Administration of thimerosal to infant rats increases overflow of glutamate and aspartate in the prefrontal cortex: protective role of dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate.
Marie Curie Chairs Program, Department of Pharmacology and Physiology of Nervous System, Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology, 02-957, Warsaw, Poland.
Abstract
Thimerosal, a mercury-containing vaccine preservative, is a suspected factor in the etiology of neurodevelopmental disorders. We previously showed that its administration to infant rats causes behavioral, neurochemical and neuropathological abnormalities similar to those present in autism. Here we examined, using microdialysis, the effect of thimerosal on extracellular levels of neuroactive amino acids in the rat prefrontal cortex (PFC). Thimerosal administration (4 injections, i.m., 240 μg Hg/kg on postnatal days 7, 9, 11, 15) induced lasting changes in amino acid overflow: an increase of glutamate and aspartate accompanied by a decrease of glycine and alanine; measured 10-14 weeks after the injections. Four injections of thimerosal at a dose of 12.5 μg Hg/kg did not alter glutamate and aspartate concentrations at microdialysis time (but based on thimerosal pharmacokinetics, could have been effective soon after its injection). Application of thimerosal to the PFC in perfusion fluid evoked a rapid increase of glutamate overflow. Coadministration of the neurosteroid, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS; 80 mg/kg; i.p.) prevented the thimerosal effect on glutamate and aspartate; the steroid alone had no influence on these amino acids. Coapplication of DHEAS with thimerosal in perfusion fluid also blocked the acute action of thimerosal on glutamate. In contrast, DHEAS alone reduced overflow of glycine and alanine, somewhat potentiating the thimerosal effect on these amino acids. Since excessive accumulation of extracellular glutamate is linked with excitotoxicity, our data imply that neonatal exposure to thimerosal-containing vaccines might induce excitotoxic brain injuries, leading to neurodevelopmental disorders. DHEAS may partially protect against mercurials-induced neurotoxicity.
Folia Neuropathol. 2010;48(4):258-69. Olczak M, Duszczyk M, Mierzejewski P, Wierzba-Bobrowicz T, Majewska MD.
Department of Pharmacology and Physiology of the Nervous System, Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology, ul. Sobieskiego 9, Warsaw, Poland.
Abstract
Thimerosal, an organomercurial added as a preservative to some vaccines, is a suspected iatrogenic factor, possibly contributing to paediatric neurodevelopmental disorders including autism. We examined the effects of early postnatal administration of thimerosal (four i.m. injections, 12 or 240 μg THIM-Hg/kg, on postnatal days 7, 9, 11 and 15) on brain pathology in Wistar rats. Numerous neuropathological changes were observed in young adult rats which were treated postnatally with thimerosal. They included: ischaemic degeneration of neurons and "dark" neurons in the prefrontal and temporal cortex, the hippocampus and the cerebellum, pathological changes of the blood vessels in the temporal cortex, diminished synaptophysin reaction in the hippocampus, atrophy of astroglia in the hippocampus and cerebellum, and positive caspase-3 reaction in Bergmann astroglia. These findings document neurotoxic effects of thimerosal, at doses equivalent to those used in infant vaccines or higher, in developing rat brain, suggesting likely involvement of this mercurial in neurodevelopmental disorders.
Ancestry of pink disease (infantile acrodynia) identified as a risk factor for autism spectrum disorders.
J Toxicol Environ Health A. 2011 Sep 15;74(18):1185-94. Shandley K, Austin DW.
Swinburne Autism Bio-Research Initiative (SABRI), Brain and Psychological Sciences Research Centre , Swinburne University of Technology , Hawthorn , Victoria , Australia.
Abstract
Pink disease (infantile acrodynia) was especially prevalent in the first half of the 20th century. Primarily attributed to exposure to mercury (Hg) commonly found in teething powders, the condition was developed by approximately 1 in 500 exposed children. The differential risk factor was identified as an idiosyncratic sensitivity to Hg. Autismspectrum disorders (ASD) have also been postulated to be produced by Hg. Analogous to the pink disease experience, Hg exposure is widespread yet only a fraction of exposed children develop an ASD, suggesting sensitivity to Hg may also be present in children with an ASD. The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that individuals with a known hypersensitivity to Hg (pink disease survivors) may be more likely to have descendants with an ASD. Five hundred and twenty-two participants who had previously been diagnosed with pink disease completed a survey on the health outcomes of their descendants. The prevalence rates of ASD and a variety of other clinical conditions diagnosed in childhood (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, epilepsy, Fragile X syndrome, and Down syndrome) were compared to well-established general population prevalence rates. The results showed the prevalence rate of ASD among the grandchildren of pink disease survivors (1 in 22) to be significantly higher than the comparable general population prevalence rate (1 in 160). The results support the hypothesis that Hg sensitivity may be a heritable/genetic risk factor for ASD.
Dan Olmsted and Mark Blaxill on Fox Business talking to Imus about their book, The Age of Autism.
