September 2008

Parents Pack Newsletter

Possessing, Accessing and Communicating Knowledge About Vaccines

In this issue:

Feature Article: Vaccines in the News
Spotlight: Autism's False Prophets
Did You Know? . . . Polio Around the World
Ask the VEC - Do Combination Vaccines Overwhelm the Immune System?

Feature Article: Vaccines in the News

Several vaccine-related stories have made the headlines in the past few weeks. We thought it would be useful to highlight the important points:

National Vaccine Coverage Remains High

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released the results of the 2007 National Immunization Survey. This annual telephone survey provides information regarding immunization rates of children between 19 and 35 months of age. The survey included more than 17,000 families representing all 50 states.

More than 90 of every 100 children surveyed received at least some vaccines to protect them from diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), polio, measles, mumps, rubella (German measles), Haemophilus influenzae type b, hepatitis B, varicella (chickenpox), and pneumococcus.

It is important to note, however, that as many as 8 to 10 of every 100 children remain partially immunized or unimmunized against some of these diseases (e.g., MMR and varicella). Depending upon how contagious the disease is and how much disease remains in the community, this level of coverage could result in outbreaks. Measles is an immediate concern (see related story below).

Less than one percent of children had received no vaccines despite ill-founded concerns about vaccine safety commonly portrayed in the media.

Measles Outbreaks Continue in the United States

In the first seven months of 2008, 131 cases of measles have been confirmed throughout the U.S. This is more than double the average number of cases per year between 2000 and 2007.

Facts about the recent measles outbreak:

Of the 131 cases, 112 cases were in people who were unvaccinated or for whom vaccination status could not be determined.
More than half of those who were not immunized had chosen philosophical or religious beliefs to avoid immunizations.
An additional seven cases were in children for whom vaccines had been delayed.
Sixteen cases were in infants who were too young to be immunized.

Another Study Finds that Measles Vaccine Does Not Cause Autism

Scientists compared intestinal tissues from children with autism who had gastrointestinal disturbances (swelling of intestinal tissues) to similar tissues from children without autism who also had gastrointestinal disturbances to determine two things:

Whether the group with autism had more measles virus genetic material
If the onset of autism and/or gastrointestinal disturbances was related in time to receipt of the MMR vaccine

Data from these studies were confirmed by three separate laboratories. Researchers found no difference in the presence of measles virus genetic material between groups of children who did or did not have autism. In addition, neither the start of gastrointestinal problems nor the onset of autism was related to timing of receipt of the MMR vaccine.

Editor's Note: Although most children are getting vaccines, some parents remain concerned enough about vaccine safety that they are not immunizing their children at all or only partially immunizing them. As a result, measles outbreaks are becoming more common in the U.S. Many of the cases are occurring in children whose parents delayed immunizations or chose not to immunize at all. However, in some cases, children too young to have been immunized are also being infected.

In addition to children too young to be immunized, there are about 500,000 people in the U.S. who can't be immunized because they have compromised immune systems.

Fears continue to persist despite several well-controlled scientific studies showing them to be unfounded, outbreaks are beginning to occur, and subsets of the population rely on the rest of us for their protection, all of which make this a serious situation. Work must continue to address those with remaining concerns.

Spotlight: Autism's False Prophets

Autism's False Prophets, by Dr. Paul Offit, follows the journey of theories purporting that vaccines cause autism. Beginning with the idea that the MMR vaccine caused autism and moving to thimerosal and finally, too many vaccines causing autism, Dr. Offit outlines how media, politics and law have played a role in making parents around the country and the world fear one of public health's greatest contributions to human health. Dr. Offit also discusses the real dangers of some of the alternative therapies being promoted to treat autism.

Through interviews with several families affected by autism, Dr. Offit conveys their hopes for their children and reveals their frustration with the continued efforts to promote the idea that vaccines led to the development of autism in their families.

Autism's False Prophets was published by Columbia University Press. The book is also available at Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.

Did You Know? . . . Polio Around the World

Between January 2007 and June 2008 about 4,000 cases of polio were confirmed throughout the world. These cases occurred in 16 countries although the majority was identified in just four countries: Afghanistan, India, Nigeria and Pakistan.

Of interest, there are 145 laboratories in 100 countries that monitor the types of poliovirus that are circulating. During the period mentioned, these labs tested almost 235,000 samples to determine whether they contained poliovirus. By monitoring the types of poliovirus in the various regions of the world, scientists can determine how the virus is being spread locally and beyond.

Ask the VEC - Do Combination Vaccines Overwhelm the Immune System?

Q. Do shots that contain four or five different vaccines overwhelm the immune system of an infant?

A. No. Although in a sterile environment in the womb, infants are immediately exposed to trillions of bacteria when they are born. Their immune systems must be equipped to handle these challenges immediately.

About 25 years ago, there were seven vaccines commonly given to children. These seven vaccines contained about 3,000 immunologic components. However, as the science of vaccine development has matured, researchers have gotten much better at figuring out exactly which components of the viruses and bacteria cause disease, separating those components from the rest of the organism, and making a very specific vaccine. As a result, all fourteen of the vaccines given today only contain about 150 immunologic components total.

References

Hornig M, Briese T, Bauman ML, Lauwers G, et al. (2008). Lack of Association between Measles Virus Vaccine and Autism with Enteropathy: A Case-Control Study. PloS ONE 3(9):e3140.

Update: Measles--United States, January-July 2008. MMWR. 2008 Aug 22;57(33):893-6.

National, State, and Local Area Vaccination Coverage Among Children Aged 19-35 Months-- United States, 2007. MMWR. 2008 Sep 5;57(35):961-6.

Laboratory Surveillance for Wild and Vaccine-Derived Polioviruses-- Worldwide, January 2007-June 2008. MMWR. 2008 Sep 5;57(35):967-970.

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