Finn Family Immune Toll: H1N1 Vaccine and Narcolepsy in Finnish Children
By Adriana Gamondes
Due to a “pandemic” of two children infected with a new strain of swine flu after exposure to pigs, the CDC is gearing up for the new swine flu, H3N2..
But then, buzz kill, it turns out that children are at a thirteen fold risk of developing narcolepsy from the squalene and thimerosal containing H1N1 vaccine available in some European countries. Naturally, the outbreak is being attributed to genetics.
A final report from Finnish health officials on the link between the 2009 H1N1 Pandemrix vaccine and narcolepsy confirmed the link, finding a greater risk than their earlier estimate and identifying a genetic risk factor in all patients.
The burning question is, what precisely about the European H1N1 vaccine is triggering narcolepsy? Genes, squalene, mercury, a combination— or something else? And could it happen here? As Barbara Loe Fisher wrote in 2009,
Oil-based adjuvants (MF-59 and AS03) manipulate and hyper-stimulate the immune system to mount a stronger immune response to the lab-altered virus or bacteria contained in vaccines. However, the use of squalene type vaccine adjuvants, which were allegedly added to experimental anthrax vaccines and made Gulf War soldiers sick, is controversial.
Oil based adjuvants may increase the risk for vaccine-induced chronic inflammation and autoimmunity in some children and adults genetically predisposed to atypical inflammatory responses and autoimmunity. No published scientific studies have examined whether those already suffering with chronic inflammation associated with brain and immune system dysfunction may be at special risk.
After lobbying by Loe Fisher’s National Vaccine Information Center and other organizations, the FDA backed off on licensing squalene.
We successfully made enough fuss abou the potential danger of fast tracking licensure of squalene adjuvants into US H1N1 vaccines under an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA that can be invoked during a declared public health emergency that the Feda Has NOT licensed these adjuvants for the US. There is squalene in the H1N1 vaccine licensed in Europe but not yet in the US. That is not to say the vaccine manufacturers will not try to get the adjuvants inserted into vaccines in the future, but for now we have won on this point.
I took more than a passing interest in last year’s reports of increased incidence of narcolepsy among Finnish children vaccinated for H1N1 with Pandemrix. I’m part Finn on my mother’s side and the mother of vaccine injured twins. Ever since I heard Andrew Wakefield muse at the National Autism Conference in 2008 that environmental susceptibilities may actually be linked to immunological strengths within certain ethnic groups, I’ve been paying attention.
My own family wasn’t always so fragile—our ancestors hail from the region of Pohjanmaa, which at the turn of the twentieth century was a mostly unindustrialized region surrounding the city of Vaasa on the west coast of Finland. Our Finnish-born relatives often lived into their late 80’s or 90’s, when the typical American lifespan was about 50. They bore children until they couldn’t anymore and were generally blessed with superhuman constitutions. My 6’5” Finnish great-grandfather died from a hernia he developed while digging a ditch at the age of 87. My 4’11” great-grandmother, whose surname I carry as a middle name, bore seven children— the last at age 51—and lived to 94. They could hunt, fish, build, ski, sail, train horses, you name it. Finns are notoriously tough. In temperatures as low as 40F below zero, Finns on skis armed with puukko fishing knives and domestically made submachine guns attacked Russian tanks with primal screams of “Hääka päälle!” (“Cut them down!”) and knocked back the last invasion. To quote Garrison Keillor, the women were strong and the men were good looking.
But according to the spin-doctoring following the outbreak of narcolepsy, it’s amazing this genetically disease-ridden race ever survived. The World Health Organization reported that 30% of Finns carry a gene “associated with narcolepsy”. From The Boston Globe:
A WHO expert panel says of 22 narcolepsy patients tested, all had a gene commonly associated with narcolepsy, a disorder that causes people to suddenly fall asleep but is rarely fatal.
About 30 percent of people in Finland have that particular gene, compared with 15 percent in the rest of Europe, said Patrick Zuber, WHO’s top vaccine safety official.
Last week, Finnish authorities said they had found a nine-fold increased risk of narcolepsy among 4- to 19-year-olds who were given the swine flu shots. In total, 60 children and adolescents contracted narcolepsy in Finland in 2009 and 2010. Fifty-two of them — or almost 90 percent — had received the Pandemrix vaccine.
For some perspective, the wishfully named Pandemrix is manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline. With its vast PR machinery, the company can get the media to report—or not report— pretty much anything it wants about adverse events associated with its products. None of the mainstream press reports include the fact the European version may contain not only thimerosal (which the American H1N1 contains) but squalene as well. The combination of thimerosal and squalene has never been tested for safety in children. From the European Medicines Agency reporting manufacturer's information:
Caution is needed when administering this vaccine to persons with a known hypersensitivity (other than anaphylactic reaction) to the active substance, an any of the excipients, to thiomersal and to resudes (egg and chicken protein, ovalbumin, formaldehyde, gentamicin, sulphate and sodium deoxycholate.
…AS03 adjuvant composed of squalene (10.69 milligrams), DL-α-tocopherol (11.86 milligrams) and polysorbate 80 (4.86 milligrams)
The suspension and emulsion, once mixed, form a multidose vaccine in a vial. See section 6.5 for the number of doses per vial.
Excipients: the vaccine contains 5 micrograms thiomersal
For a full list of excipients see section 6.1.
From a press release of the German Professional Association of Environmental Medicine (Deutscher Berufsverband der Umweltmediziner – DBU, translation by CSN – HERE ):
From 26. October 2009
Swine flu vaccine is unsuitable for patients with environmental diseases and other chronic multi-system illnesses. Pandemrix® poses substantial health risk with respect to mass immunization programs due to the lack of proof of safety. Because of the producer’s release from liability by the German Federal Government (BRD), the risk of adverse reactions and/or permanent damage due to the vaccine rests with the patient.
The German Professional Association of Environmental Medicine (DBU) has, in spite of press releases from the BRD, the Paul-Ehrlich-Institute, as well as the vaccine producer’s assurances of safety, serious concerns relating to Pandemrix® (GlaxoSmithKline), the only vaccine which has been approved for mass vaccination by the BRD.
The DBU discusses at this point neither the medical use of immunization in general nor the necessity of such measures in the, up until now, mild course of the swine flu pandemic.
Our criticism is directed only against the pandemic vaccine Pandemrix®.
- There exists considerable doubt as to the effectiveness of the vaccine: during the licensing phase, the vaccine tested had a 40% higher portion of virus antigen (5. 25µg) than the vaccine (3.75µg) now being delivered. An unequivocal consensus has not been reached as to whether the vaccination should be given once or twice a season !!!
- There exists considerable doubt concerning the safety of the adjuvanted active amplifier since it is being used for the first time. The vaccine contains 27.4mg AS03, an emulsion of polysorbate, squalene and tocopherol. Sufficient studies are lacking, because in the test phase, only the development of antibody titers was determined as a surrogate criterion, and not any potential adverse reactions.
- The producer as well as government agencies have concealed the fact that squalene, if used subcutaneously or intramuscularly is an inflammatory immune activation immunogen, unlike when ingested. (Squalene is, among other things, for example, naturally contained in olive oil.)
