The following article originally appeared in the Well Beings newsletter,
a publication of Vaccinations Alternatives, NYC
ANOTHER PHANTOM VIRUS
By Gary Krasner
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The Medical Boys-ever vigilant against "diseases", and the microbes to
blame them on-have come through again. The fact that the virus is
harmless, and the condition is hardly a disease, should not stand in the
way of what should be a very profitable vaccine.
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Peter Duesberg's excellent book, "Inventing The AIDS Virus" (reviewed in
WB last year), contains a section entitled, Phantom Viruses And Big
Bucks. It described the discovery (actually, "invention") of a harmless
virus that is purportedly the cause of
Hepatitis-C. Early last year when
I began to read about rotavirus and the proposed new vaccine for it, I
immediately thought of that section in Duesberg's book, but with one
exception: Not only is a virus not the cause of diarrhea, but the so
called disease itself is just a natural condition in response to an
inappropriate diet, and is effectively treatable by parents, without
drugs. (Note: Diarrhea may also accompany normal biological changes, such
as teething.)
A CHRONOLOGY
Before I get into that aspect, here's a brief order of events that led up
to the newly-released vaccine for rotavirus.
On February 11, 1998 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's
Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) had recommended the
routine vaccination of all full-term infants against rotavirus, a common
virus that they said can cause diarrhea, gastroenteritis, abdominal
cramps, vomiting, and in severe cases dehydration and death, in infants
and children. ACIP's decision was contingent on the FDA's Vaccines and
Related Biologicals Advisory Committee approval of a new vaccine, which
came through December 1997.
The vaccine, which will be sold in the United States under the brand name
RotaShield, was developed by Philadelphia-based Wyeth-Lederle Vaccines
and Pediatrics and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious
Diseases. At $38 per dose, Wyeth could conceivably gross close to a
billion dollars annually with RotaShield. Outside the US, the company is
seeking marketing approval for the vaccine under the name of Rotamune.
In August 1998 the FDA licensed RotaShield. A month later ACIP
recommended that RotaShield be given routinely to term infants at 2, 4,
and 6 months of age, with the series to be completed by a child's first
birthday. Some committee members also felt that the recommendation would
help ensure third-party coverage of the live, oral, tetravalent, rhesus
monkey-based vaccine. The recommendation is also expected to clear the
way for states to begin mandating this vaccine for school entry.
ACIP decided against issuing a permissive statement that would have made
the vaccine optional, or a recommendation to vaccinate only high-risk
groups. Those options were favored by an advisory commission of the
American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP). While a formal statement on
RotaShield from AAFP is still pending, last November another organization
of physicians-the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)-had endorsed the
ACIP recommendation.
JUST THE "FACTS"
Throughout 1998, the CDC and their cohorts issued press releases to
prepare the public for the new vaccine. Whether from a health department
bulletin or a newspaper article, these claims appeared to come from
identical scripts from the same source- the CDC-as I summarize them here:
Rotavirus is the most common cause of severe diarrhea in children in the United States. About 70 percent between the ages of one and five become ill from rotavirus diarrhea, and one in every 78 of them will become sick enough to require hospital treatment. About 125 die annually. Virtually all children have one or more rotavirus infections in the first 5 years of life. Each year in the US, rotavirus is responsible for approximately 500,000 physician visits and 50,000 hospitalizations (30-50% of all hospitalizations for diarrhea are in children under 5 years of age).
Children aged 3 to 24 months have the highest rates of severe disease and
hospitalization. It is estimated that a vaccination program would prevent
39 percent, or 1.08 million cases, of rotavirus diarrhea in children
under five years of age, including 13 deaths among those most seriously
afflicted.
The World Health Organization is considering recommending use of the
vaccine in developing countries where rotavirus is less easily treated.
Worldwide, the virus is estimated to lead to one million child deaths
each year. The NIH scientist who discovered the drug said Wyeth officials
have promised him they'll somehow get the vaccine to children in
developing countries, probably by using profits from rich countries to
subsidize poor ones.
