British National Childhood Encephalopathy Study 1981
DPT  Encephalomyopathy, Encephalitis  Encephalomyelitis

[This is the lie they put out now on Parent leaflets: ''In the 1970s a study was done which seemed to show a link between the whooping cough vaccine and a few babies who suffered brain damage. More recent and reliable studies have not confirmed this theory.'' Childhood immunisations--government leaflet (UK).  Rewrote history to suit.  Few babies?  It was at least 900 ¹.]

See: [vid 1984 DPT documentary by WRC-TV] Vaccine Roulette   [1997] Making the case for (UK) Government Compensation for those damaged by Vaccines---Wm Wain  The National Pertussis Vaccination Programme commenced in 1957 when the Department of Health opted for a Plain Vaccine. The statistics of the Department of Health were as follows showing the numbers of children suffering severe brain damage as a result of the vaccine....It is now an established fact that the present figure now stands at over 900 which is an absolute disgrace in a civilised country.

''A June 3, 2007, Boston Globe OpEd authored by Paul Offit, M.D. is littered with factual errors that perpetuate pharmaceutical industry-created myths, which have been used for two decades to persuade Congress to pass laws shielding vaccine makers from liability for vaccine injuries and deaths, while giving drug companies huge financial incentives to develop vaccines and lobby for vaccine mandates. Offit blames parents of DPT vaccine injured children seeking financial support for their children for driving drug companies out of the vaccine business. He does this even though he knows perfectly well there are more drug companies producing childhood vaccines today than in 1982.
    Offit also blames parents of vaccine injured children for vaccine shortages even though he knows the main causes for vaccine shortages rest with the vaccine manufacturers themselves: production problems affecting distribution, incomplete compliance with FDA standards, and inaccurate predictions for public demand for a vaccine.
    Offit further attempts to rewrite medical history by alleging that DPT vaccine does not cause brain damage. He does this even though he knows (1) the largest case controlled study ever conducted to investigate causes of brain damage in children, the 1981 British National Childhood Encephalopathy Study, concluded that the pertussis (whooping cough) portion of DPT vaccine causes acute brain inflammation and permanent brain damage; and (2) the Institute of Medicine agreed with that conclusion in 1994''. http://www.nvic.org/Myths-and-Facts.aspx

"Encephalopathy was redefined so that the diagnosis requires as a sine qua non in excess of 24 hours of a diminished level of consciousness, a criterion which is far more restrictive than that of the leading epidemiological study of pertussis vaccine injury, the British National Childhood Encephalopathy Study (NCES). Moreover, seizures have been removed from the Table, although that the pertussis vaccine can cause seizures is uncontested (and warned in the manufacturer’s package insert)."--Marcel Kingsbourne

"Dr. Kevin Geraghty, Bay Area Physicians for the Study of Pertussis Vaccines:   "The UCLA study showed one in 600 kids have shock like episodes. That is not controversial......I’m convinced in my heart of hearts that 100 American infants a year are dying and another 250 are brain-damaged from DPT. I would be prepared to clinically defend that to scientists." Geraghty believes as many as one in 15,000 children suffer brain damage and as many as one in 35,000 die following DPT vaccination."---Fresno Bee, DPT report 1984.

"My own view, based upon some years of observation and experience, is quite firm. I supported the use of the vaccine in 1951 and subsequently with very little hesitation until about 1972, and gave pertussis vaccine between 1951 and 1956 to each of my four children. I would not dream of doing so again because it has become clear to me not only that the vaccine is incompletely protective, but also that the side-effects which I thought to be temporary are in fact dangerous, unpredictably so. There is no doubt in my mind that in the UK alone some hundreds, if not thousands, of well infants have suffered irreparable brain damage needlessly and that their lives and those of their parents have been wrecked in consequence."--Prof Gordon Stewart 1980

Miller D, (1993)Madge N, Diamond J, Wadsworth J, Ross E. Pertussis immunisation and serious acute neurological illnesses in children. BMJ. 1993 Nov 6;307(6913):1171-6. PMID: 7504540; UI: 94072962.

