
Sanofi Pasteur vaccine were too weak to convey full protection, the
company recalled 88 percent of the remaining supplies from the market.

"We
are working hard to resolve the issue, but we cannot confirm an exact
date when normal supplies will resume," a company spokesperson said.

The
MHRA warned that anyone who received the vaccine after December 2010 -
as many as 729,606 people - could have received a dud batch. The agency
emphasized that the ineffective vaccines did not carry any higher risk
of adverse effects than the normal vaccine.
Typhoid vaccine a useless dud, health authorities admit


The MHRA also warned that people who may have received the dud vaccine
should not get revaccinated. Instead, the MHRA advised that even those
who had been vaccinated, see a doctor immediately if they begin to feel
unwell after a trip to a typhoid endemic area. In addition, even people
who have received the vaccine should take particular precautions against
typhoid fever while traveling in such areas.

"There
are no concerns over the safety of this vaccine, but the recall has
taken place because the vaccine may not be as effective as it should
be," the MHRA said. "Anyone who has been to a typhoid region of the
world and has a fever, abdominal pain and vomiting should contact a
healthcare professional. They can also give them information and advice
about minimizing the risk of getting typhoid."

An ineffective vaccine

The
truth is; however, that even the full-strength vaccine is not nearly as
effective as most patients may think. According to both the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),
no form of typhoid immunization is 100 percent effective; indeed, the
CDC reports that the average vaccine protects only between 50 and 80
percent of recipients.

The WHO notes that seven years after
receiving the oral form of the vaccine, only 67 percent of people living
in typhoid endemic countries are still protected, and that this figure
may be even lower in travelers. The injectable vaccine protects 72
percent of patients after a year and a half, but by three years, this
figure has dropped to 50 percent.

The organization further notes
that the amount of time an individual patient is protected by the
vaccine cannot be predicted with any accuracy, as it may vary due to
both initial vaccine dose and subsequent exposure to the bacteria that
causes the disease.

What all this means, of course, is that even
people who have been vaccinated against typhoid fever must still take
all the same precautions against infection as people who have not been
vaccinated. In addition, even those who have been vaccinated should
inform their doctors at once if they become ill after traveling in a
typhoid endemic area - and this applies as much to patients who received
the "full strength" vaccine as to those who received the "partially
ineffective" one.

Source:-
http://www.naturalnews.com/037579_typhoid_vaccine_Typhim_failure.html