- Autoimmune diseases can be provoked by squalene; already existing ones can be activated. Squalene has been connected with the emergence of Guillan-Barré Syndrome (GBS) and is now considered a trigger for Gulf War Syndrome (GWS). In animal studies squalene brought on rheumatoid arthritis.
- Squalene from food sources is mainly incorporated into membranes in the body. The production of squaline antibodies resulting from an immunization sets off chronic inflammation of the membranes, which explains diseases such as Gulf War Syndrome and also degenerative neurological diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy and Guillan-Barré Syndrome.
- The delivery of vaccine in multiple dose ampules is obsolete. In single dose ampules the mercury used for preservation, as in thimerosal – which is included in Pandemrix – would be unnecessary. Also, mercury has been proven to set off autoimmune diseases.
- Since the vaccine has not been tested on either young children or pregnant women (Ethics Commission objection), the call to give preference in the first phase of vaccination to precisely this particularly endangered segment of the population represents an improper and totally unjustifiable field test.
- The vaccine poses a higher risk than the swine flu itself for patients with environmental illness and for patients with compromised immune systems (e.g. AIDS).
- The vaccine producer GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), according to the contract with the BRD, is largely exempt from liability. In case of damage from the vaccination, the affected vaccinee would have to sue the government and therefore the country of Germany, usually a futile exercise.
- To avoid the trap of liability, the doctor giving the vaccination must meticulously inform the patient of all risks concerning the vaccination and the vaccine. It is recommended to give this information in the presence of an assistant and to have it be confirmed by the patient’s signature. The explanation should also include the liability features. Also the indication that other, lower risk vaccines are available in Europe and that due to a faulty decision by the German government, they are currently not available to the German population. This information should definitely be included in the explanation.
For general and environmental health considerations the DBU urgently advises against carrying out a vaccination with Pandemrix® !
Squalene has been associated with a range of adverse events, from infertility to Gulf War Syndrome among American and British troops who received squalene-containing anthrax vaccines. Research by Tulane Medical School researchers links the anthrax vaccine to Gulf War Syndrome through the presence of squalene antibodies, as noted in the introduction to their report Antibodies to Squalene in Gulf War Syndrome; military vaccine resource directory:
Date: 2002-07-15 Received August 15, 2001, and in revised form October 26, 2001
We previously reported that antibodies to squalene, an experimental vaccine adjuvant, are present in persons with symptoms consistent with Gulf War Syndrome (GWS) (P. B. Asa et al., Exp. Mol. Pathol 68, 196-197, 2000). The United States Department of Defense initiated the Anthrax Vaccine Immunization Program (AVIP) in 1997 to immunize 2.4 million military personnel. Because adverse reactions in vaccinated personnel were similar to symptoms of GWS, we tested AVIP participants for anti-squalene antibodies (ASA). In a pilot study, 6 of 6 vaccine recipients with GWS-like symptoms were positive for ASA. In a larger blinded study, only 32% (8/25) of AVIP personnel compared to 15.7% (3/19) of controls were positive (P 0.05). Further analysis revealed that ASA were associated with specific lots of vaccine. The incidence of ASA in personnel in the blinded study receiving these lots was 47% (8/17) compared to an incidence of 0% (0/8; P 0.025) of the AVIP participants receiving other lots of vaccine. Analysis of additional personnel revealed that in all but one case (19/20; 95%), ASA were restricted to personnel immunized with lots of vaccine known to contain squalene. Except for one symptomatic individual, positive clinical findings in 17 ASA-negative personnel were restricted to 4 individuals receiving vaccine from lots containing squalene. ASA were not present prior to vaccination in pre-immunization sera available from 4 AVIP personnel. Three of these individuals became ASA positive after vaccination. These results suggest that the production of ASA in GWS patients is linked to the presence of squalene in certain lots of anthrax vaccine. 2002 Elsevier Science (USA)
Squalene is also believed to increase permeability of the Blood Brain Barrier, which could theoretically increase the brain’s vulnerability to exposure to mercury, toxins and any rogue pathogens in the same vaccine or from the general environment. From Rabchevsky et al. (thanks Teresa Conrick for sharing the above two studies:
Some studies of EAE (experimental allergic encephalomyelitis) in rodents report that peripheral injections of complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA), which contains heat-inactivated Mycobacterium to provoke peripheral inflammation without adversely affecting the CNS, can itself lead to increased BBB permeability to small tracer molecules and certain serum proteins.
In other words, “genes” may be getting a lot of help from certain vaccine components in triggering various diseases. The “Finnish gene” the press is referring to may be certain HLA alleles (DQB1*0602 and DQA1*0102) which are associated with risk of a range of autoimmune diseases among Finns and, to a lesser extent, other Scandinavians. There are different polymorphisms associated with the same types of disease among other ethnicities. But I think the takeaway message about the "disease association" gene is that it’s not apparently a "cause" of disease on its own:
Although narcolepsy is likely to have a genetic predisposition, the low rate of concordance in narcoleptic MZ twins indicates that environmental factors play an important role in the development of the disease.
Here's what a book on autoimmune liver disease says about the variant: ... that it represents susceptibility to autoimmune disease.
What's fascinating is how pharmaceutical and genetic research interests have attempted to recast what are likely to be disease-fighting polymorphisms into disease-linked mutations. There's not a lot of layperson-accessible material on the disease-fighting properties of certain polymorphisms, but this did show up in a bizarre report on humans mating with cavemen to acquire a class of disease-fighting polymorphisms which might be extrapolated on in future research:
…hookups with Neanderthals and Denisovans introduced new variants of immune system genes called the HLA class 1 genes, which are critical or our body’s ability to fight pathogens, to the gene pool of modern man.
Pleistocene eugenics aside (yes, one strange theory in the “new eugenics” is that some human ethnic groups are less evolved than others due to more or less caveman miscegenation), theoretically, like cutting Samson's hair, strengths – such as regional disease-fighting polymorphisms— can be doubled back on themselves and turned into weaknesses—disease/autoimmune susceptibility— if people with certain variants are exposed to various toxins.
Even the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase or “MTHFR” polymorphism—a genetic variant which should be familiar to many autism families— is associated with limited cancer-fighting properties as well as increased risk of other forms of cancer and oxidative stress. The protection provided by this polymorphism may be “weak”, but the fact that a gene can protect against, for instance, squamous cells in lung cancer to any degree hints it might also turn out to provide some protection against certain pathogens:
In a catalogue of similar polymorphisms, including the "Finn narcolepsy genes" DQB1*0602 and DQA1*0102, these variants are associated with more than 60 diseases (including low measles antibodies after vaccination). One of the substances known to interact with the group of polymorphisms is mercury:
Comparative Toxicogenomics Database (CTD)
The following chemicals interact with this gene:
D003907 Dexamethasone
D008628 Mercury
As a side note, dexamethasone a powerful glucocorticoid used to treat inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, has several overlaps with mercury, such as cell cycle arrest impacting tubulin assembly and damage to mitochondria.