Is Autism Man Made?
Is There a Vaccine-Autism Link?
Update: I have just learned that these videos are being blocked in the UK. Instead of Dan and Mark, they read, "This video contains content from FOX News Network, who has blocked it in your country on copyright grounds". Yet Brits CAN watch the other videos on the Fox Business You Tube Channel. Just like Andrew Wakefield's book... BANNED across the pond!
Apparently not only are the Queen's subjects not allowed to speak truth to power, they are not allowed to hear anyone else do it either. They can't have mum's thinking for themselves, now can they?
Confirmation of this is welcome from our friends across the pond.
Last Tuesday, John Donvan and Caren Zucker wrote a beautiful article for The Atlantic, entitled, “Autism’s First Child”, accompanied by a video packet that ran on Good Morning America and followed by a lengthy interview on NPR, about the first patient ever diagnosed with autism. Donald Triplett. These intrepid reporters, share how they searched and found this man who had been lost to history, and share with the world what a successful life he turned out to have. Donald was raised in a small town, by parents who stuck by him despite the recommendation of professionals to institutionalize him, and alongside neighbors who loved, accepted and supported him. He went to college, joined a fraternity, worked at a bank, drives a car and plays golf. It is a story that, as a mother of an 8 year old boy with autism, gives me hope.
But the problem is that it is not their story, the whole story, and the most newsworthy part of the story.
You see, in 1943, Leo Kanner, a Johns Hopkins Child Psychologist, wrote a paper in which he described a rare disorder he found in 11 children. The disorder became known as “Autism” and Kanner referred to the first case he found as “Donald T.”, a boy who was indeed lost to history. And it was intrepid journalistic investigating that found that Donald was still alive and living well in Mississippi. But it wasn’t ABC’s Donvan and Zucker who found him in 2010. It was a UPI’s Dan Olmsted who found him in 2005.
That year, Olmsted began a series for UPI called, “The Age of Autism”, which investigated the relationship between vaccines and autism. While reading Kanner’s paper to look for clues to any toxic exposures or physical symptoms the first children with autism may have had, Olmsted discovered that Kanner’s patient zero lived in an area where a water soluble form of mercury was first used in forestry. Potentially clinically significant as mercury was the component in vaccines suspected by many of being a causal factor in autism. So Dan Olmsted decided to try to find Donald T. And he found him living a full life in Mississippi.
While Kanner’s other cases had poor outcomes, Donald did not. It turns out Donald received a medical treatment that Kanner never recorded when, as a boy, he fell victim to crippling juvenile arthritis. Donald was treated with gold salts and his brother reported that as a result, Donald not only recovered from the arthritis, but "The proclivity to excitability and extreme nervousness had all but cleared up”.
Donald began to recover from “autism”.
This is highly relevant to the autism debate because gold has an extreme affinity for mercury and pulls it from the body. It is also significant because arthritis links his “nervous disorder” to his autoimmune disorder. It is historical evidence that the claims that parents have been making, that their children with autism had regressed after their mercury containing vaccines, and that treating them for their autoimmune symptoms makes their “autism” better, are on the money.
In 2005 Dan Olmsted published a series of articles on Donald, the most explosive being, “The Age of Autism: Case 1 Revisited”, which poured gasoline on the fiery debate on whether or not autism is a result of medical poisoning and is treatable.
Everyone in the debate has known about Donald T. for five years, and although Olmsted did not publish his full name, it was known by many. Googling – “Donald T.” autism – returns more than 8,000 pages.
Olmsted wrote the “Age of Autism” series until 2007, when he left UPI and started a blog called, “Age of Autism”, where thousands a day come to comment and debate.
This past Tuesday, Olmsted published a book, written with autism parent Mark Blaxill, called “The Age of Autism: Mercury, Medicine and a Manmade Epidemic”. Chapter 6 is where you will find Donald Triplett, who decided to come out of his self-imposed anonymity to be interviewed in May of 2009 by Olmsted and Blaxill to expand on the public understanding of his story for the book.
As an autism blogger whose commentary on the initial Age of Autism series eventually became an installment in the series itself, I was given an advanced copy last May. I was so floored by the book that I built them the web site for it, gratis.
Galley copies also went to The Atlantic, NPR and ABC, but the outlets didn’t tell Olmsted’s story, instead they carried Donvan and Zucker’s puff piece. Given that Donvan is a correspondent on Nightline, that Zucker is a producer for ABC in New York as well as an autism parent, and that this team has been reporting on autism for over a decade, it is impossible to fathom that they would not have known about the book (and Olmsted’s reporting) if a little autism blogger, tucked away on the coast of Maine, had one in her hands last spring.
So imagine my shock as I watched the video of Donvan and Zucker entitled, “Finding Donald”, where they describe the process of tracking down who “Donald T.” actually was, pronounce to the world that Kanner’s first autism case was sill alive, write extensively about his life, and fail to mention that he is evidence that blanket government health care mandates and FDA corruption and/or incompetence may be causing widespread neurological and immune system damage to more than one percent of children in this country.
