Well What Would You Do If... Part II

Polio- Polio is the “poster child” disease for vaccination. Those who question vaccination will be treated to tales of cousins who were confined to iron lungs and mothers who lived in fear of their children being sent home from school sick. They will hear about President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (who contracted polio at the age of 39, and not as a child) being confined to a wheelchair. These narratives will be accompanied by speeches about how Jonas Salk was one of the greatest and most courageous scientific minds of the twentieth-century.

We’ve all been lead to believe that polio invariably causes death or paralysis. However, this is not the case. In fact, 95% of people who have been naturally exposed to the polio virus will exhibit no symptoms, even in an epidemic, and of those who do contract the disease, only about 1 in 1,000 will suffer paralysis, leading researchers to believe that some people are simply more susceptible to polio than others (1). Polio was also on the decline before the vaccine was introduced, though there was a sharp spike in polio cases in the 1940’s when DTP vaccination became widespread. From 1923 to 1953 the polio rate in the United States  declined 47%. In England, it declined by 55% between 1923 and 1953. Many European countries did not use the polio vaccine until some time after 1953 and still saw declines in polio rates. Even after the vaccine became available in these countries it remained optional, and still the polio rates declined (2).

Polio is an enterovirus, and though the CDC claims that polio has been eliminated from the Western Hemisphere, they still warn of the possibility of “non-polio enteroviruses”. In fact, the CDC says that these type of viruses are very common, second only to cold viruses as the most common infectious agents in humans. These viruses can cause “summer colds” and aseptic meningitis. Actually, the symptoms of non-polio enteroviruses are identical to the ones caused by the poliovirus: flu-like illness with fever, muscle aches, and rash. They can even cause paralysis. Curiously enough, there is no vaccine for these viruses. And despite the striking similarities between poliovirus and non-polio enteroviruses, the CDC strongest recommendation for stopping the spread of non-polio enteroviruses is handwashing. (3) But if handwashing is the best defense against non-polio enteroviruses and the symptoms they create are so similar why do we have a vaccine for polio and not for other enteroviruses? Why not just use handwashing to combat polio?

Also of concern with the vaccine itself are animal byproducts contained in polio vaccines, which are often contaminated with animal viruses. Animal virus contamination should not be taken lightly. Simian Virus 40 is an example of what animal viruses in vaccines can do. Simian Virus 40 (SV40) was in monkey cell cultures used for growing polio vaccines 1954 to 1963. An estimated 98 million Americans and hundreds of millions worldwide received the contaminated vaccine. A 1990 study found a higher incidence of brain tumors in recipients of the contaminated vaccine. A 1988 study of 58,000 women who had received the vaccine showed a thirteenfold increase in brain tumors among the children of these women. Laboratory testing later confirmed the relationship between SV40 and cancer when lab animals injected with the virus developed cancer. More than 60 studies have found SV40 in brain, bone, and lung cancers and linked the monkey virus to early childhood brain tumors. Researcher Michele Carbone found an unopened case of the 1955 vaccine in a Chicago doctor’s office, compared the strains of SV40 from the vaccine to  the strain in human bone and brain tumors and in monkeys and found they were identical, providing proof that the vaccine was the source of the spread to humans. (4) More detailed information can be found in the book Malignant Mesothelioma: Advances in Pathogenesis, Diagnosis, and Translational Therapies, edited by Harvey I. Pass, Nicholas J. Vogelzang, and Michele Carbone.

Another example of vaccination-spread animal viruses causing health problems is the African green monkey virus in other polio vaccines. In 1995, Dr. John Martin published his findings about an unusual virus he discovered in cultures isolated from two patients with chronic fatigue syndrome. It was a cytomegalovirus-like “stealth” virus, so called because lacking target antigens for recognition by the body’s cellular immune system, it failed to provoke an inflammatory response. Comparisons of the stealth virus and other viruses showed its DNA sequences to be very similar to a simian cytomegalovirus found in African green monkeys. Dr. Martin identified stealth viral infection in the following conditions: chronic fatigue syndrome, autism, fibromyalgia, Gulf War Syndrome, adult depression and dementia, and children’s attention deficit and behavioral disorders. The most likely route of transmission is the polio vaccine since it contains African green monkey tissues (5). Dr. Martin’s first study was published in Clinical and Diagnostic Virology, volume 4, issue 1, in July 1995.