This might seem like a leap in logic, but one of the first things I learned about my Finnish heritage is the lack of active volcanoes in Finland, at least since the Ice Age. Volcanic ash is known as a chief source of natural mercury deposition in soil. As it stands, Finland is lacking in broad soil surveys for mercury content. This may have been due to the traditional lack of mercury deposition, though limited surveys of certain lakes and peat have found levels to be increasing since industrialization.
I'm sure this has been asked before-- what if, due to lack of traditional exposure to certain toxins, particular ethnic groups may have less resistance to those particular substances than groups which had evolved over the millennia with exposure, just as, for instance, some isolated cultures could be devastated by diseases carried by Europeans or vice-versa?
It might partly explain why Faroe Islands children, largely of Scandinavian heritage, responded more adversely to dietary mercury exposure than Seychelles Islands children, though this is bound ot be a gross oversimplification. For one, it ignores the fact the Seychelles study was funded by the fishing and coal-fired power lobbies and conducted among employees of Starkist tuna, the island nation’s only industry. Seychelles parents may have been more likely to report what was expected by the researchers funded by their employer, especially considering these researchers were studying the effects of the company’s products when consumed by children. Whereas the Faroe study (which found serious cognitive deficits among children born to women who consumed mercury-tainted whale meat in pregnancy) was wholly independent from government or mercury polluting industry funding, the lead researcher who conducted the Seychelles study had been involved in the cover-up of the “Canadian Minimata”—the Dow chemical corporation mercury spills in Canadian waterways which sickened and killed generations of First Nations people who subsisted on locally caught fish (see Jane Hightower’s Diagnosis Mercury.) There is also the fact that residents of the Seychelles islands, which reside in the Indian ocean, would naturally be exposed to more sunlight and undoubtedly had higher vitamin D levels at critical points in infancy; and mercury exposure in the Seychelles may be somewhat countered by high citrus consumption amongst islanders. The Faroe Islands are halfway between Norway and Iceland—short days, no orange groves. All the same, it still begs the question of whether certain ethnic groups may be more susceptible than others to this or that exposure, whether due to lack of traditional exposure or due to the susceptibility of regional “Samson’s hair” polymorphisms to “Delilah effect” of particular toxins. It’s probably a moot point that both the Faroe and Seychelle Islands are partly or fully volcanic land masses: mercury content in stone is associated with more recent volcanic activity, and mercury is just as likely to be found in subvolcanic host stone and quartz, such as in Almadén, Spain, which harbors the most concentrated deposits of mercury in the world.
Apparently some of these susceptibilities, such as to celiac disease— which has risen from near zero rates in the middle of the twentieth century to about 2% in modern Finland— are strongly believed to relate to disease fighting polymorphisms
Academy Research Fellow Paivi Saavalainen has conducted much research into the hereditary risk factors for gluten intolerance. He said, “Some of the genes we have identified are linked with human immune defense against viruses. This may indicate that virus infections may be connected in some way with the onset of gluten intolerance.”
The unnamed study in question, which is probably Multiple common variants for celiac disease influencing immune gene expression, is interesting, but it would almost seem as if the viral association was highlighted as PR, since anything virally triggered would be of interest to vaccine manufacturers and therefore the media and could bring attention to a particular study, which it did in this case:
Abstract, Dubois et al.
We performed a second-generation genome-wide association study of 4,533 individuals with celiac disease (cases) and 10,750 control subjects. We genotyped 113 selected SNPs with PGWAS < 10−4 and 18 SNPs from 14 known loci in a further 4,918 cases and 5,684 controls. Variants from 13 new regions reached genome-wide significance (Pcombined < 5 × 10−8); most contain genes with immune functions (BACH2, CCR4, CD80, CIITA-SOCS1-CLEC16A, ICOSLG and ZMIZ1), with ETS1, RUNX3, THEMIS and TNFRSF14 having key roles in thymic T-cell selection. There was evidence to suggest associations for a further 13 regions. In an expression quantitative trait meta-analysis of 1,469 whole blood samples, 20 of 38 (52.6%) tested loci had celiac risk variants correlated (P < 0.0028, FDR 5%) with cis gene expression.
The gist of the research was that these polymorphisms were associated with immune protection from various viruses. Other research shows that genetic immune defense against pathogens might not only be impacted by pathogens The same research team had also linked a risk of celiac disease with a disease fighting polymorphism associated with immune defense against bacteria:
Evolutionary and functional analysis of celiac risk loci reveals SH2B3 as a protective factor against bacterial infection.
Dubois, Saavalainen et al. Hum Genet 86(6):970-7 (2010) PMID 20560212
Celiac disease (CD) is an intolerance to dietary proteins of wheat, barley, and rye. CD may have substantial morbidity, yet it is quite common with a prevalence of 1%-2% in Western populations. It is not clear why the CD phenotype is so prevalent despite its negative effects on human health, especially because appropriate treatment in the form of a gluten-free diet has only been available since the 1950s, when dietary gluten was discovered to be the triggering factor. The high prevalence of CD might suggest that genes underlying this disease may have been favored by the process of natural selection. We assessed signatures of selection for ten confirmed CD-associated loci in several genome-wide data sets, comprising 8154 controls from four European populations and 195 individuals from a North African population, by studying haplotype lengths via the integrated haplotype score (iHS) method. Consistent signs of positive selection for CD-associated derived alleles were observed in three loci: IL12A, IL18RAP, and SH2B3. For the SH2B3 risk allele, we also show a difference in allele frequency distribution (Fst) between HapMap phase II populations. Functional investigation of the effect of the SH2B3 genotype in response to lipopolysaccharide and muramyl dipeptide revealed that carriers of the SH2B3 rs3184504*A risk allele showed stronger activation of the NOD2 recognition pathway. This suggests that SH2B3 plays a role in protection against bacteria infection, and it provides a possible explanation for the selective sweep on SH2B3, which occurred sometime between 1200 and 1700 years ago. (HERE)
Recasting regional disease-fighting polymorphisms which exist in various cultures as disease-linked genes may be a way to sell drugs and biologics. For example, a polymorphism carried by 30% of people with Asian heritage, ALDH2, is associated with "Asian flushing" (response to drinking alcohol). Though the ALDH2 deficiency is also associated with protection from certain forms of cancer, the specific association between ALDH2 deficiency and increased risk of esophageal cancer is currently being broadcast in order to peddle Convivia and other drugs. The risk of the cancer is much higher in people with the polymorphism, but seemingly only among those who drink alcohol alcohol. It’s possible that those who avoid alcohol could enjoy the disease-fighting properties of the variant and there seems to be no investigation of the long term risks of making those with ALDH2 deficiency Round-Up (alcohol) Ready.
Maybe in terms of some genetic variants, you can have your cake and eat it too—have your disease fighting polymorphism and live a vital existence—as long as certain groups of people avoid certain exposures. Being that these substances are usually universally bad for everyone but just a bit worse for some, theoretically it shouldn’t be so hard to grasp the principle and implement. If 30% of an ethnic group carry a particular genetic variant, that variant was geared for survival and only survival. It could not have been a self-destruct button or that race—and the human species as a whole—would never have made it. To say otherwise is hogwash.
