A Mother's Guide to Raising Healthy Children--Naturally (6 page)

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Authors: Sue Frederick

Tags: #Health & Fitness, #Women's Health, #test

BOOK: A Mother's Guide to Raising Healthy Children--Naturally
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been recently vaccinated with OPV. The institute also determined that the OPV can cause Guillain-Barré syndrome, including death, and that the risk is approximately 2.5 per 100,000 people. Guillain-Barré syndrome is a rapidly progressing form of polyneuropathy characterized by muscle weakness, numbness, pain, and paralysis. Symptoms may not appear until four weeks following vaccination.
Both the OPV and IPV (which may not cause live polio) are made from monkey tissues that have been scientifically proven to carry viruses. Scientists have linked these viruses to AIDS, cancer, and other immune and neurological dysfunctions such as chronic fatigue syndrome.
DPT
The diphtheria-pertussis-tetanus (DPT) vaccine, given at two, four, six, and eighteen months with a booster between four and six years old, has been associated with more severe reactions than any other vaccine. The most frequently reported reactions include prolonged crying for more than three hours, high-pitched screaming, collapse/shock, fever over 103 degrees, excessive sleepiness, and convulsions. Some researchers believe that if your child experiences any of these symptoms, they have sustained brain injury that may range from mild (as in learning disabilities) to serious (as in mental retardation).
The British National Childhood Encephalopathy Study, the largest and most highly controlled study of brain damage in children ever conducted, found that one in 110,000 DPT shots results in brain inflammation, and one in 310,000 results in permanent brain damage.
According to the scientific literature on infant deaths following vaccine reactions, the DPT vaccine can cause infant deaths that are sometimes misclassified as SIDS.
The acellular version of the vaccine, DTaP, was licensed for use in infants in 1996. This version is considerably safer; however, most of the mild and serious reactions following DPT vaccination also have been reported following DTaP. It is believed, though, that DTaP produces reactions in a smaller number of children.
According to Kathi Williams, even with the advent of DTaP, there are still reports of seizures in children following the vaccination. "As the FDA puts it, there is no vaccine that's 100 percent safe and effective. The toxins in per-
 
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tussis bacterium are very dangerous, and they're still included in the acellular version in order to make it effective. However, there will always be reactions to those toxins in the vaccine," she says.
Tetanus
In 1994, the Institute of Medicine concluded that tetanus and diphtheriatetanus vaccines can cause Guillain-Barré syndrome including death, and death from anaphylactic shock. Too few studies have been done separating out the tetanus component to determine whether tetanus alone or with the diphtheria vaccine can cause other serious health problems reported with the DPT vaccine. Reported reactions from tetanus and diphtheria-tetanus have included residual seizure disorder, demyelinating diseases of the central nervous system, peripheral mononeuropathy, arthritis, and erythema multiforme (lesions of the skin or mucous membranes).
HIB
The
Haemophilus
influenza type B (Hib) vaccine, administered at two, four, six, and twelve months, is given to prevent bacterial meningitis, a potentially life-threatening disease with possible long-term side effects such as hearing loss and learning disabilities. It's required before a child can enter preschool. However, serious vaccine-associated reactions have been reported, such as convulsions; anaphylactic allergic reactions; serum sickness-like reactions such as joint pain, rashes, and edema; and occasionally death within four hours of vaccination. In addition, several cases of proven Hib invasive disease (meningitis) have occurred soon after immunization.
Hepatitis B
The hepatitis B vaccine, now given twelve hours after birth, with boosters at one and six months, has numerous side effects linked to its use. In 1994, the Institute of Medicine reported that there is compelling scientific evidence that the hepatitis B vaccine causes anaphylactic shock. In 1990, the
Journal of Pediatric Child Health
mentions pertussis as a side effect, as well as six serious illnesses in a series of 200,000 hepatitis vaccinationsincluding multiforme, aseptic meningitis, and grand mal seizure. The vaccine was also responsible for fifty-six minor illnesses, among them neurological tremors, Bell's palsy, hives, herpes zoster, joint inflammation, hepatitis-like illness, influenza-like
 