It is a documented fact that paralytic polio cases can and do follow DTP injections. This was first documented in 1909 and subsequently seen in the polio outbreaks of the 1950’s in Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States (6). This fact has been known for years and is corroborated by the findings in several studies such as HV Wyatt’s 2003 study (8), a 1995 study by Strebel et. al. (9), and the 1949 JK Martin study (10). We’ve all been told that polio ran rampant in the 1950’s because of a lack of vaccines, but in fact the opposite is true. But don’t take my word for it, take the word of Sister Neva Borden in the April 1986 Ensign:

“I first became interested in the DPT vaccine when my daughter contracted polio from her DPT shots. Afterwards, my pediatrician told me that I could have “buffered” her against such a strong reaction by giving her Vitamin C just before she received the shot. Each time I buy her a shoe lift, I think of how this belated advice could have saved my daughter from the deformity she now must live with all her life.”

(Of course Sister Borden’s letter was countered by a dismayed nurse in the June 1986 Ensign who warned that we are all going to suffer death and serious injury if we don’t vaccinate our children and ourselves. Despite her good intentions, it is doubtful that Sister Miller of Ames, Iowa was aware of any of the studies and evidence pointing to the unnecessary nature of the polio vaccine. If you’re out there Sister Miller, and haven’t changed your position since 1986, I would encourage you to read this blog.)

Other cases of polio have been caused by the vaccine itself as the case of Brother Alvin Martinez in the August 1994 New Era shows. Brother Martinez was born healthy but was vaccinated for polio like most other Filipino newborns. The vaccine attacked his nervous system, rendering his right arm and leg immobile. The oral polio vaccine has been implicated numerous times for causing polio, but is still being administered in many third world countries. However, in the United States, OPV is no longer used for this very reason. (7) So it’s not safe to give American children the OPV, but it is safe and even necessary to give third world children the OPV? And we call this humanitarian aid?!

And speaking of polio in third world countries, the global “War on Polio” just isn’t working. The April 23, 2010 edition of the Wall Street Journal describes how Bill Gates is having to rethink his stance on battling polio in Africa with vaccines. Mr. Gates gave $700 million dollars for a mass polio vaccination campaign in Nigeria. Despite the campaign, which included door-to-door vaccinators, polio still persists in Nigeria and in fact, half of the 1,600 cases of polio reported in 2009 happened in vaccinated individuals. (8) Evidence also points to fully vaccinated children transmitting polio during a 1988-1989 outbreak of the disease in Oman. (9)

So you can see why I don’t get all misty-eyed about polio vaccination and Jonas Salk. But if my child did happen to catch a severe case of paralytic polio, here is what I would do:

• Homeopathy- An uncontrolled study conducted during the 1950’s and published in the 1961 Journal of the American Institute of Homeopathy of 50,000 children who received Lathyrus, a homeopathic treatment for polio, showed that only one child contracted polio and that case was non-paralytic. In a study of a 1902 smallpox outbreak in Iowa, 2,806 people were given a homeopathic preventative for the disease, 547 were exposed to the disease, and 14 actually contracted it. This was published in the North American Journal of Homeopathy, volume 58; a summary can be seen on page 781. (Neustaedter 97-99)
• Chiropractic care

• Herbs to soothe any symptoms such as sore throat or cough.

Sources

(1,2) Vaccine Safety Manual For Concerned Families and Health Practitoners: Guide to Immunization Risks and Protection by Neil Z. Miller, 14
(3) Non-polio enteroviruses http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/revb/enterovirus/non-polio_entero.htm
(4) The Vaccine Guide: Risks and Benefits for Children and Adults by Randall Neusteadter, 58-9
(5) The Vaccine Guide: Risks and Benefits for Children and Adults by Randall Neusteadter, 65
(6) The Vaccine Guide: Risks and Benefits for Children and Adults by Randall Neusteadter, 51
(7) OPV causes polio http://articles.latimes.com/2011/feb/09/opinion/la-oe-orent-polio-20110209
(8) Polio vaccine failure in Nigeria http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303348504575184093239615022.html
(9) Vaccinated children spread polio in Oman http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PII0140-6736%2891%2991442-W/abstract
(10) The Vaccine Guide: Risks and Benefits for Children and Adults by Randall Neustaedter, 97-99

Well What Would You Do If... Part I

I think this is a question a lot of pro-vaxers have. They simply can not picture any alternative to death and destruction from disease except vaccines. There is also the implication that these diseases are so horrible that if you or your child did contract them, it would be such a harrowing experience that you would never again question the safety and efficacy of vaccines. However, I have discovered that things aren’t as dire as we’ve been told and there are lots of options in treating diseases. So like the fabled Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, I will preface my thoughts with the words DON’T PANIC inscribed in friendly letters. (Though my thoughts are considerably better researched than the advice in the Hitchhiker’s Guide. No towels are required either.)