Donvan/Zucker hit three major outlets with their Donald T. revelation at the same time that the book Olmsted has been researching for six years hit the shelves. Olmsted, his reporting, his book and Donald’s connection to the mercury/autoimmunity aspects of autism, which Donvan and Zucker even touched on in their article, are never mentioned.
It raises the question, why would these news outlets make an end around “The Age of Autism: Mercury, Medicine and a Manmade Epidemic”, and try to bury this book?
Please catch my next article. I tell the world about a talented new singer I have discovered. She goes by the name of… get this…“Lady GaGa”.
Update: NYT and WaPo publish fawning articles on The Atlantic piece. Both NYT and WaPo also got advanced copies of The Age of Autism.
Update: Olmsted and Blaxill discuss the book on Fox Business:
Today is September 14, The Age of Autism: Mercury, Medicine, and a Manmade Epidemic is at book stores and available on line--we need your help.
Dan Olmsted and Mark Blaxill's groundbreaking book, The Age of Autism, traces the autism epidemic by examining the first diagnosed cases of autism. Dan and Mark's detailed research is impeccable and their conclusions are stunning. Their book will revolutionize the way people think about autism and children's health.
We need this book to make a big splash with the American public and you can help. Here is what we need you to do:
* Buy the book here (if you haven't already).
* Have your friends and relatives buy the book. Book purchases will drive up the book's ratings, create media interest and educate people on what happened to our children.
* Forward this e-mail to your friends in the autism community - just click on the "Forward to a Friend" button at the bottom.
* Arrange a book signing for the authors in your community. Contact Becky Estepp.
* Sign up for to receive Age of Autism action alerts here.
We must create change for all suffering with autism. Spread the word and join The Age of Autism revolution. Please help this book become a national best seller by forwarding the announcement below, and future advisories, to the media as well as family and friends.
Department of Pharmacology and Physiology of the Nervous System, Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology, Sobieskiego 9 str., 02-957, Warsaw, Poland.
Abstract
Thimerosal added to some pediatric vaccines is suspected in pathogenesis of several neurodevelopmental disorders. Our previous study showed that thimerosal administered to suckling rats causes persistent, endogenous opioid-mediated hypoalgesia. Here we examined, using immunohistochemical staining technique, the density of mu-opioid receptors (MORs) in the brains of rats, which in the second postnatal week received four i.m. injections of thimerosal at doses 12, 240, 1,440 or 3,000 mug Hg/kg. The periaqueductal gray, caudate putamen and hippocampus were examined. Thimerosal administration caused dose-dependent statistically significant increase in MOR densities in the periaqueductal gray and caudate putamen, but decrease in the dentate gyrus, where it was accompanied by the presence of degenerating neurons and loss of synaptic vesicle marker (synaptophysin). These data document that exposure to thimerosal during early postnatal life produces lasting alterations in the densities of brain opioid receptors along with other neuropathological changes, which may disturb brain development.
Made a film about the vaccine injured, including our community. It was made by the Film Board of Canada, but has not been released, and it is reported that the Canadian Prime Minister does not want it released.
It was posted on You Tube last fall. I am not sure how I missed this until now.
A school vaccine clinic in Warwick R.I. had to be shut down this week because someone spilled mercury and a hazmat team needed to be called in.
Because we all know that mercury on the ground is dangerous while mercury in a child's veins is safe and even recommended by CDC and AAP.
News reports say that a thermometer was accidentally broken, so the cafeteria where the vaccine clinic was being held had to be evacuated.
Spill causes scare at local H1N1 clinic Gym evacuated after mercury spills onto floor
Updated: Saturday, 05 Dec 2009, 2:39 AM EST
Published : Saturday, 05 Dec 2009, 2:38 AM EST
WEST WARWICK, R.I. (WPRI) - A chemical spill causes a hazmat scare at a local H1N1 clinic.
A thermometer accidentally broke Friday afternoon spilling mercury onto the floor of the gym at the Greenbush School in West Warwick.
The gym had to be evacuated.
It took crews hours to clean up that spill.
But what do you think the chances are of a mercury thermometer being used in a school in 2009? Haven't these gone the way cigarette ads and seat belts that buckle in the middle?
Might not the most likely source of a mercury spill during an H1N1 vaccine clinic be the H1N1 Vaccine itself?
Because as I called to your attention last month, these shots, being given to children, if spilled on the ground are legally required to be cleaned up by a hazmat team. As a reminder:
"the mercury concentration in the H1N1 and seasonal flu shots is exponentially larger than what is considered hazmat material. A comparison of mercury concentrations from Pediatrics:
0.5 parts per billion (ppb) mercury = Kills human neuroblastoma cells (Parran et al., Toxicol Sci 2005; 86: 132-140).
