SCIENCE OF VACCINE DAMAGE
http://www.afghanhoundreview.com/Vaccine.html
A team at Purdue University School of Veterinary Medicine conducted several
studies (endnotes 1 & 2) to determine if vaccines can cause changes in the
immune system of dogs that might lead to life-threatening immune-mediated
diseases. They obviously conducted this research because concern already
existed. It was sponsored by the Haywood Foundation which itself was looking for
evidence that such changes in the human immune system might also be vaccine
induced. It found the evidence.
The vaccinated, but not the non-vaccinated, dogs in the Purdue studies developed
autoantibodies to many of their own biochemicals, including fibronectin, laminin,
DNA, albumin, cytochrome C, cardiolipin and collagen.
This means that the vaccinated dogs – ”but not the non-vaccinated dogs”– were
attacking their own fibronectin, which is involved in tissue repair, cell
multiplication and growth, and differentiation between tissues and organs in a
living organism.
The vaccinated Purdue dogs also developed autoantibodies to laminin, which is
involved in many cellular activities including the adhesion, spreading,
differentiation, proliferation and movement of cells. Vaccines thus appear to be
capable of removing the natural intelligence of cells.
Autoantibodies to cardiolipin are frequently found in patients with the serious
disease systemic lupus erythematosus and also in individuals with other
autoimmune diseases. The presence of elevated anti-cardiolipin antibodies is
significantly associated with clots within the heart or blood vessels, in poor
blood clotting, haemorrhage, bleeding into the skin, foetal loss and
neurological conditions.
The Purdue studies also found that vaccinated dogs were developing
autoantibodies to their own collagen. About one quarter of all the protein in
the body is collagen. Collagen provides structure to our bodies, protecting and
supporting the softer tissues and connecting them with the skeleton. It is no
wonder that Canine Health Concern’s (Great Britain) 1997 study of 4,000 dogs
showed a high number of dogs developing mobility problems shortly after they
were vaccinated (noted in my 1997 book, What Vets Don’t Tell You About
Vaccines).
Perhaps most worryingly, the Purdue studies found that the vaccinated dogs had
developed autoantibodies to their own DNA. Did the alarm bells sound? Did the
scientific community call a halt to the vaccination program? No. Instead, they
stuck their fingers in the air, saying more research is needed to ascertain
whether vaccines can cause genetic damage. Meanwhile, the study dogs were found
good homes, but no long-term follow-up has been conducted.
At around the same time, the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA)
Vaccine-Associated Feline Sarcoma Task Force initiated several studies to find
out why 160,000 cats each year in the USA develop terminal cancer at their
vaccine injection sites.(3) The fact that cats can get vaccine-induced cancer
has been acknowledged by veterinary bodies around the world, and even the
British Government acknowledged it through its Working Group charged with the
task of looking into canine and feline vaccines(4) following pressure from
Canine Health Concern. What do you imagine was the advice of the AVMA Task
Force, veterinary bodies and governments? “Carry on vaccinating until we find
out why vaccines are killing cats, and which cats are most likely to die.”
In America, in an attempt to mitigate the problem, they’re vaccinating cats in
the tail or leg so they can amputate when cancer appears. Great advice if it’s
not your cat amongst the hundreds of thousands on the “oops” list.
But other species are okay, right? Wrong. In August 2003, the Journal of
Veterinary Medicine carried an Italian study which showed that dogs also develop
vaccine-induced cancers at their injection sites.(5) We already know that
vaccine-site cancer is a possible sequel to human vaccines, too, since the Salk
polio vaccine was said to carry a monkey retrovirus (from cultivating the
vaccine on monkey organs) that produces inheritable cancer. The monkey
retrovirus SV40 keeps turning up in human cancer sites.
It is also widely acknowledged that vaccines can cause a fast-acting, usually
fatal, disease called autoimmune haemolytic anaemia (AIHA). Without treatment,
and frequently with treatment, individuals can die in agony within a matter of
days. Merck, itself a multinational vaccine manufacturer, states in The Merck
Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy that autoimmune haemolytic anaemia may be caused
by modified live-virus vaccines, as do Tizard’s Veterinary Immunology (4th
edition) and the Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine.(6) The British
Government’s Working Group, despite being staffed by vaccine-industry
consultants who say they are independent, also acknowledged this fact. However,
no one warns the pet owners before their animals are subjected to an unnecessary
booster, and very few owners are told why after their pets die of AIHA.
A Wide Range of Vaccine-induced Diseases
We also found some worrying correlations between vaccine events and
the onset of arthritis in our 1997 survey. Our concerns were compounded by
research in the human field.
