Prevnar and Staph

[kim]

Mary made a remark on another thread that made me wonder about something in relationship to strep.

 

Also, when he was an infant he had the Prevnar vaccine which is supposed to prevent ear infections and strep.

This statement from the first article made me wonder about strep, that seems so hard to clear in some kids

 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20825107/

 

CHICAGO - A vaccine that has dramatically curbed pneumonia and other serious illnesses in children is having an unfortunate effect: promoting new superbugs that cause ear infections.

 

On Monday, doctors reported discovering the first such germ that is resistant to all drugs approved to treat childhood ear infections. Nine toddlers in Rochester, N.Y., have had the germ and researchers say it may be turning up elsewhere, too.

 

It is a strain of strep bacteria not included in pneumococcal vaccine, Wyeth's Prevnar, which came on the market in 2000. It is recommended for children under age 2.

 

Because these bacteria easily swap gene components to become even more hardy, "new types may emerge that can both escape containment by vaccine and spread throughout the world," Dr. Daniel Musher of Baylor College of Medicine wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine last year.

 

 

 

My oldest son has also had a couple of go arounds with staph. I don't think this is what you were referring to Mary, but I did think it was a good opportunity to share a big concern of mine regarding the notion that we can "vaccinate away" disease. Many of the abstracts here are pointing out the danger of serotype replacement with the use of Prevnar and also the increase in staph. You have to wonder how many strains of pneumococcal bacteria are being replaced with other strains. Also, are we trading some cases of pneu. for MRSA staph? I don't think many parents are made aware of these concern when the vaccines are recommended, so I thought I'd share.

 

There is lots of info contained in these articles. A couple are just random things that I have read recently. Near the bottom there are a few with aluminum and thimerosal info that are recent. All bolding Mine.

 

Edit...If abstracts make your head spin, this article which is posted near the bottom, really sums it up.

http://insidevaccines.com/wordpress/2008/0...ugate-vaccines/

 

 

http://www.whale.to/m/pneumococcal.html

 

Erdem Cantekin, Ph.D., is Professor of Otolaryngology, University of Pittsburgh. An internationally recognized authority on otitis media and has studied causes and treatments for ear infection and sinusitis in his 25 year career. An early, outspoken critic of the overuse of antibiotics to treat ear infections, Dr. Cantekin has published more than 150 articles and abstracts in the medical literature on eustachian tube function, ear tube surgery, antibiotic resistance and conflicts of interest in biomedical research and manufacturer sponsored medicine.

 

Cantekin discussed the new Prevnar vaccine for pneumococcal, as endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics. "The alleged benefits for this new vaccine are greatly exaggerated and the risks are significant," said Cantekin. "The bacteria pneumococcus, with more than 90 serotypes, is a common pathogen. Though pneumococcus causes various diseases the carriage rate and serotype distribution rates in different groups are not know. Also, it is not known how pneumococcus transmutes itself into a pathogen. The role of pneumococcus in the microbiological balance is not known. It does contribute to 3,000 cases a year of meningitis, 50,000 a year of bacteremia, 500,000 cases of pneumonia, and seven million cases of otitis media or ear infections."

 

 

http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=15841788

 

A trial with a 7-valent pneumococcal-conjugate vaccine in children with recurrent acute otitis media showed a shift In pneumococcal colonisation towards non-vaccine serotypes and an Increase In Staphylococcus aureus-related acute otitis media after vaccination. We investigated prevalence and determinants of nasopharyngeal carriage of Streptococcus pneumonlae and S aureus in 3198 healthy children aged 1-19 years. Nasopharyngeal carriage of S pneumonlae was detected In 598 (19%) children, and was affected by age (peak Incidence at 3 years) and day-care attendance (odds ratio [OR] 2.14, 95% Cl 1.44-3.18). S aureus carriage was affected by age (peak incidence at 10 years) and male sex (OR 1.46, 1.25-1.70). Serotyping showed 42% vaccine type pneumococci. We noted a negative correlation for co-colonisation of S aureus and vaccine-type pneumococci (OR 0.68, 0.48-0.94), but not for S aureus and non-vaccine serotypes. These findings suggest a natural competition between colonisation with vaccine-type pneumococci and S aureus, which might explain the Increase in S aureus-related otitis media after vaccination.

http://jb.asm.org/cgi/content/abstract/188/13/4996

 

 

Results

Among 790 children screened, 43% carried S pneumoniae and 10% carried S aureus. Staphylococcus aureus carriage among S pneumoniae carriers was 6.5% vs 12.9% in S pneumoniae noncarriers. Streptococcus pneumoniae carriage among S aureus carriers was 27.5% vs 44.8% in S aureus noncarriers. Only 2.8% carried both pathogens concomitantly vs 4.3% expected dual carriage (P = .03). Risk factors for S pneumoniae carriage (attending day care, having young siblings, and age older than 3 months) were negatively associated with S aureus carriage.

 

Conclusions

Streptococcus pneumoniae carriage, specifically of vaccine-type strains, is negatively associated with S aureus carriage in children. The implications of these findings in the pneumococcal vaccine era require further investigation.