OBJECTIVE--To determine long term outcome in children who had a severe acute neurological illness in early childhood associated with pertussis immunisation. DESIGN--Follow up study of cases and matched controls. SETTING--Assessment of children at home and at school throughout Britain. SUBJECTS--Children recruited into the national childhood encephalopathy study in 1976-9 were followed up, with one of their two original matched controls, in 1986-9. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES--Performance in educational attainment tests; behaviour problems reported by teachers and parents; continuing convulsions; evidence of other neurological or physical dysfunction. RESULTS--Over 80% of cases and controls were traced. Case children were significantly more likely than controls to have died or to have some form of educational, behavioural, neurological, or physical dysfunction a decade after their illness. The prevalence of one or more of these adverse outcomes in case children who had been immunised with diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis vaccine within seven days before onset of their original illness was similar to that in case children who had not been immunised recently. The relative risk for recent diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis immunisation in children who had died or had any dysfunction in comparison with controls was 5.5 (95% confidence interval 1.6 to 23.7). However, the number of cases associated with vaccine (12) was extremely small and statistically vulnerable, and other possible agents or predisposing factors could not be excluded. CONCLUSIONS--Diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis vaccine may on rare occasions be associated with the development of severe acute neurological illnesses that can have serious sequelae. Some cases may occur by chance or have other causes. The role of pertussis vaccine as a prime or concomitant factor in the aetiology of these illnesses cannot be determined in any individual case. The balance of possible risk against known benefits from pertussis immunisation supports continued use of the vaccine.  Comments: Comment in: BMJ 1994 Jan 29;308(6924):343 PMID: 7504540, UI: 94072962 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/htbin-post/Entrez/query?uid=7504540&form=6&db=m&Dopt=b

 Miller DL,(1981)Ross EM, Alderslade R, Bellman MH, Rawson NS. Pertussis immunisation and serious acute neurological illness in children. Br Med J (Clin Res Ed). 1981 May 16;282(6276):1595-9. PMID: 6786580; UI: 81209144.

The first 1000 cases notified to the National Childhood Encephalopathy Study were analysed. The diagnoses included encephalitis/encephalopathy, prolonged convulsions, infantile spasms, and Reye's syndrome. Eighty-eight of the children had had a recent infectious disease, including 19 with pertussis. Only 35 of the notified children (3.5%) had received pertussis antigen within seven days before becoming ill. Of 1955 control children matched for age, sex, and area of residence, 34 (1.7%) had been immunised with pertussis vaccine within the seven days before the date on which they became of the same age as the corresponding notified child. The relative risk of a notified child having had pertussis immunisation within that time interval was 2.4 (p less than 0.001). Of the 35 notified children, 32 had no previous neurological abnormality. A year later two had died, nine had developmental retardation, and 21 were normal. A significance association was shown between serious neurological illness and pertussis vaccine, though cases were few and most children recovered completely. PMID: 6786580, UI: 81209144 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/htbin-post/Entrez/query?uid=6786580&form=6&db=m&Dopt=b  

Miller D, (1985).Wadsworth J, Diamond J, Ross E.   Pertussis vaccine and whooping cough as risk factors in acute neurological illness and death in young children. Dev Biol Stand. 1985;61:389-94. PMID: 3879684; UI: 86221304.

The National Childhood Encephalopathy Study received reports on 1182 cases of serious acute neurological illnesses in children admitted to hospital in Britain. The frequency of risk factors in cases was compared with matched controls. A personal or family history of convulsions was found significantly more often in cases than in controls, but no such excess was found for a history of allergy. Case children were significantly more likely to have received diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTP) vaccine within seven days before onset and to have a history of whooping cough during the month of onset. The risk of serious acute brain conditions after the disease was more than six times that of three doses of DTP. In addition, there is evidence that deaths attributed to whooping cough may seriously underestimate the number associated with pertussis infection. PMID: 3879684, UI: 86221304 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/htbin-post/Entrez/query?uid=3879684&form=6&db=m&Dopt=b