The New England Journal of Medicine, for example, reported that it is possible
to isolate the rubella virus from affected joints in children vaccinated against
rubella. It also told of the isolation of viruses from the peripheral blood of
women with prolonged arthritis following vaccination.(7)
Then, in 2000, CHC’s findings were confirmed by research which showed that
polyarthritis and other diseases like amyloidosis, which affects organs in dogs,
were linked to the combined vaccine given to dogs.(8) There is a huge body of
research, despite the paucity of funding from the vaccine industry, to confirm
that vaccines can cause a wide range of brain and central nervous system damage.
Merck itself states in its Manual that vaccines (i.e., its own products) can
cause encephalitis: brain inflammation/damage. In some cases, encephalitis
involves lesions in the brain and throughout the central nervous system. Merck
states that “examples are the encephalitides following measles, chickenpox,
rubella, smallpox vaccination, vaccinia, and many other less well defined viral
infections”.
When the dog owners who took part in the CHC survey reported that their dogs
developed short attention spans, 73.1% of the dogs did so within three months of
a vaccine event. The same percentage of dogs was diagnosed with epilepsy within
three months of a shot (but usually within days). We also found that 72.5% of
dogs that were considered by their owners to be nervous and of a worrying
disposition, first exhibited these traits within the three-month
post-vaccination period.
I would like to add for the sake of Oliver, my friend who suffered from
paralysed rear legs and death shortly after a vaccine shot, that “paresis” is
listed in Merck’s Manual as a symptom of encephalitis. This is defined as
muscular weakness of a neural (brain) origin which involves partial or
incomplete paralysis, resulting from lesions at any level of the descending
pathway from the brain. Hind limb paralysis is one of the potential
consequences. Encephalitis, incidentally, is a disease that can manifest across
the scale from mild to severe and can also cause sudden death.
Organ failure must also be suspected when it occurs shortly after a vaccine
event. Dr. Larry Glickman, who spearheaded the Purdue research into
post-vaccination biochemical changes in dogs, wrote in a letter to Cavalier
Spaniel breeder Bet Hargreaves:
“Our ongoing studies of dogs show that following routine vaccination, there is a
significant rise in the level of antibodies dogs produce against their own
tissues. Some of these antibodies have been shown to target the thyroid gland,
connective tissue such as that found in the valves of the heart, red blood
cells, DNA, etc. I do believe that the heart conditions in Cavalier King Charles
Spaniels could be the end result of repeated immunisations by vaccines
containing tissue culture contaminants that cause a progressive immune response
directed at connective tissue in the heart valves. The clinical manifestations
would be more pronounced in dogs that have a genetic predisposition [although]
the findings should be generally applicable to all dogs regardless of their
breed.”
I must mention here that Dr. Glickman believes that vaccines are a necessary
evil, but that safer vaccines need to be developed.
Meanwhile, please join the queue to place your dog, cat, horse and child on the
Russian roulette wheel because a scientist says you should.
Vaccines Stimulate an Inflammatory Response
The word “allergy” is synonymous with “sensitivity” and
“inflammation.” It should, by rights, also be synonymous with the word
“vaccination.” This is what vaccines do: they sensitize (render allergic) an
individual in the process of forcing them to develop antibodies to fight a
disease threat. In other words, as is acknowledged and accepted, as part of the
vaccine process the body will respond with inflammation. This may be apparently
temporary or it may be longstanding.
Holistic doctors and veterinarians have known this for at least 100 years. They
talk about a wide range of inflammatory or “-itis” diseases which arise shortly
after a vaccine event. Vaccines, in fact, plunge many individuals into an
allergic state. Again, this is a disorder that ranges from mild all the way
through to the suddenly fatal. Anaphylactic shock is the culmination: it’s where
an individual has a massive allergic reaction to a vaccine and will die within
minutes if adrenaline or its equivalent is not administered.
There are some individuals who are genetically not well placed to withstand the
vaccine challenge. These are the people (and animals are “people,” too) who have
inherited faulty B and T cell function. B and T cells are components within the
immune system which identify foreign invaders and destroy them, and hold the
invader in memory so that they cannot cause future harm. However, where
inflammatory responses are concerned, the immune system overreacts and causes
unwanted effects such as allergies and other inflammatory conditions.