What strikes me as particularly insidious about the industry campaign to depict everything in human genetic makeup as diseased and borne of weakness—besides the usual effects of scientific hogwash on all fields of learning, culture and human welfare— is how much psychological and physical dependence this fosters on the medical industry. Talk about a universal blow to human self-esteem. While commercial science tells us that our greatest source of self-esteem should be its (commercial science’s) contributions, it is meanwhile telling us that, as a species, we’re a genetically booby-trapped epic fail.
But the truth might be the reverse: as a species, we may be more marvelous and well-designed than we ever knew. If anything, we might curb our enthusiasm about the contributions of commercial science until more is known about the impact of certain technology and wonder a little at our tendency to worship it. For a little Einstein refrigerator magnet wisdom, “It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity”. Though preventive medicine and genetic research obviously have their place, the lack of separation from commercial interests—which, without considering long term effects, may snatch at expedient fragments of an investigation in midstream in order to generate marketable technology— seems to increase the risk of medicating away the very features which enabled the species to endure and evolve to begin with.
Adriana Gamondes is an AofA contributor and one of our Facebook page administrators. She lives in Massachusetts with her husband and recovering twins.
Nick, thank you so much for sharing these. I will take time to read through these and do some more searches. With pink disease study, it could be either or both epigenetics or familial sensitivity cropping up again in grandchildren, like a family "rechallenge" test, with the "control" generation which received less exposure falling in between the two.
Posted by: Adriana | September 09, 2011 at 09:13 AM
Adriana,
The chromatin effect idea of this form of altered transmission appears to be fairly new, and the indications from the article I read on it {linked below} indicated that not much had been fleshed out regarding it, but along with other things I had read about mutagens the connection made a lot of sense.
Since your piece focused abit on mercury I will first link you to an article you may have read, but keep in mind the implications of what is possibly to be drawn by the fact that the grandchildren, in this case, were much more likely to have autism when their grandparent had pink diseae{mercury exposure}. Relating to the chromatin I would not limit the possible chromatin alterations to mercury, but it may be mercury is more potent at causing this effect.
Then think of our discussion here as it relates to epigenetices and both our contexts. This is part of what I was thinking when I mentioned that our concepts dovetailed.
Australian research finds autism risk
http://www.swinburne.edu.au/chancellery/mediacentre/media-centre/news/2011/08/australian-research-finds-autism-risk-
Scientists discover how we pass on DNA changes caused by stress
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/308438
Things I have thought about this and many other things are at the link below. This link leads to the middle of a thread in which the majority of posts are mine. There are a number of pages on either side of the linked one and if you have time and patience to wade through it you can glean a wider picture of my mindset on this and related issues. I do not elaborare on some things I delve into, but I view what I post there as all tied together. Benedetta and I have be discussing a good bit in the most current part of the thread.
http://www.ageofautism.com/2010/06/test-for-autism-measuring-gut-microbes/comments/page/8/#comments
Posted by: Nick | September 09, 2011 at 01:01 AM
Nancy-- what they don't know, they don't have to take responsibility for, right? Thank you for the insights as always. It might seem like prior to Russian occupations, the Finns were quite a distinct ethnic group. It's odd that fewer Swedes have those particular variants. Even the Laps are distinct among Scandanavian "Inuit". Climate might have isolated at some point in evolution? Your son looks like such a classic Finn.
Garbo-- Wow-- link heaven, thank you so much. My husband is naturally malaria resistant like many South Americans, who are almost universally mestizo no matter how "white" they might appear. He did his group thesis in the Caribbean outback-- only the Europeans caught malaria. Does this ring a bell? I wonder if this is one reason why Hispanic male children seem so susceptible to the HepB? Dr. Wakefield had hypothesized the possibility that something similar happened with the Somali. In any event, we only read about "drug resistant" malaria these days, but there doesn't seem to be any money in revealing the existance of malaria resistant humans unless sickle-cell is being discussed.
Nick-- what little I know about chromatin is that it's part of a cycle which is incredibly vulnerable to mutagenicity. What you're describing is fascinating. If you have links to more that you or others have written on it, I'm sure I'm not the only one who would be interested. I have visualized the compounded, epigenetic damage just as you're describing-- that currently less "susceptible" family lines are being worn down. Those who are susceptible now may not be so due to having been "ground down" due to immunological strengths as we were discussing. Unfortunately I've worried there may be a sudden collapse in human health in certain future generations. Huge percentages of formerly healthy young men being diagnosed with prostate cancer, broad and sudden epidemics of infertility, fewer and fewer male children being born (like among some First Nations people forced to live near tar sands projects in Canada, etc.)
Posted by: Adriana | September 08, 2011 at 07:45 PM
Thank you for this thoughtful, thought-provoking post!
As a hobbyist genealogist, I have been struck by the different branches of our family tree. There are lines going back to Jamestown settlement, with both Native American and Anglo ancestors. Huge numbers of children for each mother, generation after generation, not all of whom survived but many of whom lived to a ripe old age (late 80s) with their minds sharp as a tack. It stands to reason that many of those who did survive had the immune systems best able to cope with their new land's native pathogens (or in the case of Native Americans, the pathogens introduced by immigration), and those traits were passed down.
The branches that came more recently, in the wave of immigration in the early 1900s (Northern Italy and Caribbean), have more health problems like seizures, cancers, and Alzheimers.
I do wonder if this is HLA related and also a Darwinian natural selection occurring over a short time period (evolutionarily speaking) as non-native peoples adjust to new environments and pathogens and their genetic chips fall.
It puts me in mind of the acquired immunity to malaria of African people. There have been many studies to determine how and why this occurs, part of the effort to "generate marketable technology" for a malaria vaccine. Here's a sample (sponsored by Pfizer & Wellcome, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2620631/):
"Routine exposure to hyper- to holoendemic malaria protects a majority of individuals while killing a minority. Aggressive interventions that consider only that vulnerable minority risk compromising or eliminating the solid protection against severe malaria in the majority."
This seems to me to be the same, conceptually, as the increased risk of shingles in older populations when children are vaccinated against chicken pox. Routine exposure that doesn't cause disease is necessary to maintain robust natural immunity.
Here's a study that links malaria immunity to a common West African haplotype:
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v352/n6336/abs/352595a0.html
"A large case-control study of malaria in West African children shows that a human leucocyte class I antigen (HLA-Bw53) and an HLA class II haplotype (DRB1*1302–DQB1*0501), common in West Africans but rare in other racial groups, are independently associated with protection from severe malaria. In this population they account for as great a reduction in disease incidence as the sickle-cell haemoglobin variant. These data support the hypothesis that the extraordinary polymorphism of major histocompatibility complex genes has evolved primarily through natural selection by infectious pathogens."
Is this the new "Inconvenient Truth"? That "aggressive intervention" to protect the minority (vaccination out the wazoo in populations with naturally-selected successful immune function) is "compromising or eliminating" properly functioning immune systems in the majority?
