CDC Takes Closer Look at Gardasil and Paralysis ~ USNews.com

[mzmolly]

Phil Tetlock and Barbara Mellers were in a race against time to save their 15-year-old daughter, Jenny. As I reported last summer, Jenny developed a degenerative muscle disease nearly two years ago, soon after being vaccinated against the cervical-cancer-causing HPV. She became nearly completely paralyzed, though her mind was perfectly intact and she could still enjoy her pet parakeet, Hannah Montana, and Twilight.

I've been E-mailing Phil regularly over the past year, and up until our last E-mail, one week ago, he had been holding out hope that they would be able to find a cure for his daughter—or to at least determine if the human papillomavirus vaccine called Gardasil had caused his daughter's illness, most likely a juvenile form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (aka Lou Gehrig's disease). Sadly, the clock ran out last Sunday, and Jenny passed away.

Through their efforts to publicize Jenny's case on their blog, Jenny's parents have connected with two other sets of parents whose daughters developed what appears to be ALS after being injected with Gardasil. One was 22-year-old Whitney Baird, who died last August, just 13 months after receiving Gardasil. Another is Alicia Olund, a 12-year-old who began having trouble walking after getting her third shot last September. She now uses leg braces and a walker at home as her muscles continue to deteriorate. After ruling out other conditions, her specialists at the University of California-San Francisco Medical Center—who also treated Jenny—suspect that Alicia may have the same condition. "They don't know what she has," her mother, Barbara, tells me through tears, "but it's destroying her nerves and muscles, and none of the treatments they've given her are working. Before the vaccine, she was a perfectly healthy child, going for her brown belt in karate." (They're awaiting the results of the ALS test.)

I should point out that juvenile ALS is extremely rare, affecting just 1 in 2 million young people. It's impossible to say at this point whether these girls would have developed the condition regardless of whether they received Gardasil, but government officials—who still strongly maintain that the vaccine is perfectly safe and potentially lifesaving—are now starting to investigate. Scientists from the Food and Drug Administration met recently with Jenny's neurologists at UCSF to discuss whether it's http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17114826">*scientifically plausible for a vaccine to trigger ALS. And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is planning to scour its adverse-event database, called VAERS, to see whether other vaccinations have led to reports of ALS or other severe neurological complications.

More at link ~ http://health.usnews.com/blogs/on-women/2009/03/20/cdc-takes-closer-look-at-gardasil-and-paralysis.html">HEALTH.USNEWS.COM

See http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17114826">PUBMED for more information on the scientific plausibility.

[rosesaylavee]

1. Thank you for posting.

But brace yourself for the regulars.

[mzmolly]

2. Indeed I shall.

:hi:

[GardeningGal]

3. Isn't this the vaccine that the governor from Texas was trying

to make mandatory?

[mzmolly]

6. Yep.

Sure is. :hi:

[notadmblnd]

4. I am glad someone is finally taking a second look at this vaccine

[mzmolly]

5. My guess is we'll get the same old

white wash "there is no evidence Gardasil causes..." I do hope they'll examine the issue with an open mind given the new administration.

[notadmblnd]

7. yeah, it should matter since the presidents daughters will reach the age

professionals are recommending our girls receive it.

[depakid]

10. As it happens, there IS no evidence

despite the protestations of those who are trying frantically to produce it. For what reason- and why the obsession is anyone's guess/

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

11. of course "no evidence" because certain groups didn't want evidence found

duh!

When the FDA is run by the profiteers, of course they will pull out all
stops to protect big pharma and not us.

Of course nothing will be found as long as the crooks run the investigations or
stifle investigations.

And a clear indication that crooks are in charge?
That they attack the messenger - saying its crazy to want investigations.

[depakid]

12. It's not evidence because IT'S NOT EVIDENCE of anything other than people's obsessions

Asking a question about whether x could be plausible is at best a line a speculative inquiry.

[depakid]

13. And as a quick adendum

for all the stupid Americans out there who think the entire world revolves around their little worries, the Australian government's been vaccinating and monitoring all of its school girls for over 2 years. Somehow, I don't think they're in the pockets of PhARMA and corrupted by the FDA,

[SidDithers]

14. As has Health Canada...

In Ontario, it's offerred free to all girls in Grade 8.

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/dhp-mps/prodpharma/sbd-smd/phase1-decision/drug-med/nd_ad_2006_gardasil_102682-eng.php

But according to American anti-vaxxers, foreign governments are controlled by the FDA too.

Sid

[mzmolly]

17. Being pro-information/safety does not make one

anti-vaccination.

[mzmolly]

16. " Australian regulators have been investigating several cases of pancreatitis that might be linked .

to the cervical cancer vaccine Gardasil."

http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/14966">LINK

Regarding corruption and the FDA, Australia's regulatory body is the TGA, and they have also been critiqued for being influenced by so called big pharma.

[mzmolly]

15. For starters, you must have missed the link to the peer reviewed science

I provided in the OP? There is evidence, along with the typical straw man arguments/denials that follow.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

8. yes, we need to know what is happening. Glad they are FINALLY looking at this

but oh wouldn't it have been much wiser not to fast track this shit.

Oh I know, Merck needed the money to pay for the Vioxx settlements.

[mzmolly]

9. Wiser

and better for Merck in the long run. Vioxx money aside. ;)

Heck even eliminating the aluminum adjuvant might have prevented many of the ill effects? This according to their own studies.

In clinical trials more than three quarters of subjects receiving injections of just the aluminum adjuvant had adverse skin reactions; 83% of subjects receiving Gardasil had reactions at the injection site. Only about half of participants who received injections of plain saline had reactions at the injection site. This implicates a problem with the adjuvant solution. Though reactions at the injection site are normal for intramuscular vaccinations, the high rate and the development of reactions up to 5 days after the injections raises questions about the safety of the vaccine.

http://vaccinations.suite101.com/article.cfm/cervical_cancer_and_gardasil#ixzz0Ipt3KuWv&D

Not sure why big pharma is so reluctant to change for the better? I suppose the simple answer is, they haven't had to make vaccines safer as we've been in collective denial about the health impact on some. There must be a cost benefit to continue the status-quo?

[cpompilo]

18. Big pHARMa strikes again, with emphasis on harm.

Unintended consequences?

[McCamy Taylor]

19. All vaccines can cause auto-immune side effects. It is part of how they work.

Anytime you create an antibody response to anything (a vaccine, a cold virus, a food) there is a chance that the new antibody will cross react with a protein that is on one of your good cells.

That is why no one should get a vaccine for frivolous reasons. If you are someone who is at high risk for HPV infection which is the main cause of cervical cancer, then the risk-benefits may be in your favor. If you know for a fact that you will never get HPV, because of your sexual practices, then do not get the vaccine. While public health officials want everyone vaccinated for the herd immunity effect (i.e. people who escape being vaccinated will be less likely to get the disease if fewer people have it) herd immunity should not determine what an individual does.

[mzmolly]

20. I think the aluminum adjuvant in this vaccine

makes potential side effects more likely?