Merck warns in its Manual that patients with, or from families with, B and/or T
cell immunodeficiencies should not receive live-virus vaccines due to the risk
of severe or fatal infection. Elsewhere, it lists features of B and T cell
immunodeficiencies as food allergies, inhalant allergies, eczema, dermatitis,
neurological deterioration and heart disease. To translate, people with these
conditions can die if they receive live-virus vaccines. Their immune systems are
simply not competent enough to guarantee a healthy reaction to the viral assault
from modified live-virus vaccines.
Modified live-virus (MLV) vaccines replicate in the patient until an immune
response is provoked. If a defence isn’t stimulated, then the vaccine continues
to replicate until it gives the patient the very disease it was intending to
prevent.
Alternatively, a deranged immune response will lead to inflammatory conditions
such as arthritis, pancreatitis, colitis, encephalitis and any number of
autoimmune diseases such as cancer and leukaemia, where the body attacks its own
cells.
A new theory, stumbled upon by Open University student Gary Smith, explains what
holistic practitioners have been saying for a very long time. Here is what a few
of the holistic vets have said in relation to their patients:
Dr. Jean Dodds: “Many veterinarians trace the present problems with allergic and
immunologic diseases to the introduction of MLV vaccines...” (9)
Christina Chambreau, DVM: “Routine vaccinations are probably the worst thing
that we do for our animals. They cause all types of illnesses, but not directly
to where we would relate them definitely to be caused by the vaccine.” (10)
Martin Goldstein, DVM: “I think that vaccines...are leading killers of dogs and
cats in America today.”
Dr Charles E. Loops, DVM: “Homoeopathic veterinarians and other holistic
practitioners have maintained for some time that vaccinations do more harm than
they provide benefits.” (12)
Mike Kohn, DVM: “In response to this [vaccine] violation, there have been
increased autoimmune diseases (allergies being one component), epilepsy,
neoplasia [tumours], as well as behavioural problems in small animals.” (13)
A Theory on Inflammation
Gary Smith explains what observant healthcare practitioners have been
saying for a very long time, but perhaps they’ve not understood why their
observations led them to say it. His theory, incidentally, is causing a huge
stir within the inner scientific sanctum. Some believe that his theory could
lead to a cure for many diseases including cancer. For me, it explains why the
vaccine process is inherently questionable.
Gary was learning about inflammation as part of his studies when he struck upon
a theory so extraordinary that it could have implications for the treatment of
almost every inflammatory disease – including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s,
rheumatoid arthritis and even HIV and AIDS.
Gary’s theory questions the received wisdom that when a person gets ill, the
inflammation that occurs around the infected area helps it to heal. He claims
that, in reality, inflammation prevents the body from recognising a foreign
substance and therefore serves as a hiding place for invaders. The inflammation
occurs when at-risk cells produce receptors called All (known as angiotensin II
type I receptors). He says that while At1 has a balancing receptor, At2, which
is supposed to switch off the inflammation, in most diseases this does not
happen.
“Cancer has been described as the wound that never heals,” he says. “All
successful cancers are surrounded by inflammation. Commonly this is thought to
be the body’s reaction to try to fight the cancer, but this is not the case.
“The inflammation is not the body trying to fight the infection. It is actually
the virus or bacteria deliberately causing inflammation in order to hide from
the immune system.” (14)
If Gary is right, then the inflammatory process so commonly stimulated by
vaccines is not, as hitherto assumed, a necessarily acceptable sign. Instead, it
could be a sign that the viral or bacterial component, or the adjuvant (which,
containing foreign protein, is seen as an invader by the immune system), in the
vaccine is winning by stealth.
If Gary is correct in believing that the inflammatory response is not protective
but a sign that invasion is taking place under cover of darkness, vaccines are
certainly not the friends we thought they were. They are undercover assassins
working on behalf of the enemy, and vets and medical doctors are unwittingly
acting as collaborators. Worse, we animal guardians and parents are actually
paying doctors and vets to unwittingly betray our loved ones.
Potentially, vaccines are the stealth bomb of the medical world. They are used
to catapult invaders inside the castle walls where they can wreak havoc, with
none of us any the wiser. So rather than experiencing frank viral diseases such
as the ’flu, measles, mumps and rubella (and, in the case of dogs, parvovirus
and distemper), we are allowing the viruses to win anyway - but with cancer,
leukaemia and other inflammatory or autoimmune (self-attacking) diseases taking
their place.
The Final Insult
All 27 veterinary schools in North America have changed their
protocols for vaccinating dogs and cats along the following lines; (15) however,
vets in practice are reluctant to listen to these changed protocols and official
veterinary bodies in the UK and other countries are ignoring the following
facts.