2 ppb mercury = U.S. EPA limit for drinking water http://www.epa.gov/safewater/contaminants/index.html#mcls
200 ppb mercury = level in liquid the EPA classifies as hazardous waste. http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/hazwaste/mercury/regs.htm#hazwaste
25,000 ppb mercury = Concentration of mercury in the Hepatitis B vaccine, administered at birth in the U.S., from 1990-2001.
50,000 ppb Mercury = Concentration of mercury in multi-dose DTaP and Haemophilus B vaccine vials, administered 4 times each in the 1990's to children at 2, 4, 6, 12 and 18 months of age. Current "preservative" level mercury in multi-dose flu (94% of supply), meningococcal and tetanus (7 and older) vaccines. This can be confirmed by simply analyzing the multi- dose vials.
In my home state of Maine mercury disposal is regulated by The Hazardous Waste Rules Chapter 850:
Maine Department of Environmental Protection
Chapter 850: IDENTIFICATION OF HAZARDOUS WASTES
B. Identification of hazardous wastes by characteristics
(5) Characteristic of toxicity
(b) A waste that exhibits the characteristic of toxicity has the EPA Hazardous Waste Number specified in Table I which corresponds to the toxic contaminant causing it to be hazardous.
Table I. Maximum Concentration of Contaminants for the Toxicity Characteristic
What this means is that if you took one of the vaccines being injected into the children at my son's elementary school outside and squirted it onto the pavement, a hazmat rules would be triggered and a hasmat team must be called in to clean it up."
So is this what happened? Did the school comply with the law and call hazmat in to clean up a thimerosal containing vaccine spill and then lie about it, telling the public that it was a thermometer so that they would not see the violent absurdity of injecting hazardous material into children?
Any one near Warwick wanna follow this up and find a witness to this "thermometer" accident?
UPDATE:
Apparently Deirdre Imus is asking the same questions:
Deirdre also points out that mercury thermometers were banned in Rhode Island seven years ago. from RI.gov on their exchange program for mercury thermometers:
As of January 2002, Rhode Island legislators passed a law to ban the sale of mercury-containing fever thermometers.
There is not a snowball's chance in Hawaii that there was an HG thermometer in that school cafeteria in December of 2009.
Remember all those talking heads on TV that keep saying that mercury is gone from vaccines and won't be in the H1N1 flu shot? They are misinforming you.
Does the Swine Flu shot have mercury in it? The answer is yes... some of them.
If you decide to get the shot, INSIST on seeing the vaccine package insert. If you are offered a shot that is drawn from a vial, that will be a mercury containing vaccine.
Keep in mind that many parents of children with autism reported that their child received a shot from a multi-dose vial, and then saw the nurse throw the bottle away. Mercury is a heavy metal, and if the nurses who use that vial do not "shake vigorously before use" then the mercury settles at the bottom and the last person to get a shot drawn from that vial gets a "hot shot" with all the mercury in it.
This week the FDA released the vaccine package inserts for the upcoming H1N1 vaccines:
____________________________________________________________________
The H1N1 Sanofi Vaccine Package Insert:
"Sanofi Pasteur 449/454 Influenza A (H1N1) 2009 Monovalent Vaccine" 10 September 2009_v0.3
FULL DOSE MERCURY VACCINE - 25mcg
EPA says that safety limits are .1mcg per kg of weight per day, which makes th...is vaccine safe for anyone who weights 550 lbs!
Do you weight 550 lbs?
____________________________________________________________________
The H1N1 CSL Vaccine Package Insert - Version 2.0
"Influenza A (H1N1) 2009 Monovalent Vaccine, a sterile suspension for intramuscular injection, is supplied in two presentations:
• 0.5 mL preservative-free, single-dose, pre-filled syringe.
• 5 mL multi-dose vial containing ten doses. Thimerosal, a mercury derivative, is added as a preservative; each 0.5 mL dose contains 24.5 micrograms (mcg) of mercury."
MERCURY VACCINE - 2mcgEPA says that safety limits are .1mcg per kg of weight per day, which makes this vaccine safe for anyone who weights 550 lbs!
Do you weight 550 lbs?
IF you are getting the shot, read the packaging, make sure it is Hg free. And think twice about getting this shot.
____________________________________________________________________ Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics Limited BLA 1750 September 2009 Influenza A (H1N1) Vaccine
"Influenza A (H1N1) 2009 Monovalent Vaccine, a sterile suspension for intramuscular injection, is supplied in two presentations:
• Prefilled single dose syringe, 0.5-mL. Thimerosal, a mercury derivative used during manufacture, is removed by subsequent purification steps to a trace amount (≤ 1 mcg mercury per 0.5-mL dose) (3, 11)
• Multidose vial, 5-mL. Contains thimerosal, a mercury derivative (25 mcg mercury per 0.5-mL dose). Thimerosal is added as preservative."
"a trace amount" - Mercury at nanomolar amounts can cause mitochondrial damage so severe that it causes cells to self destruct.