 

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/uncate...o_10093089.html

 

New Delhi, Sep 7 (IANS) Raising questions over India’s decision to include a new pneumonia vaccine in the national immunisation programme, a report in a WHO bulletin has said the vaccine has “no effect” on the disease and on the contrary increases the risk of asthma among vaccinated children.The report, published in the September edition of the WHO Bulletin, claimed that Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV), the latest addition to India’s immunisation programme, is ineffective in tackling pneumonia among children and hence does not justify the huge amount of money the government will spend on it.

 

 

http://jac.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/50/suppl_3/59.pdf

 

However, immunization can also place

selective pressure on the nasopharyngeal flora, promoting the

emergence of new pathogens. A shift towards non-vaccineserotypes has been observed among vaccinees in several studies.

109 In South Africa, the carriage of non-vaccine serotypes

was increased from 24% in controls to 36% in the vaccines

group. A significant increase was seen in the carriage of

serotypes 7 and 15, important causes of invasive disease.109

 

 

http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/reprint/292/6/716

 

Pneumococcal conjugate vaccines

reduce nasopharyngeal carriage of vaccine-

type S pneumoniae. Our finding of

an inverse relationship between vaccinetype

S pneumoniae and S aureus may imply

an upcoming shift, not only toward

nonvaccine S pneumoniae serotypes17 but

also toward higher S aureus carriage rates

in children. This would be particularly

disturbing in light of the emergence of

community-associated methicillinresistant

S aureus.5,6,18 This possibility is

supported by a recent report of an increased

rate of S aureus culturepositive

draining ears in vaccinated children

compared with controls.

 

 

Our study suggests a protective role

of S pneumoniae carriage against S aureus

carriage. Studies measuring the

effect of vaccination on S pneumoniae

epidemiology should also examine concurrent

changes in S aureus.

 

 

 

 

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlere...i?artid=1112059

 

Why are there so many serotypes of proteins that cause blood coagulation? From our results, we presume that antigenic variation in staphylocoagulases might be useful to evade the host immune response and/or to adapt to the different staphylocoagulase-prothrombin binding sites of mammalian species. Vaccines against the type b capsular polysaccharides of Haemophilus influenzae (Hib) have been used to reduce the incidence of invasive diseases caused by H. influenzae in industrial countries. However, as the use of the vaccines increased, the number of non-Hib strains in clinical isolates has also increased (29, 33, 49). The possibility of “serotype replacement” has been raising concerns. It can be postulated that staphylocoagulases changed their antigenicities by altering amino acids to evade the host defense

system.

 

 

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal...403042/abstract?

 

Neonatal jaundice: a risk factor for infantile autism?

 

 

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story...5-23289,00.html

 

Overwhelming infection linked to many SIDS deaths

 

 

http://insidevaccines.com/wordpress/2008/0...ugate-vaccines/

 

Sisyphus and the Conjugate Vaccines

 

FINDINGS: We noted no reduction of AOM episodes in the pneumococcal vaccine group compared with controls (intention-to-treat analysis: rate ratio 1.25, 95% CI 0.99-1.57). Although nasopharyngeal carriage of pneumococci of serotypes included in the conjugate-vaccine was greatly reduced after pneumococcal vaccinations, immediate and complete replacement by non-vaccine pneumococcal serotypes took place.”

 

and

 

“Conclusions:

Streptococcus pneumoniae carriage, specifically of vaccine-type strains, is negatively associated with S aureus carriage in children. The implications of these findings in the pneumococcal vaccine era require further investigation

 

 

http://www.nvic.org/doctors_corner/lawrenc...ingredients.htm

 

Aluminum is a heavy metal with known neurotoxic effects on human and animal nervous systems. It can be found in the following childhood vaccines – DTaP, Pediarix (DTaP-Hepatitis B-Polio combination), Pentacel (DTaP-HIB-Polio combination), Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, Haemophilus influenzae B (HIB), Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), and Pneumococcal vaccines.[2]

 

In 1996, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a position paper on Aluminum Toxicity in Infants and Children which stated in the first paragraph, “Aluminum is now being implicated as interfering with a variety of cellular and metabolic processes in the nervous system and in other tissues.[3]

 

 

http://www.newsrx.com/articles/1130878.html

 

September 10, 2008 - Researchers from Novartis, Department of Immunology describe findings in vaccines - European Journal of Immunology via Newsrx - "Despite the fact that alum has been injected into billions of people, its mechanism of action is not fully understood."

 

http://www.ageofautism.com/2008/09/stunning-new-li.html

 

I'm a stay-at-home mom in NC with a degree in Computer Information Systems. I didn't know anything about medicine until after my first child was born. When she turned 8 months old she started doing a myoclonic head jerk, and dystonic head postures, which could have meant a brain tumor or movement disorder. Her neurologist didn't know what it was after the MRI, EEG, and PET scan was fine. So I decided to educate myself, and I learned way more about medicine than I ever wanted to know. She was finally diagnosed with stereotypical disorder (usually seen in children with autism, but she did not have any other autism symptoms). Well, after that diagnosis I have been very leery of vaccines and autism, and have spent hundreds of hours reading about the subject. I first read about children having low glutathione levels and thin bones study on Dr. Green's website.