Posted by: Garbo | September 08, 2011 at 05:38 PM
Barry,
I hope you know I was only seeking clarity and understanding in my question, not a gene vs enviroment schism. As I just mentioned to Adriana, I do think that any of our genes might be altered in a way by toxins and other assaults that can lead to us passing on genes that are involved in problems in our offsppring while not causing us much or any ongoing problems for us. These genes may have latent functions that are only changed by such exposures or disease conditions. These may be cumulative over generations. This is not a classic mutagen idea, but virtually the same.
Nick
Posted by: Nick | September 08, 2011 at 03:52 PM
Adriana,
Your couching this dilemna as the "messy version" is so true. The caveats involved lead to a tedious overload for many who may want a simpler answer when looking at "susceptibilities". Are you familiar with what I mean when I mention the chromatin aspects in nearer term damage? I think the impact of all the enviromental element people have faced in the last 100 years or so not only affects the sensitive more in these ways, but may get to any phenotype under enough or certain exposures and /or co-occuring infections. But, again the most naturally sensitive wil be the ones most often to have both types of damage/reactions.
I think the caveats I mentioned above are what make for part of the gene/enviroment blurring and determining clearly if the genes have been "artificially" altered will change the discourse on genes being the causation as will the establishing the validity of your concept of acquired natural sensitivity in certain genetic profiles.
Posted by: Nick | September 08, 2011 at 03:44 PM
Thanks, Adriana, for this fact-filled expose. It is enormously frustrating to witness the sickening of Americans descended from the hardy Finns -- such as my son. Great comment about the saunas, which are common on Minnesota farms.
Apropos of your comment about the Geiers, I was just looking at Boyd Haley's IOM presentation that mentioned mercury's role in idiopathic cardiomyopathy.
Kudos to the DBU for daring to speak out against the many flaws of vaccinating with Pandemrix. The book "Vaccine A" by Gary Matsumoto is a must-read, detailing Dr. Pamela Asa's squalene research mentioned here.
To expand on this phrase:
"Caution is needed when administering this vaccine to persons with a known hypersensitivity... to the active substance."
So if the vaccine is administered to someone with an undiagnosed hypersensistivity, would a physician or nurse recognize the symptoms of that adverse reaction?
Posted by: nhokkanen | September 08, 2011 at 03:13 PM
autism uncle,
When I referenced the deaths in 1918 I said "the reason given", that does not mean I thought that was the whole real circumstance and factor. I mentioned that fact because of the vaccines given at the time, which I suspected where an earlier version of vaccine damage with the virus being the antigen that directed a lot of the target of the hyperstimulation from vaccines. This is in line with those with heightend or stronger immunity being considered in Adriana's piece. It was the likely vaccine connection that caused me took me to study the 1918 panademic originally, I did want to highlight that aspect of the "pandemic", but the aspect of heightend immunity in some which I think is relevant to that event and relates to Adriana's focus on those with stronger immune systems.
Posted by: Nick | September 08, 2011 at 01:49 PM
Toxicity caused by aspirin also seems to have contributed to the high death toll of the Spanish flu:
Aspirin Misuse May Have Made 1918 Flu Pandemic Worse
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091002132346.htm
Posted by: samaxtics | September 08, 2011 at 12:53 PM
PS: Cassandra and Nick. Since nothing remotely similar to the 1918-19 "Flu" has happened in 93 years (the Hong Kong and Swine Flu scare in 1976 most certainly a result of vastly increased surveillance and ascribing to flu what had not been ascribed before), it begs probability that the flu virus can ever mutate to truly repeat the iatrogenic catastrophe of 1918-19.
However, the vaccine Industry has profited by hundreds of $billions since then - all built on a medical blunder. No flu shot for me, just sunshine and vitamin D, thanks.
Cheers!
Posted by: autism uncle | September 08, 2011 at 12:41 PM
Cassandra and Nick, About the "Spanish Flu in 1918 -1919. THE reason that an "anomaly" of those aged 18-25 (normally the healthiest age group) dying in much, much larger proportion from the "flu" is quite simple.
Not only were all military force personnel (in all the Western countries) subjected to many doses of many (horribly toxic/contaminated) vaccines, particularly the U.S. army/navy that built up exponentially to over 4 million by Sept., 1918.
Then, with civilians seeing the "flu" affect the military, the civilians and their doctors alike ALSO panicked and demanded all kinds of new vaccine (horribly toxic/contaminated) shots!
Voila! The mystery of the healthiest age group in 1918-1919 dying from the "Flu" is solved. It was from horrendously contrived, toxic vaccines. Don't forget, almost all died quickly from "blood poisoning" symptoms such as blood toxemia --- NOT respiratory failure that drags out many days/weeks.
The best figure for fatalities in the U.S. were 650,000 total, with about 10% being the military deaths. Again, the riddle is solved - it was vaccines.
Posted by: autism uncle | September 08, 2011 at 12:28 PM
Sue-- I agree. I probably shouldn't have left it at a one-liner. You're right, in the common parlance, people believe that evolution always means advancement. I imagine the term deevolution was coined almost as a joke for when species appear to do the reverse; though as you say, it's all evolution because it's all about adapting to survive. Regarding what the scientist you met said, I assumed he was referring to the beliefs of various industry scientists who occasionally put out insane press statements that thimerosal "improves math scores" or provides "protective" effects, as if mercury were "vitamin M". Yes, we can evolve back to single-celled creatures if that's all that can survive in a toxic soup.
Nick-- it does seem that what is bad (adverse reaction) can be worse for some. I agree that we are not only dealing with "what is" but how it is spun. Take any tiny hint that someone with a certain polymorphism responds badly to a particular drug, and industry will claim the gene is bad, not the drug. Frankly, it's a bit like pick-up artists in a bar saying the ones who rebuffed them were all "losers" (or as Barry mentioned, do you ever see crash investigators poring over the genes of the victims to explain a plane crash?).
It is very tempting to deny certain positions completely (the idea that certain toxic assaults may hit some harder due to what may be otherwise positive genetic variants, like cutting Samson's hair) in order not to feed the industry spin machines, which will run the facts through a sausage grinder and come out with "genes caused the disease/Samson was defective with or without the involvement of scissors". But I think it's better to let the chips fall, even if it's messier and harder to understand and explain. As the epidemics rage away, there are more and more people who've sadly experienced "conversion" by being personally impacted. They become ready to take on the "messy version" and have developed an "allergy" to the pat little genetic alibis for everything, which are only useful as a sort of superstitious talisman anyway, a way the uninitiated falsely assure themselves that it "won't happen to them". Once it does happen to them and theirs, the thinking may change.
Barry-- I welcome everything you wrote as furthering the discussion! I know what you mean-- I think we've been forced to discuss genes as a defense against the statement that it's "all genes all the time". In many ways it can be a red herring and that's partly what I meant. It's possible that everyone has polymorphisms which can be doubled back on them with the "right" toxic recipe at the right dose. Everyone's genetically programmed to die-- that doesn't mean they want to be "helpfully" rushed along in the process or to have that potential "helpfully uncovered".