Dogs’ and cats’ immune systems mature fully at six months. If modified
live-virus vaccine is given after six months of age, it produces immunity, which
is good for the life of the pet. If another MLV vaccine is given a year later,
the antibodies from the first vaccine neutralise the antigens of the second
vaccine and there is little or no effect. The titre is not “boosted,” nor are
more memory cells induced.
Not only are annual boosters unnecessary, but they subject the pet to potential
risks such as allergic reactions and immune-mediated haemolytic anaemia.
In plain language, veterinary schools in America, plus the American Veterinary
Medical Association, have looked at studies to show how long vaccines last and
they have concluded and announced that annual vaccination is unnecessary.(16-19)
Further, they have acknowledged that vaccines are not without harm. Dr. Ron
Schultz, head of pathobiology at Wisconsin University and a leading light in
this field, has been saying this politely to his veterinary colleagues since the
1980s. I’ve been saying it for the past 12 years. But change is so long in
coming and, in the meantime, hundreds of thousands of animals are dying every
year - unnecessarily.
The good news is that thousands of animal lovers (but not enough) have heard
what we’ve been saying. Canine Health Concern members around the world use real
food as Nature’s supreme disease preventative, eschewing processed pet food, and
minimise the vaccine risk. Some of us, myself included, have chosen not to
vaccinate our pets at all. Our reward is healthy and long-lived dogs.
It has taken but one paragraph to tell you the good and simple news. The
gratitude I feel each day, when I embrace my healthy dogs, stretches from the
centre of the Earth to the Universe and beyond.
About the Author:
Catherine O’Driscoll runs Canine Health Concern which campaigns and also
delivers an educational program, the Foundation in Canine Healthcare. She is
author of Shock to the System (2005), the best-selling book What Vets Don’t Tell
You About Vaccines (1997, 1998), and Who Killed the Darling Buds of May? (1997;
reviewed in NEXUS 4/04). She lives in Scotland with her partner, Rob Ellis, and
three Golden Retrievers, and she lectures on canine health around the world. For
more information, contact Catherine O’Driscoll at Canine Health Concern, PO Box
7533, Perth PH2 1AD, Scotland, UK, email catherine@carsegray.co.uk , website
http://www.canine-health-concern.org.uk. Shock to the System is available in the
UK from CHC, and worldwide from Dogwise at http://www.dogwise.com.
Endnotes
1. “Effects of Vaccination on the Endocrine and Immune Systems of Dogs, Phase
II", Purdue University, November 1,1999, at
http://www.homestead.com/vonhapsburg/haywardstudyonvaccines.html.
2. See
www.vet.purdue.edu/epi/gdhstudy.htm.
3. See
http://www.avma.org/vafstf/default.asp.
4. Veterinary Products Committee (VPC) Working Group on Feline and Canine
Vaccination, DEFRA, May 2001.
5. JVM Series A 50(6):286-291, August 2003.
6. Duval, D. and Giger,U. (1996). “Vaccine-Associated Immune-Mediated Hemolytic
Anemia in the Dog", Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine 10:290-295.
7. New England Journal of Medicine, vol.313,1985.
See also Clin Exp Rheumatol 20(6):767-71, Nov-Dec 2002.
8. Am Coll Vet Intern Med 14:381,2000.
9. Dodds, Jean W.,DVM, “Immune System and Disease Resistance", at
http://www.critterchat.net/immune.htm.
10. Wolf Clan magazine, April/May 1995.
11. Goldstein, Martin, The Nature of Animal Healing, Borzoi/Alfred A. Knopf,
Inc., 1999.
12. Wolf Clan magazine, op. cit.
13. ibid.
14. Journal of Inflammation 1:3,2004, at http://www.journal-inflammation.com
content/1/1/3.
15. Klingborg, D.J., Hustead, D.R. and Curry-Galvin, E. et al., “AVMA Council on
Biologic and Therapeutic Agents’ report on cat and dog vaccines", Journal of the
American Veterinary Medical Association 221(10):1401-1407, November 15,2002,
http://www.avma.org/policies/vaccination.htm.
16. ibid.
17. Schultz, R.D., “Current and future canine and feline vaccination programs",
Vet Med 93:233-254,1998.
18. Schultz, R.D., Ford, R.B., Olsen, J. and Scott, P., “Titer testing and
vaccination: a new look at traditional practices", Vet Med 97:1-13, 2002
(insert).
19. Twark, L. and Dodds, W.J., “Clinical application of serum parvovirus and
distemper virus antibody liters for determining revaccination strategies in
healthy dogs", J Am Vet Med Assoc 217:1021-1024,2000.