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syndrome, diarrhea, vomiting, and headache. The study's authors concluded that until further evidence could be gathered on possible side effects from the hepatitis B vaccine, it may be worth only "giving the vaccine to people at high risk, rather than to all the population."
Measles, Mumps, Rubella
The measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine is administered when the child is fifteen months old. Measles, mumps, and rubella are fairly innocuous childhood diseases. Good nutrition, clean sanitation, and proper medical care can prevent the side effects and complications such as hepatitis, convulsions, and meningitis that doctors always mention as a reason to choose the vaccine. Measles is indeed dangerous in Third World countries or in underprivileged communities with poor living conditions, sanitation, nutrition, and substandard health care. Vaccine-acquired immunity is questionable. In clinical studies, vaccinated children have been shown to contract these diseases when exposed to them.
In the past, some researchers believed that having measles as a child helped the human immune system to mature, priming it to be more effective when dealing with challenges from viruses and bacteria later in life. Recovery from natural measles infection confers lifelong immunity, while vaccine-induced antibodies provide temporary immunity. In fact, the majority of severe complications arise when contraction of the disease occurs in vaccinated individuals. In adults, these diseases pose an elevated risk of complications and debilitating side effects.
In addition, reactions that occurred immediately after the administration of a vaccine included encephalopathies (brain damage), aseptic meningitis, cranial nerve palsy, learning disabilities, and mental retardation.
Chickenpox (Varicella Zoster)
Reactions to the chickenpox vaccine, given at twelve months of age, include lesions on the body within four weeks of vaccination and fever of 102 degrees, upper respiratory infection, fatigue, disturbed sleep, diarrhea, vomiting, otitis media (ear infection), headache, hives, and febrile seizures. Because it contains live chickenpox virus, vaccine makers warn that vaccinated individuals potentially may be capable of transmitting the virus through close
 
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contact. Therefore, close contact with high-risk individuals such as newborns and pregnant women should be avoided after inoculation.
The death rate for chicken pox is 1.4 per 100,000 cases in healthy children but rises to nearly 31 per 100,000 cases in adults. There is some medical concern that mass vaccination with chickenpox vaccine will drive the disease out of the normal childhood population, where it is mild for most children, and into the infant and adult populations, where it can be more dangerous. Vaccine makers state that the duration of protection is unknown at present, and the need for booster doses is not defined. This questionable rate of efficacy may contribute to cases occurring in older age groups in the future.
There is also concern that injecting children with a live varicella zoster vaccine may cause the virus to lay dormant in the body and be reactivated later in life in the form of herpes zoster (shingles).
Your Right to Choose
"We need to get information to the public about the side effects of vaccines so people can make informed decisions," explains Fisher.
Williams concurs: "It's very important that parents cut through what they're being told to do by their physicians and do their own research. I see a real trend in parents selecting certain vaccinations based on the needs of their child. For example, if you live in the country, you might want to give your child the tetanus vaccine. If you're a mom with hepatitis B, you may want to vaccinate your child against it. However, not all vaccines are appropriate for all children."
Even if you choose to vaccinate your child, you may spread out the immunizations so that your child doesn't receive more than one or two vaccines at a time, and you can begin vaccinations when your child is older. Some researchers believe the quantity of vaccine given at any one time is partly responsible for reactions. There is some evidence that giving vaccines to infants is more dangerous than giving them to children over the age of two.
If you choose not to vaccinate, find out what the vaccination laws are in your state. Religious, medical, and philosophical exemptions are worded
 
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differently from state to state. Ask your local librarian to help you obtain a copy of the law, along with any public health codes or education and welfare laws pertaining to vaccination requirements for school enrollment. All fifty states allow medical exemption to vaccination in the form of a signed statement by a medical doctor.
This is the avenue I chose for my daughter. Although my pediatrician didn't agree with my choices, he was well aware of the controversy surrounding vaccination and, after discussing it with me, was willing to sign a statement exempting her.
The National Vaccine Information Center has compiled an information sheet telling parents to ask themselves eight important questions before vaccinating their children.
1. Is my child sick right now?
2. Has my child had a bad reaction to a vaccination before?
3. Does my child have a personal or family history of vaccine reactions, convulsions or neurological disorders, severe allergies, immune system disorders?
4. Do I know if my child is at high risk of reacting?
5. Do I have full information on the vaccine's side effects?
6. Do I know how to identify a vaccine reaction?
7. Do I know how to report a vaccine reaction?
8. Do I know the vaccine manufacturer's name and lot number? Call 1-800-909-SHOT for information (Web site:
www.909shot.com
).
Do as much research as possible so that you can make an informed decision about this controversial topic. I hope this chapter has helped you know which questions to start asking. And I hope that in the future, mothers won't be faced with such difficult health care dilemmas.

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