MERCURY VACCINE - 2mcgEPA says that safety limits are .1mcg per kg of weight
per day, which makes this vaccine safe for anyone who weights 550 lbs!
Do you weight 550 lbs?
____________________________________________________________________
Pay close attention to Section 17.2 where they discuss that patients are CONTAGIOUS after getting the nasal form of this vaccine.
This can actually ...spread the disease that the CDC is supposedly trying to prevent.
Note that the adverse reactions section reports that a side effect of the H1N1 flu shot in about ten percent of recipients is..... the flu itself.
___________________________________________________________________
IF you are getting the shot, read the packaging, make sure it is Hg free. And think twice about getting this shot.
I have heard it reported that that mercury in vaccines has been proven safe... this is absolutely false.
A reminder of what mercury does to brain cells:
I will update this page as information is made available
Many have cited three cases in which The Health and Human Service's vaccine court ruled out vaccines as a cause of a child's autism, but don't mention the 10 cases (discovered by CBS News) that were won in that court by children with autism.
Three of those 10 families have gone public, The Polings, The Banks and The Hiatts.
The Poling case is the only one that received mainstream media coverage.
Only ten days after we heard that the court said MMR doesn't cause autism, we heard that the same court said that MMR caused Baily Banks autism.
"In his conclusion, Special Master Abell wrote:
The Court found that Bailey's ADEM was both caused-in-fact and proximately caused by his vaccination. It is well-understood that the vaccination at issue can cause ADEM, and the Court found, based upon a full reading and hearing of the pertinent facts in this case, that it did actually cause the ADEM. Furthermore, Bailey's ADEM was severe enough to cause lasting, residual damage, and retarded his developmental progress, which fits under the generalized heading of Pervasive Developmental Delay, or PDD. The Court found that Bailey would not have suffered this delay but for the administration of the MMR vaccine, and that this chain of causation was not too remote, but was rather a proximate sequence of cause and effect leading inexorably from vaccination to Pervasive Developmental Delay.
And he added this:
Petitioner's theory of PDD caused by vaccine-related ADEM causally connects the vaccination and the ultimate injury, and does so by explaining a logical sequence of cause and effect showing that the vaccination was the ultimate reason for the injury.
Shouldn't we be shouting a collective, "WHAT?!" to The Department of Health and Human Services for their contradictory positions?
Here is the thing, when the Department of Health and Human Services puts the Department of Health and Human Services on trial, and the Department of Health and Human Services wins, that is not news. When they put themselves on trial and loose, as in the Poling, Banks and Hiatt cases THAT IS NEWS!
THOSE are the cases we should be demanding answers from the government on.
The Poling family has requested that their daughters case files can be made public so everyone can know the reasoning behind HHS's decision, but HHS isn't sharing any of their insight into WHY Hanna deserves a million 20 million bucks for her vaccine injury.
So let's not boil this debate down to scientist v. tv stars. There are MANY in the scientific and public health community who believe that vaccines are involved in the autism epidemic.
And apparently HHS itself does too because it keeps paying claims for autistic kids.
Please take a moment and check out the VICP's vaccine injury table for yourself. You will note that "encephalopathy" is listed as a compensated injury for DTaP and MMR.
Then scroll down to the middle of the page and look at the symptoms of encephalopathy for 18 month olds:
1. Loss of eye contact
2. Unresponsive to stimuli except for loud shouts
3. Seems disconnected from the world around him
THAT is a description of a child with "autism".
THAT was a description of MY son after his DTaP shot for which he was diagnosed with "autism".
The government has ruled that vaccines do and do not cause autism. Are You ok with that solid, definitive, case closed argument?
I REALLY hope not.
It is time for HHS to make the Poling documents public, and to answer to the public for their untenable, illogical position.
Induction of metallothionein in mouse cerebellum and cerebrum with low-dose thimerosal injection.
Cell Biol Toxicol. 2009 Apr 9.
Minami T, Miyata E, Sakamoto Y, Yamazaki H, Ichida S.
Department of Life Sciences, School of Science & Engineering, Kinki University, 3-4-1 Kowakae, Higashi-osaka, Osaka, 577-8502, Japan, minamita@life.kindai.ac.jp.
