Vaccines and the Immune System
by Hilary Butler
Historical Medical research on how vaccines affect the immune system.
It first occurred to doctors that repeated immunisation might not be so hot when it was notices in 1902 that horses intensively immunised to diphtheria toxin developed amyloidoses (Zbl. Allg. Path 1902, 13: 334, ) Many more studies followed. Then in July 1965 the question of problems relating to repeated immunisations was raised:
“..the likelihood that the number of such agents will continue to grow indefinitely as new vaccines are developed, has raised the question as to whether repeated immunization produces adverse effects in man…it might be speculated that intensive immunization may interfere with the recipient’s ability to repond to immunologic challenge.”
The medical article then details that ten years before, in 1956 and 1957 with the very limited ridiculously archaic testing they had in those day, a series of laboratory tests were performed on skilled laborers and laboratory workers who had undergone intensive immunisation to the following: Botulism, tularemia, brucellosis, anthrax, diphtheria, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Q fever, plague, typhus, psittacosis, Rift Valley fever, poliomyelitis, tetanus, smallpox, yellow fever, influenza, Eastern, Western, and Venezuelan equine encephalitis. (Bet you never knew they used such an arsenal at one time!) Ages varied from 28 – 65 years of age. There is a Table 3 in the article which lists a huge, worrying list of illnesses these people suffered, yet none of them were considered to be attributable to intensive immunisation.
The conclusions were that there was no indication that intensive immunization interfered with the ability to produce adequate antibody titres after antigenic challenge. And that was all that mattered. As to the test abnormalities – there was some discussions that they might be related to immunisation, but they were not similar to those in experimental animals, so were basically dismissed with the comment:
“At present, the most that can be said of the abnormalities observed… is that they seem to occur with an incidence greater than that expected in a normal population. The abnormalities described are not only persistent upon repeated study, but are increasing in incidence with continued immunization. Whether they represent the prodromata of anatomical changes to follow, or are simply interesting temporary laboratory changes of no prognostic significance will be answered only with continued observation.
“Approximately 25% of the men had an unexplained peripheral lymphocytosis. Nearly 40% has some abnormality of one or more tests of liver function not explained by history or physical examination. Twenty-three per cent had a peculiar abnormality of serum protein electrophorectic pattern, characterized by alterations in mobility of the alpha-2 and beta globulin fractions. It was noted that similar abnormalities had been described previously in patients intensively immunised with diphtheria toxin.
In other words, they didn’t have a clue. (Annals of Internal medicine, July 1965, Volume 63, No 1 pgs 44-57)
In 1974 the US Army decided to look at the issue again, finding 77 of the original 1956 study., and 11 postmortem records were reviewed. The control group were 26 aged matched, long-term civilian male employees from Fort Detrick who had never received special immunization or been exposed to laboratory infections. All clinical histories were evaluated, and again it was decided that no clinical illnesses could be attributed to repeated immunization. Though time had returned to normal many of the tests, the sedimentation rate was significantly raised in the immunized group. Values for partial thromboplastic time were prolonged for 19 immunized persons, but were within normal limites for all control subjects. Mean value for 24 hour urine protein excretion of immunised subjects was lower, and the mean value for creatinine clearance was higher than controls. The mean value for serum hexosamine in the immunised group was significantly higher than the controls, serum electrophoresis studies showed statistically significant differences in albumin, a2 globulin and B globulin. The immunised group had depressed serum iron and elevated serum copper. Again, the researchers could come to no conclusions, they felt that because they could not attribute any clinical signs to the abnormal laboratory results; they were reassured they could go ahead with repeated immunisation without problems. They did sound a caution about cancer, and that there was a possibility that repeated exposure to a single antigen might initiate immunologic abnormalities, but the general tone was much the same as the first study. (Annals of Internal Medicine, 1974, Volume 81, Number 5, pgs 594 – 600)
Following this, a paper called “Immunomodulating Agents and Hepatic Drug-Metabolizing Enzymes” by Jacques Descotes, Laboratory of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine,Lyons France published in “Immunotoxicology”, 1987 stated:
“ …. depression of hepatic drug mechanism has been seen after administration of bacterial vaccines to cancer patients, … several human pharmacokinetic studies have further shown that vaccination may deserve full consideration as a cause of inhibited hepatic drug metabolism; influenza vaccination impaired theophylline elimination with a 122% increase of its half-life, and to inhibit aminopyrine metabolism markedly… marked depression of theophylline elimination following BCG vaccination.”
For the really morbid, you can find in the old medical literature, literally thousands of case-studies of single or multiple events of all sorts of problems following any vaccine. Some guess at an immunological cause, but none investigate what vaccines do, to cause the problem. The frequency of renal disease following vaccination from 1947 – 72 and beyond is quite startling, makes you wonder why no-one has asked lots of questions. (One answer could be that what a doctor doesn’t see, isn’t questioned.)
More recently the Mediterranean Journal of Surgery and Medicine 1996, May 9 looked at 30 children who had neither genetic nor metabolic anomalies, but who had suffered dymyelination following vaccination. The authors found and described in their article changes in inheritted HLA types – in other words, traceable biochemical markers of vaccine damage.
A three year study funded and conducted by the Chronic Illness Research Foundation in collaboration with the University of Michigan School of Medicine found abnormal RNA in the blood of 50% of sick Gulf war veterans, indicating that chromosomal damage had occurred. This genetic material was not found in any of the healthy controls. The authors interpreted finding to indicate that certain genotypes may be particularly at risk for susctaining chromosomal damage after exposure to toxic events. (Internet posting PR Newswire, Washington DC. May 1999)
When I read these two pieces of information I asked myself this question. How was it that at the age of 19 years, I had a serious reaction to a Measles/Rubella vaccination which led to auto-immune disease (association denied), which led to an immunodeficiency which was only picked up when our youngest child was 5? How it is that my immunodeficiency is supposed to be inherritted autosomal recessive. How is it that NO-ONE else in my family has any laboratory evidence of this condition?
Continued...
