Infectious Disease Blog

While studies have yet to prove if there is a link between childhood vaccinations and autism, the case of a Georgia girl seems to suggest otherwise.

Nine-year-old Hannah Poling was developing normally during her infancy, but when she received five shots against nine infectious diseases, things changed dramatically, according to the New York Times.

She came down with a fever and refused to walk. A year later, she was diagnosed with autism.

Hannah’s parents are fighting the government, saying the vaccines may be what spurred their daughter’s autism.

The U.S. government will pay for Hannah’s medical care and agrees that the vaccines may have hurt her. However, officials say there was no concession that vaccines and autism are linked, according to the New York Times.

“Let me be very clear that the government has made absolutely no statement indicating that vaccines are a cause of autism,” Dr. Julie L. Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Thursday. “That is a complete mischaracterization of the findings of the case and a complete mischaracterization of any of the science that we have at our disposal today.”

But how did Hannah get sick? According to the Chicago Tribune, one theory is that the vaccines stressed Hannah’s body and provoked a preexisting mitochondria disorder. The other idea is that thimerosal, an ingredient in the vaccine, caused the mitochondria disorder.

Dr. Emily Willingham, the blogger of A Life Less Ordinary, provided some insight on the Hannah Poling case. She commented on the anti- vaccine movement, but reminded people about the good vaccines have done for the world. Here’s just a tidbit of what she had to say:

“Hannah Poling is a single data point, and as has already been pointed out, an unusual and possibly unique case. My own plea is that we please stop wasting so much time, money, and energy on this long-since-dead avenue of investigation and turn to more promising possibilities. Autism has a multifactorial etiology probably traceable back down many many paths that lead to a similar suite of behavioral manifestations. Based on that alone, Hannah Poling cannot be its avatar.”

Surviving countless scratchy throats and red, swollen tonsils throughout my childhood, “strep throat” became something I grew accustomed to.

I no longer gagged when the pediatrician shoved a tongue depressor in my mouth and asked me to say “ahh.”

This week, I read about the possibility of a strep throat vaccine. The news was exciting, especially for people like me, who were prone to strep as children.

According to Reuters, Group A streptococcal infections strike more than 600 million people each year and kill 400,000 worldwide. Many of these infections cause an inflammation of the throat, or what most of us call strep throat.

In addition to causing strep, Group A streptococcus causes rheumatic fever and the life-endangering “flesh-eating” syndrome called necrotizing fasciitis.

Creating a vaccine has been difficult because the antigen – the section of the bacteria that is easily identified by the immune system – is the most dangerous part of the bacteria, according to the UK’s Enews 2.0. It causes inflammation and an overreaction of the immune system that may cause heart damage.

However, researchers were able to create a version of the protein that can make the immune system stronger, without the dangerous consequences.

The study was published in the March 7 issue of Science. Click here to read the abstract.

The U.S. government is saying sayonara to its oldest vaccine: the historic smallpox vaccine.

The CDC announced on Friday that it was dumping its 12 million doses of Dryvax, according to MSNBC.

Even though smallpox is a “dead” disease, some may ask if there will be a new vaccine.

The answer is yes. Dryvax will be replaced by a more modern vaccine

Dr. William Schaffner, chairman of Vanderbilt University’s department of preventive medicine, said the following in the article:

It is a “historical moment, because it’s our oldest vaccine,” Schaffner said. “It was a vaccine that eliminated smallpox from the United States.”

In the past, Dryvax proved to be a dangerous vaccine, allegedly triggering heart attacks and heart inflammation in some people, the article said.

Here’s some information about the previous usage of the smallpox vaccine, according to the CDC:

Routine smallpox vaccination among the American public stopped in 1972 after the disease was eradicated in the United States. Until recently, the U.S. government provided the vaccine only to a few hundred scientists and medical professionals working with smallpox and similar viruses in a research setting.

The blogger of Moments in Time discusses America’s post-9/11 fears of smallpox being used in bioterrorism:

“After the 9/11 attacks there were fears that smallpox would be used by bio-terrorists. Many emergency workers were vaccinated in case of that resulting in a painful heart inflammation for a small number. Because of the risks to the vaccine a new one has been developed called ACAM2000. It was derived from Dryvax but created in the lab. It is unclear if it will have fewer side effects than the old vaccine.”

Get your flu shots!

As if we haven’t heard that from the government every season.

On Wednesday, a federal panel recommended that all children older than 6 months old receive a yearly influenza vaccine, according to the Chicago Tribune.

While the current recommendation calls for 6-month-olds to 5-year-olds to get the vaccine, the new proposal would expand the age range to 18.

Thirty million more children would get the flu vaccine under the committee’s recommendation, according to the New York Times.

The proposal could be adopted by the CDC as early as 2009. Experts and doctors are confident that the vaccine industry would be able to provide enough doses to match future demands.

Expanding the age range of children who should get the vaccine came from a wish to keep children healthy and to defend parents and adults who come into contact with kids with the flu, according to the Tribune article.

“Kids are not just transmitters, they’re amplifiers,” said Dr. James King, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. “If you’re going to catch the flu, you’re much more likely to get it from a child.”

While preventing cases of influenza is a noble cause, it seems like the panel neglected to consider a simple truth: kids hate needles.

Evette from Babies & Kids blog brought up this practical point:

“That’s a lot of confrontations with needles. Not sure how many kids would like hearing this.”

San Diego County officials reported Friday that five more children have come down with measles, bringing the total number of cases to 11, according to San Diego TV station FOX 6.

Five of the cases are thought to be linked to an 8-year-old who may have got measles at a San Diego charter school. Three other cases may be connected to an infant who may have contracted the disease at a La Jolla children’s clinic.