Thimerosal, an ethyl mercury compound, is used worldwide as a vaccine preservative. We previously observed that the mercury concentration in mouse brains did not increase with the clinical dose of thimerosal injection, but the concentration increased in the brain after the injection of thimerosal with lipopolysaccharide, even if a low dose of thimerosal was administered. Thimerosal may penetrate the brain, but is undetectable when a clinical dose of thimerosal is injected; therefore, the induction of metallothionein (MT) messenger RNA (mRNA) and protein was observed in the cerebellum and cerebrum of mice after thimerosal injection, as MT is an inducible protein. MT-1 mRNA was expressed at 6 and 9 h in both the cerebrum and cerebellum, but MT-1 mRNA expression in the cerebellum was three times higher than that in the cerebrum after the injection of 12 microg/kg thimerosal. MT-2 mRNA was not expressed until 24 h in both organs. MT-3 mRNA was expressed in the cerebellum from 6 to 15 h after the injection, but not in the cerebrum until 24 h. MT-1 and MT-3 mRNAs were expressed in the cerebellum in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, MT-1 protein was detected from 6 to 72 h in the cerebellum after 12 microg/kg of thimerosal was injected and peaked at 10 h. MT-2 was detected in the cerebellum only at 10 h. In the cerebrum, little MT-1 protein was detected at 10 and 24 h, and there were no peaks of MT-2 protein in the cerebrum. In conclusion, MT-1 and MT-3 mRNAs but not MT-2 mRNA are easily expressed in the cerebellum rather than in the cerebrum by the injection of low-dose thimerosal. It is thought that the cerebellum is a sensitive organ against thimerosal. As a result of the present findings, in combination with the brain pathology observed in patients diagnosed with autism, the present study helps to support the possible biological plausibility for how low-dose exposure to mercury from thimerosal-containing vaccines may be associated with autism.
It is with deep sadness that I inform the autism community that we have lost another hero. Dr. Frank Engley passed away last night. It is no exaggeration to say that Dr.Engley was the very first scientist to raise the alarm of the dangers of thimerosal with his landmark paper. This last year infused him with a sense of purpose and determination to alert the world that the use of thimerosal must be stopped. He was deeply saddened that the FDA never followed through with his recommendations on eliminating thimerosal from all human biologicals. It was my honor and privilege to know this incredible man. I will miss his brilliance and sense of humor. You are my hero Dr. Engley.
Linda Weinmaster
Vice President
No Mercury
Trustee; Alan D. Clark Research Foundation
From Anne Dachel:
The efforts of Dr. Engley to prevent this disaster will be a lasting
tribute to him. We need to remind the public of his early findings:
"Doctor Frank Engley a researcher and microbiologist who served on boards with the Centers for Disease Control, the FDA, and EPA throughout the 70s and 80s.
"I am afraid they have a tremendous amount of pressure being brought to bear by the medical profession, by the pediatricians, by congress, and by industry, and so they are under pressure&and someday they will have to live with the fact with what they said is wrong," Dr. Frank Engley.
Dr. Engley says the FDA knew about the dangers of thimerosal back in the 70s and 80s, when he served on its boards.
"Industries did not comment. They thought it was just generally going away. And it practically did. They came out with another report. The FDA about eight years later, and about 1998." Dr. Engley said.
"I would say to you, the FDA is partly to blame for the mecuricals still being on the market all that length of time. If they would have followed through with our 1982 report, vaccines would have been freed of thimerosal and all this autism as they tell me would not have occurred. But as it is, it all occurred," said Dr. Engley."
AOA has a piece on Dr. Sears Mothering article. He assumed aluminum had been safety tested before putting in vaccines.
Never assume that just because a toxin is being injected into babies at high levels, that it has been safety tested.
It appears that we have removed mercury, an adjuvant that causes autoimmune disorders, mitochondrial disorders and kills brain cells, and we have replaced it with aluminum, an adjuvant that causes autoimmune disorders, mitochondrial disorders and kills brain cells.
I should add that Heath Advocacy in the Public Interest randomly tested vaccines and found that one had 1,117 mcg of aluminum in it. (their site seems to be down right now)
UPDATE: I stand corrected by Quantumerik and Boyd Haley. I sent the question to Dr. Haley and this was his response:
"Thimerosal is not an adjuvant, it does not enhance the immune response to an antigen as does aluminum. It is only added as a preservative. The pharmaceutical companies and their supporters would like for thimerosal to be an adjuvant, then they could not be sued for adulterating their vaccines and all costs would have to fall on the government programs for vaccine injury. -boyd"
For those of you who may not understand the significance of this development, Julie Gerberding, the head of the CDC, has just taken down the tent pole arguement in the "vaccines don't cause autism" claim, on her own, with her bare hands.
I say let's get those congressional hearings underway and find out EXACTLY who knows what.
UPDATE: Welcome Orac readers! While you are here, I would like to invite you to take a moment and look at some of the research that supports the connection between vaccines and autism here: "No Evidence of Any Link"
And read about my beautiful son, his regression into autism, and his on going recovery from autism via medical intervention here: Chandler
If you are interesting in exploring the details of why we are so insistent that vaccines are one of the most common triggers of autism, please don't hesitate to contact me directly at mail@adventuresinautism.com so that i can direct you to helpful resources.
...Attached is a letter Mark Blaxill and I prepared and sent to the Pediatrics Journal in response to a Pichichero et al. study which claimed thimerosal (or ethyl mercury) left the body to fast to be toxic. Pediatrics refused to publish it which showed a total lack of support for any scientific debate in this journal for items concerning mercury toxicity causing autism. This same Pediatrics journal rejected the Nataf paper showing abnormal urinary porphyrin profiles in autistic children indicating they were mercury toxic. What the paper shows is that using Pichichero’s own data on fecal mercury excretion there was a definite retention of mercury in children receiving the normal vaccine schedule. Boyd Haley
Pichichero ME, Cernichiari E, Lopreiato J, Treanor J.