I was also thinking of the Geiers testosterone/mercury studies when I heard reports of the high number of athletes among Gardasil victims. I'm struggling to understand what happened in the case of Gardasil. From what I can grasp, even if Gardasil did not (it doesn't appear to but who knows) contain mercury, testosterone also makes the individual more susceptible to oxidative stress in general-- the reason male stroke victims may recover less rapidly than female stroke victims. And testosterone presumably increases susceptibility to anaphylaxis, which may be why boys are more likely to develop peanut allergies for example. Gardasil contains a huge amount of aluminum and the antibody-inducing part of the vaccine is a protein, which could conceivably increase risk of anaphylaxis. SaneVax just found synthetic HPV RNA in the shots. Aluminum, like mercury, is an immune modulator and could increase the risk of anaphylaxis or conceivably increase risk of mutagenic effects. What's so disturbing in either case is the possibility that the reactions are merely extreme manifestations of "primary" (desired) effect rather than "side" effects. Dr. Richard Deth has discussed this regarding autism.
I think we can all agree that A) we may be heading towards a self-fulfilling prophesy in which everyone actually is sick and defective and B) the US may have trouble scraping together an Olympic team in twenty years, not to mention an army (or filling medical schools, etc.).
Posted by: Adriana | September 08, 2011 at 10:36 AM
Nick wrote: "... Whereas he had written something that
I had interpreted as at the least ambiguous as to whether predispostion mattered at all as your piece suggests does or may. I went and re-read his original post and it seems he does not believe predisposition is relevant. His later comment that if at all related it is "like smoking" seems to allow for a fractional allowance of some of the genetic predispostion idea..."
*************
My apologies if my point is ambiguous, but let me try putting this another way.
When planes crash, it is not uncommon for two people to be sitting next to each each, experience what would appear to be the same shocks at impact... and for one of them to die while the other survives.
Have you ever heard of crash investigators spending enormous amounts of time studying the genes of the victim, to unlock clues as to why that person died, while the person in the next seat survived?
No, they focus their efforts on what was wrong with the plane, or any part of aviation process that may have led to plane going down.
Posted by: Barry | September 08, 2011 at 07:46 AM
Adriana wrote: "...Case in point is the number of female athletes among Gardasil victims. Why the healthiest? Why the brightest...?
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My apologies if my initial post seemed to attack you, because that was not my intention at all. And I sincerely hope that my subsequent post made that clear. As parents of vaccine injured children, I think one of the best things we have is support from each other.
With regard to your comment above, most of us know that autism affects boys about four times more often than it does girls. And although the medical community still views that as a mystery, many now believe that it is linked to testosterone levels which are naturally much higher in boys than they are in girls.
Research also suggests that top performing athletes, both male and female, have higher testosterone levels. In fact testosterone was the first anabolic steroid ever created, for the intent enhancing athletic performance.
According to theories advanced by Mark and David Geier, it's been shown that testosterone significantly potentiates mercury toxicity, whereas estrogen is protective. I realize that Gardasil vaccines are supposed to be mercury free, but I often wonder if random testing is ever done ... INDEPENDENT of the drug industry, to confirm that this claim is actually true? My guess is that it's never been done, which means that all we really have is the drug companies word that no mercury isn't being added.
That does nothing to help me sleep at night, and really makes me wonder how many other nasty ingredients would be found if someone took the time to look.
Posted by: Barry | September 08, 2011 at 12:13 AM
Adriana,
Thanks for the kind words.
You wrote:
"I agree with Barry that genetic vulnerability is not *necessary* for someone to be injured by vaccines."
I too agree with that, but this was not my reason for asking him if he had any issue with what you had written in the piece. Your piece was a look at the predisposition of lines of people who may have a certain genetic profile that would make them more "sensitive"{my interpretation} or predisposed to react to vaccines badly. In fact, this semeed fairly central to you thoughts.
When Barry wrote; "Genetic predisposition(s) to vaccine damage is absolute hogwash.", I was not sure if your points about the phenotypes, alleles, and polymorphisms that may be a part of susceptibility to damage was a problem for him.
As I said I don't believe a genetic predispostion is neccesary for vaccine damage, but makes it much more likely. That is why I wrote: "people with the most problems with vaccines have a "genetic predisposition"...". or susceptibility...". Whereas he had written something that
I had interpreted as at the least ambiguous as to whether predispostion mattered at all as your piece suggests does or may. I went and re-read his original post and it seems he does not believe predisposition is relevant. His later comment that if at all related it is "like smoking" seems to allow for a fractional allowance of some of the genetic predispostion idea, but if that is accpted in some degree, it is exactly what genetic predisposition in non-defective gene carriers being more susceptible to reactions promoting autism means in this discusssion. I was trying to reconcile his statement with some of your theme as Ifind that the gene aspects are there in more cases than not, and that this allows for a distortion of what is to be made for the genetic part played in vaccine reaction. In this, I agree with Barry that drug and most academic studies may follow the already entrenched view that the genes lead to the problems and not that vaccines more often effect people with certain genetics whether by your definition of longer term conditioning or mine of more recent chromatin and genetic affects, or both. I think if we don't disentagle the real role of genetics from the near orthodox view Barry's concern will be the outcome. The concern that those in control of vaccine and drug administration will blame it on defective genes.
Posted by: Nick | September 07, 2011 at 09:51 PM
Adriana wrote:
"Sue, the sad thing is a lot of human strengths are probably not "Round-Up Ready" and are maladaptive for survival in highly mercury polluted environments. That scientist wasn't talking about evolution but deevolution."
I think I understand your meaning, but evolution is/was the correct word to use. Evolution is not teleological. Natural selection simply favors traits that enable survival and reproduction in a species' existing environment, not necessarily better or more advanced traits.
I definitely agree with you that natural selection for "mercury-tolerant" traits would not in any way be equivalent to natural selection for "better" people. Personally I think there are some suggestive hints that some of the most intelligent and creative humans may be among the most intolerant of mercury exposures. Nevertheless, imo evolution is the correct word to use to describe a change in any species that results from natural selection.
Posted by: Sue | September 07, 2011 at 08:38 PM
Nick wrote: "... I am not sure if your thought reflects a disagreement with Adriana's thoughts, but as a proponent of the idea that people with the most problems with vaccines have a "genetic predisposition" or susceptibility I am curious as to why you have a problem with the notion...."
*****************
I have no problem with the author, if I did I would have made that abundantly clear.
What I have a problem with, is yet another drug company investigation of itself, which has managed to conclude (..yet again!) that genetics is at the root of another devastating disability that their products have caused. It's just more of their same old strategy, which is to blame the victim
For goodness sakes, most of us here are parents of autistic children. We've seen these same geniuses try everything from accusing our wives of being refrigerator moms, to telling us we should "celebrate Autism", and even trying to tell us that " The most likely cause of the autism epidemic is that autism has become fashionable - a popular fad diagnosis".
It's my belief that ALL vaccines are poison, and I think my previous post elaborates on that belief in a pretty clear fashion. It's up to you whether you choose to agree, or not. We also have no idea what was in the vaccines that those children received, and I seriously doubt if this "study" bothered to check if all the victims just happened to received vaccines that were from the same lot.