SOME CAVEATS
While the aforementioned presentation issued by the medical establishment
sounded impressive, there were other aspects reported about the vaccine
that moderated its endorsement:
According to five published placebo-controlled trials, the vaccine was
determined to be only about 50% effective in preventing diarrhea caused
by rotavirus infection. However, the vaccine was claimed to be about 80%
effective in preventing severe rotavirus-induced diarrhea in three U.S.
trials. Nevertheless, a large number of mild cases of rotavirus diarrhea
will still occur, and childhood diarrhea from other causes will not be
prevented by vaccination. (50-75 percent of hospitalizations for diarrhea
are due to non-rotaviral etiologies.) It will require three doses to
reliably provide a high degree of protection from severe rotavirus
disease. Earlier studies, in which only one dose was given, did not find
a high degree of protection. No studies were conducted using a two-dose
schedule, and it is unknown if children who receive two doses will be
protected.
Concerning adverse events: In the pre-licensure studies, there was a
higher rate of fever after the first dose of vaccine, primarily on days
2-5 after administration. Higher rates of intussusception and
failure-to-thrive among vaccinees were reported initially, but were not
confirmed on a more detailed analysis of the data. Safety and efficacy
data are not available for children 12 months of age or older. However,
since a small trial indicated infants 6 months of age or older had a
higher rate of high fevers after vaccination with an initial dose of
rotavirus vaccine, vaccination with second and third doses are not
recommended for children 12 months of age or older for lack of data.
Finally, contraindications to the use of the vaccine in children include
known or suspected immunodeficiency, acute moderate to severe febrile
illness, an evolving neurological condition, or persistent vomiting. Due
to lack of data, rotavirus vaccine should be used with caution in infants
who were born prematurely (at less than 37 weeks' gestation), or who have
ongoing diarrhea or preexisting chronic GI disease. The vaccine should
not be readministered to an infant who spits out the vaccine or
regurgitates or vomits after receiving it.
Not all doctors agreed with the ACIP endorsement. Prior to ACIP's
recommendation of RotaShield last November, the AAFP Commission on
Clinical Policies and Research member Theodore G. Ganiats, M.D., speaking
on behalf of the CCPR, opposed routine rotavirus immunization. He stated
in Family Practice News (8/1/98) that such a recommendation "could
unnecessarily override patient preference by promoting use of a vaccine
that does not produce herd immunity and for which the cost is not yet
known." To date, word from AAFP is that they are not likely to support
ACIP's recommendation.
BACK TO REALITY
Despite these negative aspects of RotaShield, the "germ hunters" of
modern medicine's public relations campaign has been effective. There's
just one little problem: A virus is no more the cause of diarrhea than it
is the cause of any disease.
The tautological "reasoning" that rotavirus causes diarrhea mirrors the
claims for other so called pathogenic viruses: If it is present in some
form during the malady, then it is the cause of it. If not, then
something else caused it! The relatively few parents who recognize this
nonsense don't see any need to subject their children to a potentially
hazardous vaccine for (what is, in reality) an easily preventable and
treatable digestive disturbance.
Loose stool simply indicates that something was ingested that cannot be
digested. Whatever cannot be digested will decompose. The products of
this decomposition, and food itself are viewed by the body as an irritant
that it must get rid of it quickly. So there's no chance for the food to
be assimilated and the fibrous components to absorb water for eventual
elimination. Instead, the partially digested food is eliminated quickly,
still in its watery state.
Ironically, the most common food of infants-cow's milk-is the worst
culprit. The proper functioning of the colon is impaired because the
excessive mucous that the body generates in response to milk (as a
defense mechanism) hardens in the intestines to form a coating on the
inner lining that becomes nearly impermeable to nutrients and fluid
exchange. Any food eaten with milk is also coated. The indigestible
protein complement, casein is another gooey substance that inflicts
similar damage, as well as to coagulate in the stomach to form large,
tough, dense, hard-to-digest curds. In fact, casein is so gooey, it is
the main ingredient in all wood glues. Drinking it cold and pasteurized
makes it even worse. And consuming it with another kind of protein food
may also cause diarrhea.
Milk also causes chronic gastrointestinal irritation, leading to eczema,
diaper rash, and diarrhea. It stems from the fact that cow's milk is a
somewhat coarser emulsion than that of human milk, possibly due to the
difference in the amount and quality of unsaturated fatty acids. Vitamin
and mineral differences play an important role as well. There are many
books that deal with the digestive problems caused by consuming milk.