According to the San Diego Union-Tribune,

All of the 11 confirmed patients, from 10 months to 9 years old, were not vaccinated either because they were younger than 1 – the minimum age for measles inoculation – or because their parents objected to having them vaccinated, county officials said.

The FOX 6 story includes links to three video interviews with Dr. Richard Halverson, all posted on YouTube. He covers the danger of measles, if the disease can be good for you and how it can be a killer disease in underdeveloped countries.

Remember spending the day after your 21^st birthday running to the bathroom and vomiting? Most people were probably doing so because they had a little too much fun the night before. In my case, it was because I had caught the stomach flu.

Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a way to prevent the peril caused by a norovirus, commonly called the stomach flu?

Researchers from the University of North Carolina discovered that the virus mutates genetically, much like the influenza virus, according to Medicine World’s Infectious Disease blog. As there are influenza vaccines, there’s a chance a stomach flu vaccine could be possible.

Noroviruses are extremely contagious, as I can attest – I caught the bug by drinking from a glass and eating with utensils belonging to a friend who had the stomach flu.

Here is the CDC’s list of ways a person can become infected with the stomach flu:

• eating food or drinking liquids that are contaminated with norovirus
• touching surfaces or objects contaminated with norovirus, and then placing their hand in their mouth
• having direct contact with another person who is infected and showing symptoms (for example, when caring for someone with illness, or sharing foods or eating utensils with someone who is ill)

Lisa Lindesmith, one of the study’s authors, told UPI:

“What we’ve found is that the GII.4 arm — of the noroviruses — keeps changing,” one of the study’s authors, Lisa Lindesmith, said in a statement. “Whenever we’re seeing big outbreaks of norovirus, we’re also seeing genetic changes in the virus.

“A vaccine may have an important role, too, especially among the elderly and other people particularly vulnerable to the effects of the illness,” Lindesmith said.

Thousands blockaded a highway near the capital of Paraguay this week, demanding vaccinations for yellow fever after the disease’s first appearance in the country after more than 30 years.

There were five confirmed cases of yellow fever in Paraguay this week, but there have been no deaths reported, according to MSNBC.

Following the outbreak, Brazil flew more and 50,000 doses of yellow fever vaccine to Paraguay, reported the Guardian. Also, Peru has promised to send 250,000 doses of the vaccine next week.

Yellow fever is transmitted to humans by infected mosquitoes. According to the CDC, there are two stages of symptoms: initial and toxic.

Initial phase symptoms include:

• Fever and chills
• Severe headache
• Back pain
• Aches
• Nausea
• Fatigue
• Weakness

The toxic phase begins when the fever returns. Toxic phase symptoms include:

• High fever
• Nausea and vomiting
• Headache
• Back pain
• Abdominal pain
• Fatigue
• Jaundice

This year’s flu vaccine may not protect against some common strains of the virus, according to the Detroit Free Press. While the vaccine was a 96 percent match to the first strain, the vaccine only matched 13 and 7 percent of the other two strains, respectively.

According to the CDC, the U.S. vaccine tries to protect against three strains of the flu. Three strains are recommended each year – one A (H3N2) virus, one A (H1N1) virus, and one B virus. The flu shot injected into your arm includes inactive versions of the viruses.

Widespread influenza outbreaks have already hit 11 states, according to the AP. Health officials say that even though the vaccine may not be a good match to the flu strains out there this year, it is still crucial to get vaccinated. The article also pointed out:

“Every year, the flu infects up to 20 percent of the population, causes the hospitalization of 200,000 people and kills 36,000.”

The American Public Health Association’s Get Ready for Flu Blog offers news and tips on how to prepare for the rest of the flu season. If you haven’t already, get your flu shots!

A glimmer of hope shined through this week in the battle against malaria. A new malaria vaccine showed promise in a small test trial in Mali.

Researchers said the vaccine was safe and elicited strong immune responses from the 40 adults who participated in the trial.

The vaccine was designed to block the malaria parasite from entering blood cells. This was the first test of the vaccine in a malaria-endemic country. The research team is now conducting the next trial in 400 Malian children ranging in age from 1 to 6.

According to the Malaria Vaccine Initiative, the ideal malaria vaccine would be:

safe

easy to manufacture

easy to administer

when administered in infancy, confer life-long immunity against all forms of the disease

Many vaccine candidates fail during development, making the process an expensive and financially risky venture. With malaria infecting 350 million to 500 million people each year and killing over one million, the need for a malaria vaccine is urgent. Most of the victims are young children in sub-Saharan Africa.

Last quarter, one of my peers in Methods came down with an illness in the last week of class. We didn’t even get to say goodbye to her after the quarter was over because she was so sick. We later found out that she had fallen prey to shingles, or the adult version of chicken pox. I suppose she had not had the shingles vaccination.

Apparently my peer isn’t the only one who could have avoided an infectious disease if she would have taken its vaccine. New data shows that adults are getting immunized at low rates and that they aren’t very aware of the potential threat of infectious diseases. The National Foundation for Infectious Diseases is sponsoring an event Wednesday talking about the low public awareness of the importance of adult vaccinations.

Here are some quick facts from the data:

• More than 1 million shingles cases per year
• About 6 million HPV cases a year and 10,000 cervical cancer cases
• Significant rise in whopping cough

My friend who had shingles could have taken the vaccine for it, but many of us in our early 20s are not thinking of getting vaccinated for a disease that is most common in people over 50. The FDA-approved shingles vaccine has been out on the market for over a year. Because of the unpredictability of infectious diseases, the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases wants adults to be more aware of the vaccines available to them.

Vaccines could prevent countless cases of the infectious diseases mentioned above and could prevent the deaths of many American adults. Why face the disease if you can prevent it by taking a vaccine?