Vaccine of the day: Polio

Parker hasn't been vaccinated for the most part. He got the HEP B vaccine and vit K in his first 24 hours of life.

Parker also has dairy, sesame seed, and chick peas allergy (that we know of). I may be a coincidence or it may not.

We will be faced with the decision about vaccinating very shortly, as we have decided to postpone vaccinating (if we ever decide to) until P is at least 2. The first two years are crucial for the development of a child's immune system so we didn't want to interfere with it.

Since his 2ndbirthday is approaching, I decided to do research about each vaccine/disease separately in order to see whether we vaccinate against it or not. My research will concentrate on two fronts:

1. The benefits (severity of the disease, chances of getting it, etc.)

2. The risks (what's in the vaccine, how it's made, potential side effects and long term risks, etc.)

Also, I want to rely on sources that are not against vaccines by default. I.e. as a source I may use a study cited on an anti-vaccine website, but the articles on such website will not be used as primary evidence.


POLIO

The research about Polio disease has proved to be fairly straight forward.

WHO site (http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs114/en/) as of July 3. 2013:

- 223 reported cases in 2012.
- In 2013, only three countries (Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan) remain polio-endemic, down from more than 125 in 1988.
- One in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis. Among those paralysed, 5% to 10% die when their breathing muscles become immobilized."


CDC (http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd-vac/polio/in-short-both.htm):
Polio is spread by person-to-person contact and only affects humans.


There are 7 billion people living on earth, the chance that it will be you or me is 223/7,000,000,000 (my calculator couldn't display this number as it is so small). That's assuming we all have the same chance of getting it. The fact that we don't live in any of the "hot zone" countries, diminishes the chances even further.


Polio symptoms from CDC (http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd-vac/polio/in-short-both.htm)

Approximately 95% of persons infected with polio will have no symptoms. About 4-8% of infected persons have minor symptoms, such as fever, fatigue, nausea, headache, flu-like symptoms, stiffness in the neck and back, and pain in the limbs, which often resolve completely. Fewer than 1% of polio cases result in permanent paralysis of the limbs (usually the legs). Of those paralyzed, 5-10% die when the paralysis strikes the respiratory muscles. The death rate increases with increasing age.:


Polio vaccine

Ingredients from CDC (http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd-vac/polio/in-short-both.htm):

Polio (IPV – Ipol): 2-phenoxyethanol, formaldehyde, neomycin, streptomycin, polymyxin B, monkey kidney cells, Eagle MEM modified medium, calf serum protein

2-phenoxyethanol - preservative. From http://www.sciencelab.com/msds.php?msdsId=9926486:

Potential Acute Health Effects:
Extremely hazardous in case of eye contact (irritant). Very hazardous in case of skin contact (irritant), of ingestion, of inhalation. Inflammation of the eye is characterized by redness, watering, and itching. Skin inflammation is characterized by itching, scaling, reddening, or, occasionally, blistering.
Potential Chronic Health Effects:
Extremely hazardous in case of eye contact (irritant). Very hazardous in case of skin contact (irritant), of ingestion, of inhalation. CARCINOGENIC EFFECTS: Not available. MUTAGENIC EFFECTS: Not available. TERATOGENIC EFFECTS: Not available. DEVELOPMENTAL TOXICITY: Not available. The substance is toxic to kidneys, the nervous system, liver. Repeated or prolonged exposure to the substance can produce target organs damage. Repeated or prolonged inhalation of vapors may lead to chronic respiratory irritation.

formaldehyde - preservative. In 2011, the US National Toxicology Program described formaldehyde as "known to be a human carcinogen".

In another study I found the following: Formaldehyde is weakly genotoxic and was able to induce gene mutations and chromosomal aberrations in mammalian cells. DNA-protein crosslinks are a sensitive measure of DNA modification by formaldehyde. However, the genotoxic effects were limited to those cells, which are in direct contact with formaldehyde, and no effects could be observed in distant-site tissues. In conclusion, formaldehyde is a direct acting locally effective mutagen.

neomycin, streptomycin, polymyxin B - antibiotics


monkey kidney cells - well, monkey kidney cells

Eagle MEM modified medium - one of the most widely used of all synthetic cell culture media. I haven't found any signs of it being toxic.

calf serum protein - haven't found anything of toxicity but it is derived from unborn calf fetuses in a non humanitarian way.


Meanwhile in India (from PubMed.gov http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22591873):
It was hoped that following polio eradication, immunisation could be stopped. However the synthesis of polio virus in 2002, made eradication impossible. It is argued that getting poor countries to expend their scarce resources on an impossible dream over the last 10 years was unethical. Furthermore, while India has been polio-free for a year, there has been a huge increase in non-polio acute flaccid paralysis (NPAFP). In 2011, there were an extra 47,500 new cases of NPAFP. Clinically indistinguishable from polio paralysis but twice as deadly, the incidence of NPAFP was directly proportional to doses of oral polio received.

[ME] The oral polio vaccine contains a live polio virus and has been linked to polio-like paralysis. Polio vaccines used in the US and Western Europe do not include the live virus, but polio vaccines used in India, and Africa do.

Read more: http://digitaljournal.com/article/323371#ixzz2YCGqHuQ8


Decision: Not vaccinating.