If genetics has anything to do with vaccine injuries, it bears no more weight than the reasoning behind why some people will get cancer from smoking cigarettes... while others never do. I think we would all do well to be a little more selective on what we accept as victories, when they're really just more of the same old deceptions
Posted by: Barry | September 07, 2011 at 06:45 PM
Nick-- thank you for your great insights. I think we're all in basic agreement that it is not necessarily anything "bad" or "defective" about a child that makes them susceptible to environmental assault. Case in point is the number of female athletes among Gardasil victims. Why the healthiest? Why the brightest? I agree with Barry that genetic vulnerability is not *necessary* for someone to be injured by vaccines. I agree with you that epigenetic toxic effects could be wearing people down. Those families who are not reacting violently today might not be so lucky in later generations. It would be good if people woke up before that happened, otherwise who will be left?
Posted by: Adriana | September 07, 2011 at 05:57 PM
If I came across of liking your piece simply because I agreed with it I wish to correct the impression. The reason is that it has filled in some blanks for me and you did it in such a clear way. It adds a superb context. My agreement is intended to encourage you to follow up in your line of thinking.
Posted by: Nick | September 07, 2011 at 03:25 PM
I agree with your fine piece Adriana. Outstanding.
Barry wrote:
"Genetic predisposition(s) to vaccine damage is absolute hogwash."
I am not sure if your thought reflects a disagreement with Adriana's thoughts, but as a proponent of the idea that people with the most problems with vaccines have a "genetic predisposition" or susceptibility I am curious as to why you have a problem with the notion. It is possible that the fact that some genetic problems can be passed on in a non-mendelian way after certain assualtes on a failry recent ancestor fits right in line with the idea that some drugs or toxins like mercury can result in offspring who have a peopensity to react to vaccine elements and effects in damaging ways. This thought overlaps somewhat with Adriana's idea and yet her thought also provides the longer term effect of of genetic conditioning to long term enviromental conditions leading to a phenotype that is primed to react badly to modern "unatural immune" and metabolic interactions to vaccines, toxins "metals/mercury aluminum and other metals, and drugs. The once better conditioned system is the one that is affected negatively by these new elemnts whether by recent assaults of drugs and vaccine over the last 75-150 years or by long term "natural adaptions that occured over many hundreds of years or more.
It seems plausible that these two ideas dovetail and those more susceptible to recent possible gentic alteration that they pass on are often the same ones that she is refferring to as having a gentic profile that was positive until modern assualts. It also may be that a stanalone reaction to a vaccine in this generation may have been being led up to by successive minor assaults in the last 100 years in this phenotype and that increasing of amounts autoimmunne disease is that some peoples genteics are slower to be affected. It could be tied to, among other things, fast and slow acetylation in numers in people of certain genetic.
In both of the ways genetics may provide suscepibility or predispostion mentioned above it is not a reflection of a natural occurring genetic "defect' due to bad genes, but in Adrian's thought a postive conditioning that met up with a man made intereference causing damage due to them not previoulsy having to deal with the elements that the modern assaults inflict. In the other scenario the drugs and toxins in recent history have done more direct damage to indidviduals that alter their genetic state and causse them to pass on genetic profiles that were not being expressed before the assaulted generations. In either scneario if you had no modern drugs, vaccines, chemicals, or incresaed heavy metals the people that now react the worst to modern assualts would otherwise usually be the best genetically to handle the unaltered enviroment.
Ironically the reason given for the counterintuitive age and health profile of those who most often died in the 1918 pandemic was that the those with the most robust immune reactions were the ones most likely to die because of the tremendous damage their immune systems produced when dealing with that particular virus. That meant people normally with the best immune systems were much more suceptible to death in this case.
Posted by: Nick | September 07, 2011 at 02:14 PM
Semaxtics-- wow, hadn't thought about it. But it makes sense that an ethnic group would develop certain habits if they happened to harbor a particular susceptibility. Saunas are used by marksmen and other people who handle lead ammunition as a way to detox.
Cassandra-- fascinating information on the 1918 flu. More than half the point of researching and writing posts is that readers will fill in even more blanks. Something to look into, thanks!
Posted by: Adriana | September 07, 2011 at 02:12 PM
Not long ago my husband and I watched a program called Waterfront Cities of the World-Helsinki. (It will be on again on Discovery HD on Sept. 9). I wonder if the Finns' affinity for taking a sauna helps reduce their toxic load from ~ some ~ environmental insults. The dip in cold water that follows a sauna increases levels of glutathione that in turn enhances mitochondrial energy production. Just a thought.
If you can, catch the program; the Finns definitely do many things right!
Posted by: samaxtics | September 07, 2011 at 01:26 PM
Great article. I've often wondered how our species survived before marvelous Big Pharma came to rescue us with their wonder drugs, and more drugs for the side effects of those drugs, and so on...
Posted by: Joanna | September 07, 2011 at 12:21 PM
I loved this article. You're so right about them calling the genetic variant a problem. Hogwash, for sure. We have lost all respect for our bodies to just do their jobs.
Posted by: Jen | September 07, 2011 at 11:40 AM
I know how they love to reassure us, that febrile convulsions after vaccination are completely harmless, but it should be noted for this upcoming flu season, that the cause for seizures in young Australian children (nine times higher than expected) following seasonal (trivalent) flu vaccination last year has been blamed on blending swine flu virus with two other flu viruses (three-in-one) and not because the CSL vaccine was contaminated.
CSL's explanation for the alarming side-effects could have implications for other brands of trivalent flu vaccines, as all of them combine three viruses selected by the WHO.
http://www.myfoxchicago.com/dpps/health/pharma-blames-vaccine-for-causing-fits-in-children-dpgonc-20110902-kh_14845580
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/health-science/blending-of-flu-viruses-to-blame-says-pharma-giant-18-months-after-children-suffer-fits/story-e6frg8y6-1226128454130
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The FDA and CDC spotted a rise in febrile seizures among (trivalent) Fluzone-vaccinated US children through the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System operated by both agencies last winter. The FDA announcement resembles a previous one issued by the agency in July 2010 about increased rates of febrile seizures among Australian and New Zealand children who were vaccinated with another (trivalent) inactivated vaccine, Afluria by CSL.
http://www.fda.gov/BiologicsBloodVaccines/SafetyAvailability/VaccineSafety/ucm240037.htm
Posted by: Rachael | September 07, 2011 at 11:21 AM
Carol brings up an interesting article. The powers are spinning the data on narcolepsy already saying that it occurs in individuals also who did not get the H1N1 vaccine. However, those individuals (mostly children) could have gotten another vaccine with mercury in it and reacted to the swine flu more strongly. They also note that after the 1918 flu there were a lot of cases of similar sleeping diseases. That would mean that the Finns might have had similar cases of narcolepsy or narcolepsy like diseases after the Spanish flu. Adriana, do you know of any data of narcolepsy or narcolepsy like symptoms in the Finns after the 1918 flu? I doubt that but possible.