DON’T PANIC

Measles- Measles has been made out to be a dangerous killer. However, this picture of it wasn’t painted until after death rates from the disease had dropped substantially. The official statement from the CDC on measles reads, “In the United States, measles caused 450 reported deaths and 4,000 cases of encephalitis annually before measles vaccine became available in the mid-1960s.”(1)  In 1900, the measles death rate was 13.3 per 100,000 (or about 10,121 deaths per year) and in 1955 it was .03 per 100,000 (or around 50 deaths per year). (2) These numbers are consistent with the statistics in Gordon’s 1953 report to the Office. So the vaccine didn’t actually cause a drop in deaths, it probably only caused a drop in diagnoses (“Well it can’t be measles because he’s been vaccinated.”) Measles enchephalitis is said to occur in 1 in 1,000 cases of measles, however, many physicians who actually practiced when measles was common have questioned this statistic and put it at 1 in 10,000 to 1 in 100,000 for children who are adequately fed and living in sanitary conditions. (3)

In fact, living conditions and diet have been cited elsewhere as being key determinants in the outcome of measles. In a 1990 outbreak, 352 Hmong children in a low-income area of the San Joaquin Valley in California were hospitalized and 1 in 29 died from measles. A case control study by the California Department of Health Services found that poor living conditions was what put these children at risk for death and complications, not the disease itself (4). There is a case study from India which documents a measles outbreak in a slum. Almost one-third of the children who contracted measles were vaccinated for the disease. This study also found that children who had vitamin A supplementation were less likely to contract measles. (5) One study in the September/October 1996 volume of Pediatric Nursing found that 72% of hospitalized measles cases in America were in vitamin A deficient individuals. (6)

From my research, I’ve concluded that the only circumstances in which I would truly worry about my child’s health and safety in a case of measles is if my child became malnourished or was severely immunocompromised and we had no access to health care. There are children all over the world who live in those conditions and are at risk for dying from measles, but shouldn’t we address the problems of malnourishment and poor living conditions first rather than turning to an ineffective quick-fix that lines the pockets of drug makers? Now here is what I would do if my child contracted measles:

• Homeopathy- The very first thing I would do if my kid developed measles would be to give him a homeopathic remedy that fits his symptoms. Gelsemium is particularly good for measles, but depending on the particular symptoms, other homeopathics such as Pulsatilla, Aconitum, and Bryonia can be useful as well. (7)
• Chiropractic care- Chiropractic care helps the immune system function better. If my child were sick with measles, the second thing I would do is take him to the chiropractor (or do a home visit) for an adjustment. (8)
• Herbs- I would make a tea of herbs like licorice (good for coughs), ginger (anti-inflammatory), chamomile (calming).
• Baths- Since measles is accompanied by an irritating rash, I would give my child a bath with ground up oatmeal and baking soda to sooth the skin.
• Vitamin A- Since vitamin A helps reduce complications with measles, this would be a very important nutrient. When my hypothetical measles kid feels up to drinking, I would give him fresh carrot juice since it is very high in vitamin A. I might add some peaches with it for a sweeter flavor and more vitamin A and I would keep up the carrot juice until my kid had recovered.

Pertussis- Pertussis is common and can be very dangerous. Modern allopathic medicine has a great deal of difficulty in treating this disease and a few babies do die from it every year. Selective/delayed vaccination advocate Dr. Robert Sears believes this that the pertussis vaccine is one of the most important immunizations for a baby to have because pertussis is so common and can be so deadly. (9) He has also expressed the opinion that it is not the pertussis toxoid which While I respect Dr. Sears’ opinions and his experience, I disagree that the pertussis vaccine is important and safe. The acellular pertussis vaccine has been associated with seizures, encephalopathy (a vague medical term for an attack on the central nervous system characterized by altered states of consciousness, confusion, irritability, changes in behavior, screaming attacks, stiffness in the neck, convulsions, visual, auditory, and speech disturbances, and motor and sensory deficits), encephalitis, brain damage, and death. (10).  