Department of Microbiology/Immunology, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, NY, USA. michael_pichichero@urmc.rochester.edu
BACKGROUND: Thiomersal is a preservative containing small amounts of ethylmercury that is used in routine vaccines for infants and children. The effect of vaccines containing thiomersal on concentrations of mercury in infants' blood has not been extensively assessed, and the metabolism of ethylmercury in infants is unknown. We aimed to measure concentrations of mercury in blood, urine, and stools of infants who received such vaccines. METHODS: 40 full-term infants aged 6 months and younger were given vaccines that contained thiomersal (diptheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis vaccine, hepatitis B vaccine, and in some children Haemophilus influenzae type b vaccine). 21 control infants received thiomersal-free vaccines. We obtained samples of blood, urine, and stools 3-28 days after vaccination. Total mercury (organic and inorganic) in the samples was measured by cold vapour atomic absorption. FINDINGS: Mean mercury doses in infants exposed to thiomersal were 45.6 microg (range 37.5-62.5) for 2-month-olds and 111.3 microg (range 87.5-175.0) for 6-month-olds. Blood mercury in thiomersal-exposed 2-month-olds ranged from less than 3.75 to 20.55 nmol/L (parts per billion); in 6-month-olds all values were lower than 7.50 nmol/L. Only one of 15 blood samples from controls contained quantifiable mercury. Concentrations of mercury were low in urine after vaccination but were high in stools of thiomersal-exposed 2-month-olds (mean 82 ng/g dry weight) and in 6-month-olds (mean 58 ng/g dry weight). Estimated blood half-life of ethylmercury was 7 days (95% CI 4-10 days). INTERPRETATION: Administration of vaccines containing thiomersal does not seem to raise blood concentrations of mercury above safe values in infants. Ethylmercury seems to be eliminated from blood rapidly via the stools after parenteral administration of thiomersal in vaccines.
Blaxil and Haley's submission to Pediatrics:
Infant stool eliminates vaccinal mercury slowly suggesting high retention in tissue
To the editor,
In a study in The Lancet, Pichichero et al 1 argued that ethylmercury administered to infants through vaccines is eliminated rapidly from the blood and effectively excreted in stool. Our analysis of this data, combined with a more recent analysis2 of mercury excretion in baby hair suggests a more worrisome interpretation, one that offers support for the hypothesis3 linking early mercury exposures with autism.
Our calculations suggest that Pichichero et al. overstated the significance of their excretion findings. Although their data support a rapid rate of ethylmercury elimination from blood, instead of similarly rapid stool elimination, their findings demonstrate slow stool excretion in many infants, suggesting that significant amounts of ethylmercury from vaccines may be retained in infant tissue.
Most methyl mercury is eliminated from the body through stool and ethyl mercury from vaccines most likely follows the same path. Both mercury species must pass out of the blood to allow excretion in feces or (in lesser amounts) hair. 4 Nevertheless elimination from blood also allows for mercury transport into tissue, without prompt excretion. Our analysis of mercury excretion in autistic and control baby hair demonstrated that, although mercury was excreted at high rates in hair of normal infants, hair of autistic infants contained very little mercury, only 0.47 mcg/g versus 3.63 mcg/g in controls. This finding raises the possibility of increased mercury retention in the tissue of autistic infants, who also had higher rates of prenatal mercury exposure.
Pichichero et al provide data specific to infant mercury excretion through feces. They measured mercury concentrations in stool of 22 normal infants exposed to thimerosal in vaccines, ages two and six months, and found a range of 23-141 nanograms of mercury per gram of stool (dry weight). The authors interpreted these levels, mere parts per billion, as positive evidence of mercury elimination.
But these mercury concentrations are extremely low, not nearly enough to allow rapid excretion. Infant dry weight stool volumes have been measured at between 1-3 grams per kilogram (kg) per day.5 Based on the 50th percentile weight progression from 3.5-8 kg in the zero-six month period, infant stool volumes may be expected to range from 6-18 grams (dry weight) per day. Taking the stool concentration range for mercury from Pichichero et al, we calculated the time required for an infant to excrete the ethylmercury (187.5 mcg) that U.S. infants received by six months of age during the 1990s.
Stool Hg concentration Daily Hg excretion Days to excrete 187.5 mcg (ng/g) (mcg/day) (days)
In the case of maximum excretion, early vaccine exposures are eliminated within the time period of exposure, but for those children with stool concentrations at the low end of the range, the infant elimination rate rises to nearly four years. For autistic infants, with evidence of reduced excretion in hair and additional fetal exposures2 (from maternal amalgam filling, fish consumption and Rho D immunoglobulin injections) these excretion times were likely far longer.