Posted by: Cassandra | September 07, 2011 at 11:17 AM
There are other examples of genes that have a "good and bad side" if you will. One of them is Sickle Trait. If you just have one of the genes, it seems to be protective against malaria. Of course, both of the genes means you have Sickle Cell Disease, not just the trait.
The subtleties of what Adriana is discussing is simply unknown among pediatricians and other doctors who push the "vaccines for all" mantra.
Posted by: Nirvana | September 07, 2011 at 11:07 AM
Adriana, Excellent job! (we need an AoA science prize!)
I completely agree with your theory. Those tough Finns have propagated mutations that allowed them to live in those tough conditions and fight infectious diseases.
THE MUTATIONS THAT LEAD TO AUTOIMMUNITY ARE NOT DEFECTS, THEY ARE ADAPTATIONS!!! Vaccines provoke a powerful immune response that are especially affecting those with a strong, "hyperactive" immune system. Our immune systems evolved over several millennia and now we are tempering with that system to our detriment.
Narcolepsy is an autoimmune condition and my theory is it might be linked to antibodies that are attacking astrocytes. One function of astrocytes is to control sleep-wake cycles. They are also important for the integrity of the blood-brain barrier. The combination of viral antigens/impurities in vaccines plus the strong adjuvants trigger the development of these antibodies. Maybe the Finns will get to the bottom of this.
Posted by: Cassandra | September 07, 2011 at 10:57 AM
Thanks for the great insights and added information, all.
Sue, the sad thing is a lot of human strengths are probably not "Round-Up Ready" and are maladaptive for survival in highly mercury polluted environments. That scientist wasn't talking about evolution but deevolution.
I only know that Finland wouldn't be on the map if, when the Finns were warding off the Red Army invasion in 1939, instead of screaming “Hääka päälle!", they howled "Aika nukkua!!!" ("Nap time!"). The same principle has to be true of every culture on earth. If you think about it, human beings are genetically coded to die, but not all deaths are from "genetic" causes.
Posted by: Adriana | September 07, 2011 at 10:43 AM
Interesting article, Adriana. I think you and everyone interested in this topic would enjoy the book, Survival of the Sickest, which discusses the adaptive benefits of various "genetic defects" like hemochromatosis and sickle-cell anemia, among others.
It turns out that the often ridiculed, out of date, medical treatment of blood-letting is actually a useful, and currently (though quietly) in use, medical treatment for hemochromatosis. The epic fail of the generation(s?) of "doctors" who used that technique was that they mistakenly started using it for all manner of illnesses in all people.
Sort of like the use of vaccines for all manner of diseases, in all people, all the time, imo.
I too, and most of my friends, have parents and grandparents who lived in good health into their late eighties, and several into their nineties. Now I have friends, and relatives, who are dying in their forties, fifties, and sixties. So I am not at all convinced that people are living longer today than a generation or two ago, nor that our children will live as long as we are now living. Genes that helped humans survive in the past could indeed be maladaptive for the very polluted, highly pesticided, herbicided, medicated environments we live in today.
A PhD chemist I once talked to about mercury and its dangers suggested to me that certain un-named powers that be seem to consider rising mercury pollution not much of a concern, but rather just a factor driving the evolution of the human race. I have often thought about his statements and half-wondered if some totally mis-guided nitwits in power imagine that we (they?) are speeding evolution toward a more mercury tolerant race of humans who will be better able to survive in our increasingly mercury polluted world, by administering mercury in vaccines to people. But that surely seems more like a science fiction story than reality. Doesn't it? OTOH it also seems like science fiction that doctors would insist that injecting mercury into babies is somehow safe.
It is a mad-hatter world we live in these days.
Posted by: Sue | September 07, 2011 at 10:01 AM
Narcolepsy link to swine flu vaccine established - VICTIMS TO GET COMPENSATION
Each of those who came down with narcolepsy after getting the Pandemrix vaccine were found to have an inherited trait that increased the risk of narcolepsy. This will not reduce a victim’s chances of getting compensation. It will actually strengthen the overall grounds for compensation.
The link of narcolepsy with a genetic risk reinforces the idea that this is a process that requires external irritants to the immune system. Genetic factors are not the only cause of narcolepsy. Up to 30 per cent of Finns have the genetic, but very few ever actually get the disease. When the disease unexpectedly increases so much, it is logical to think that the external factor in these cases was the vaccine.
Source: http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Narcolepsy+link+to+swine+flu+vaccine+established+-+victims+to+get+compensation+/1135269054227
Posted by: Rachael | September 07, 2011 at 09:31 AM
Excellent article Adriana. We were discussing this the other day on ME/CFS forums. There is a higher rate of this gene in people diagnosed with ME/CFS. I find this interesting because not only do both of my children have autism, they have a paternal aunt and a maternal great aunt with ME/CFS. They also have a cousin that passed away several years ago with MS. I linked your article on the comment thread. I will link the ME/CFS post here as well.
http://www.mecfsforums.com/index.php/topic,9272.0.html
Posted by: Jillba | September 07, 2011 at 09:19 AM
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ana.22587/abstract
Narcolepsy onset is seasonal and increased following the 2009 H1N1 pandemic in china, Han et al.
"The occurrence of narcolepsy onset was seasonal, significantly influenced by month and calendar year. Onset was least frequent in November and most frequent in April, with a 6.7-fold increase from trough to peak. Studying year-to-year variation, we found a 3-fold increase in narcolepsy onset following the 2009 H1N1 winter influenza pandemic. The increase is unlikely to be explained by increased vaccination, as only 8 of 142 (5.6%) patients recalled receiving an H1N1 vaccination...."
"Did you get Chairman Mao's golden keep-flu-away elixir? Think carefully."
Posted by: Carol | September 07, 2011 at 09:08 AM
This was an interesting read and makes sense. The reality of diseases being brought on by vaccines and the process of vaccination is not some kind of conspiracy theory but a true medical phenomena where the evidence keeps mounting. Thanks, Adriana.
Now who in DC or a government run agency will cry out, STOP! Who will fight for the safety of medicine and the safety of the human race?
Posted by: Teresa Conrick | September 07, 2011 at 08:54 AM
Genetic predisposition(s) to vaccine damage is absolute hogwash.
The simple truth is that vaccines are biological preparations, designed to stimulate immune systems in an unnatural way, with the intent of triggering unnatural immune system response. Autoimmune diseases are medical conditions that arise as the result of unnatural immune system responses. And in the last 30 or so years, we’ve seen exploding rate of autoimmune diseases, which follows the same timeline as immunization schedules that have in some cases quadrupled. Isn’t that just an interesting coincidence?
Another simple truth is that vaccines are being manufactured by the same companies who later make trillions selling drugs designed to treat (… but never cure) these autoimmune disorders.
And it doesn’t even end there; because all of these drugs carry their own lists of harmful side effects, many of which are actually treated with prescriptions for additional pharmaceuticals… which themselves carry lists of yet more harmful side effects
Vaccine have never been about better health, and that's why there is no scientific proof to show that they are safe and/or effective. What they truly represent represent the foundation of big pharma’s real motive, which is the creation of customers for life
Posted by: Barry | September 07, 2011 at 07:37 AM