And then there is the whole problem of efficacy. On the CDC’s website there is a dispatch describing cases of pertussis in fully vaccinated Israeli children which resulted in the death of one vaccinated infant. The report examined 46 fully vaccinated children, five of whom tested positive for pertussis, though, only two of those children met the World Health Organization’s diagnostic criteria for pertussis. The study concluded that even vaccinated, asymptomatic children can be carriers of pertussis. (11) In Lithuania 53 children tested positive for pertussis in 2001. 32 of the 53 were fully vaccinated. (12) The recent outbreak of pertussis in San Diego showed that many vaccinated individuals can still contract pertussis and pass it to babies too young to receive vaccines. Of the 1,000 adults and children who tested positive for pertussis in 2010, over half had been vaccinated. A survey of nine other counties in California showed that between 44 and 83 percent of individuals with pertussis had been immunized. Researchers from Amsterdam said they had found that the pertussis virus had mutated two decades ago. Currently, pertussis vaccines do not confer immunity against the mutated form. Vaccine makers said that testing for the mutation wasn’t necessary. (13) Why inject my baby with something that has been linked to brain damage and death and doesn’t actually do what it is supposed to?

So do I sit around worrying that my baby will contract pertussis? No, I don’t. I go about my way unworried because:

• High doses of vitamin C have a profound effect on pertussis. (14,15) Usually, ascorbic acid is used, but naturally occurring vitamin C should work just as well. The trick is getting high enough doses, and this is where juicing comes in for me. With juicing, you can consume massive amounts of fruits and vegetables very quickly without the problem of overconsumption of fiber. The very first thing I would do at the first onset of symptoms would be to give lots of vitamin C rich juices to my child. Papaya would be my first choice since one medium sized papaya has 313.1% of your daily value of vitamin C. (16) Strawberries would be my next choice, then oranges, then cantaloupe. In addition, I would have my child drink rose hip tea (very high in vitamin C) with a little licorice (for sore throat and coughing) and maybe some echinacea and goldenseal. (17) If I absolutely could not do juicing,(i.e. no access to a juicer or couldn’t get my kid to drink enough), I would go to a reputable health foods store and find some ascorbic acid. And if I had a young infant with pertussis, I would keep up the breastfeeding and consume lots of vitamin C juice myself. I might also try giving the baby some tepid rosehip tea via dropper frequently.
• The homeopathic remedy drosera has been used to successfully treat pertussis for over 100 years. Depending on symptoms other remedies such as ipecacaunha or pulsatilla can be used. With pertussis, it can be tricky to match the right homeopathic because the symptoms (i.e. type of cough, mucus, etc.) change constantly, but homeopathy can be very helpful in treating this disease. (18)
• Chiropractic adjustment of parts of the upper cervical spine are associated with treatment of pertussis. (19)

Sources

(1) CDC’s statement on measles. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5733a1.htm
(2) How to Raise A Healthy Child... In Spite of Your Doctor, Mendelsohn 237
(3) How to Raise A Healthy Child... In Spite of Your Doctor, Mendelsohn 239-7
(4) The Vaccine Guide, Neustaedter 82
(5) Measles outbreak amongst vaccinated children in India http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14993716
(6) Vitamin A deficiency and measles in America http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FSZ/is_n5_v22/ai_n18607116/
(7) Materia Medica measles search http://www.homeoint.org/cgi-bin/search.pl
(8) Chiropractic care and the immune system http://www.chiro.org/research/ABSTRACTS/Immune_Responses_to_Spinal_Manipulation.shtml
(9) Pertussis The Vaccine Book, Dr. Robert W. Sears 29-30
(10) The Vaccine Guide, Neustaedter 227
(11) Pertussis vaccine failure in Israel  http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol6no5/srugo.htm
(12) Pertussis in vaccinated children in Lithuania http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15918913
(13) San Diego pertussis outbreak http://www.10news.com/news/26137516/detail.html
(14)Vitamin C treatment of pertussis in Japanese children http://www.seanet.com/~alexs/ascorbate/193x/otani-t-klin_wchnschr-1936-v15-n51-p1884-eng.htm
(15) Dr. Klenner’s vitamin C protocol http://www.seanet.com/~alexs/ascorbate/198x/smith-lh-clinical_guide_1988.htm
(16) Papayas and vitamin C http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=nutrient&dbid=109
(17) Rosehips and vitamin C http://www.naturalhub.com/natural_food_guide_fruit_vitamin_c.htm
(18) Drosera for pertussis http://www.homeoint.org/books/boericmm/d/dros.htm
(19) Chiropractic for pertussis http://www.doctoryourself.com/whoop.html