Another common, but inappropriate food is the routine feeding of starchy
foods to infants. In the salivary secretion the starch digesting enzyme,
ptyalin, does not appear in appreciable quantity until at least age 6
months. The other starch digestive enzyme, amylase, secreted by the
pancreas, is also absent, or at least not present in adequate amounts to
digest starch. Amylase generally does not appear until the molar teeth
are fully developed, possibly age 28 to 36 months. Despite these
physiological facts, pediatricians foolishly recommend cereals,
breadstuffs, crackers and other coarse grain-based foods for infants this
young. The diarrhea produced from this diet is often brown, or
yellowish-brown in color. If mucous and small soft curds and an acid odor
are also present, then it's the result of sugar or maltose consumption.
If it has a foul or musty odor and has an alkaline pH, it came from
excessive protein.
Pediatricians also frequently misdiagnose loose looking stools-that are
normal in breastfed babies-as diarrhea. But it is not. And while the baby
may be thriving and gaining weight, the doctor will nonetheless want to
place the baby on anti-diarrhea medications or opiates like Lomotil. Many
parents don't realize that these medications, as well as bactericides
like antibiotics or penicillin used to treat their baby's cough or cold,
ultimately prevents normal bowel functioning leading to loose stool. An
antibiotic may kill enough of the intestine's normal microorganisms to
allow more resistant competing strains to flourish and take over. If the
surviving bacterium is Clostridium difficile, for example, the diarrhea
from the toxins it produces could lead to severe dehydration, and
possibly ulceration and perforation of the intestine.
Diets of excessive protein, improper food combinations, or just
overfeeding are known causes diarrhea. Infants that are fed inappropriate
diets that include meat, dairy, refined sugar, or even chilled or heated
fruits or vegetables, render their intestines an ecological mess. Even on
a proper diet, it may take an extended period of time for the restoration
of normal intestinal flora that is essential to process waste in the
colon. But when anti-diarrhea medications of any type are added to the
mix, the infant is rendered incapable of fully restoring that normal
bacterial balance. Infants in some areas of the U.S. and the Third World
also face an additional obstacle to normal bacterial stasis: drinking
water that may contain excessive biological waste or chemical toxins.
That, together with malnutrition, accounts for the higher mortality rates
there. Yet doctors would probably have us believe that the more
pathogenic forms of rotavirus somehow decide on their own to inhabit only
poor countries!
Diarrhea is also often a symptom of allergies. If you really want to get
holistic, consider the increasing rate of allergic children as one cause
of the increased prevalence of diarrhea. Whether its due to increased
food processing and chemicals, pesticide drift and runoff, topsoil
erosion, increased background radiation, vaccination, cow's milk
consumption (a major allergen), or even the high number of bottle-fed
babies (they're at least 20 times more likely to develop allergies as
breastfed babies), allergies may account for a significant amount of the
incidence of diarrhea in infants. But it's not profitable for any drug
company to investigate such potential causes of diarrhea. Particularly
when their allergy drugs sell so well!
Finally, there is a new form of inflammatory bowel disease described as
"leaky gut" phenomenon, in which undigested proteins "leak" past the
stomach and into the intestines. Symptoms of this problem includes
diarrhea, abdominal pain, intestinal bloating and possibly food
intolerance. According to Dr. Wakefield, et.al., there is strong evidence
linking the administration of MMR vaccine with the development of leaky
gut, as well as Crohn's disease, non-specific colitis, and other
digestive problems. The Medical Boys could conceivably promote Rotashield
as a remedy for the MMR vaccine! But any sane parent would reject both.
Whenever I hear about a new vaccine for a non-existent disease, I'm
reminded of my resistance to America's war against Vietnam. Liberals at
that time had no trouble believing that the Pentagon was using young men
as canon fodder to fuel a military-industrial complex. Why can't liberals
today make the connection that the medical establishment is doing the
same damn thing with our infants and children.
Gary Krasner is Director of Coalition For Informed Choice, CFIC, 188-34 87th
Drive, Suite 4B, Hollis, NY 11423, fax/phone: 718-479-2939
Special thanks to the following individuals who consistently posted their
research on the status of RotaShield throughout 1998:
Dawn Richardson, PROVE (Parents Requesting Open Vaccine Education)
, http://home.swbell.net/prove
Meryl W. Dorey, President, The Australian Vaccination Network, Inc.,
(email), http://www.ozemail.com.au/~shotinfo
Debbie Bermudes, Executive Director, Mass. Citizens for
Vaccination Choice <mcvchq@juno.com
(email)>
Dawn Winkler, Vice President, Concerned Parents For Vaccine Safety
(email),
http://home.sprynet.com:80/sprynet/Gyrene/Home.htm
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Copyright 1999 by Gary Krasner
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