 

The chart http://vaccines-rvb.blogspot.com/

 

 

After reading some of the above articles, this almost made me LOL

 

 

http://www.thetimesnews.com/news/shot_1775...ool_clinic.html

 

"We all need immunizations to keep us healthy," Burns said.

 

There have been six cases of pertussis - whooping cough - reported in Alamance County since 2003

[guy123]

Scary article!!!

 

I do believe we (eventually) will be able to "vaccinate away" disease.

 

Except it won't be through injections of vaccines. It will be through gene manipulation. Biochem science has a long way to go before this becomes a reality, tho.

 

But imagine one day when a woman is pregnant and with a simple procedure, the fetus' immune system can be made to protect against all (known) diseases.

 

Or, if a "virus mutation algorithm" is discovered (probably not likely), they could be protected against most unknown diseases as well. If that doesn't make sense, think of it like how some computer virus scanning programs have a huge database of known viruses they scan against, but also have an option to use heuristics to scan for unknown viruses.

 

This is, of course, assuming the world doesn't end in 2012

 

I'm a huge nerd and used to watch Star Trek: The Next Generation when I was a kid (ok, I still watch it to this day, sometimes). I remember on one episode, they made a reference to how they eliminated all diseases on Earth within 100 years. I thought that was awesome. I know it's a fictional future, but still. I remember thinking "whoa, I want to live in that time period!!!!"

 

And now on a totally unrelated note, this smiley face looks like a ninja -->

[kim]

hey guy123,

 

A world without disease is a great thought isn't it. I don't know if we'll ever out smart mother nature though. I can just see being perfectly healthy and then starving to death because of this huge population.

 

In regards to the scarey info above, have no fear. The pharma ninja's (is a ninja a good guy or bad?) are on it!

 

So, it looks like Hib vaccine may have resulted in more pneumoniae cases, but not to worry we have a pneumoniae vaccine, but lo, we need to add more strains now because some that weren't that prevalent, are becoming more so, along with increase in staph. So we add more strains of Pneu and what else might we need? Of course!

 

http://insidevaccines.com/wordpress/2008/0...nters-phase-ii/

 

Btwn the two boys we have had at least 2 cases of xray confirmed pneumoniae, two cases of staph, and vaccine reactions. :huh

[lurker]

Kim,

 

My kid has had pneumonia twice. He's FIVE! Yes, he had the Hib vaccine.

[Toms_Mom]

Kim,

Thanks for all your research on the Prevnar vaccine- although I am now totally sick My son will never receive another vaccine-ever. When we went to our neurologist app. last week my husband asked him if Thomas' vaccinations could have anything to do with his tic disorder and he admitted that yes it could be part of the reason. When discussing meds (which we are not doing) he said that as a dr. he is obligated to "first do no harm" Well what was our ped thinking when urging me to get this prevnar vaccine?! I think I also heard they were recommending this more for children in daycare and my kids have always been home with me - and Thomas was home until age 5! If only I could do it all over again...

[Caryn]

Kim,

Sort of off topic,

but I read an interview article with Aidan Quinn where he talks about his daughter Ava and how she contracted Autism after an MMR vaccine. She is now nineteen years old.

I made a blog post about it at http://healthy-family.org but it was also part of a larger interview about his career at: http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/

More fuel for the fire......

BTW, my youngest son will be 2 1/2 at Christmas. He has only had two vaccines in his life (thanks to the eldest boy's dx). He was the healthiest baby of the three boys, by far.

Caryn

[lurker]

Caryn,

 

I saw that on your site yesterday. I still haven't recovered.

 

And Kim,

 

He had Prevnar too!

[kim]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/14/health/14vacc.html

 

Worrisome Infection Eludes a Leading Children’s Vaccine

 

Tom's Mom,

 

I had to respond to this remark, even if I'm a little late!

 

he said that as a dr. he is obligated to "first do no harm" Well what was our ped thinking when urging me to get this prevnar vaccine?!

 

I really don't think many Dr.s spend a lot of time researching vaccines. They are conditioned to think that they are a very good thing, and if it's your child that becomes severely ill or dies from a illness that is supposedly "vaccine preventable," well, the Ped would be in a very bad position if he had done anything but encourage it, without a very good reason for anything contrary (an example of a good reason, might be something like death from a previous vaccine )

 

I actually feel sorry for any pediatrician who has doubts about the wisdom of the vaccine program.

 

I just want to reiterate, I am npt trying to disuade anyone from vaccinating. I'm only sharing info that I think parents should consider when looking at the bigger picture. So many of us are unsure how the immune system fits into these disorders and struggle with the vaccine decisions. For me, these articles help me remember that getting every vaccine recommended is not going to guarantee my child will never have a problem. In some cases we may be kicking up a sleeping monster.