Our analysis contradicts the optimism expressed by Pichichero et al and suggests that low mercury excretion rates in some infants may underlie the link between mercury exposures and autism.
Mark F. Blaxill Director, Safe Minds
Boyd E. Haley, PhD Professor of Chemistry and Department Chairman University of Kentucky
References: 1. Pichichero ME, Cernichiari E, Lopreiato J, Treanor J. Mercury concentrations and metabolism in infants receiving vaccines containing thiomersal: a descriptive study. Lancet. 2002;360(9347):1737-1741 2. Holmes AS, Blaxill MF, Haley BE. Reduced levels of mercury in first baby haircuts of autistic children. Int J Toxic. 2003;111(4):277-285 3. Bernard S, Enayati A, Redwood L, Roger H, Binstock T. Autism: a novel form of mercury poisoning. Med Hypotheses. 2001;56:462-471 4. Clarkson TW. The three modern faces of mercury. Environ Health Perspect. 2002;110 Suppl 1:11-23 5. Chou C, Studies on the use of soybean food in infant feeding in China and the development of formula 5410. Food Nutr Bull. 1983;5(1) :10-11 http://www.unu.edu/unupress/food/8F051e/8F051E00.htm - Contents
...that not every vaccine is safe for every child.
Honey Renecella, mother of twins with vaccine induced autism and Suzanne Walter, mother of a girl whom she did not vaccinate who subsequently contracted meningitis, appeared together on The Today Show yesterday to tell their stories and talk about vaccine safety.
I am not sure if the show's bookers were expecting a cat fight, but what they got was anything but...
See The Today Show Part 2 to see Honey try to hold in her anger at the statements of head of the AAP who claims that all vaccines are for every child.
Yesterday, in a segment on autism and vaccines on the Today Show, Dr. David Tayloe, President Elect of the American Academy of Pediatrics, was asked the following question:
"Do you believe that all vaccines should be used on every child?"
His complete response:
"Yes. I think any of the vaccines we have today have been tested and proven to be safe, and the credible studies don't show any relationship between vaccines and permanent injury. So we favor this and we know that unless we have vaccination rates that are in the 90 to 95% range we are not going to prevent epidemics from coming into this country of measles, of polio, from countries where these diseases are still endemic. So its very important that we vaccinate all our children."
Repeating: No "relationship between vaccines and permanent injury".
This is probably the most glaring falsehood that I have heard in the vaccine debate yet, stated by the chief pediatrician in the US, to whom all other pediatricians look to for guidance in how to treat their patients.
Has Dr. Tayloe has never heard of the Federal Program called the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, the sole purpose of which it to compensate people for the permanent injuries that they sustain from approved vaccines?
"The Vaccine Injury Table (Table) makes it easier for some people to get compensation. The Table lists and explains injuries/conditions that are presumed to be caused by vaccines. It also lists time periods in which the first symptom of these injuries/conditions must occur after receiving the vaccine. If the first symptom of these injuries/conditions occurs within the listed time periods, it is presumed that the vaccine was the cause of the injury or condition unless another cause is found. For example, if you received the tetanus vaccines and had a severe allergic reaction (anaphylaxis) within 4 hours after receiving the vaccine, then it is presumed that the tetanus vaccine caused the injury if no other cause is found."
A quick rundown of a few of the covered reactions:
DTaP, Tdap, DTP-Hib, MMR, MR, R - Anaphylactic shock, encephalopathy, any accute complication or sequela of above events(including death).
Rubella vaccines - Chronic arthritis, any acute complication or sequela (including death) of above event.
Measles vaccines - Thrombocytopenic purpura, Mealses, any acute complication or sequela (including death) of above event.
Live Virus Polio vaccines - Polio.
Inactivated Virus Polio vaccines - Anaphylactic shock, any acute complication or sequela of above events(including death).
I am pretty sure that "Death" could be considered permanent injury.
Here is a random sample of insert quotes. Let's start with the one that sent my two week old Chandler into three months worth of fevers and crying and two years of constipation:
"Multiple Sclerosis: Although no causal relationship has been established, rare instances of exacerbation of multiple sclerosis have been reported following administration of hepatitis B vaccines and other vaccines. In persons with multiple sclerosis, the benefit of immunization for prevention of hepatitis B infection and sequelae must be weighed against the risk of exacerbation of the disease."
"Carcinogenesis, Mutagenesis, Impairment of Fertility: ENGERIX-B has not been evaluated for carcinogenic or mutagenic potential, or for impairment of fertility."
"Postmarketing Reports: Additional adverse experiences have been reported with the commercial use of ENGERIX-B. Those listed below are to serve as alerting information to physicians.
Hypersensitivity: Anaphylaxis; erythema multiforme including Stevens-Johnson syndrome; angioedema; arthritis. An apparent hypersensitivity syndrome (serum sickness–like) of delayed onset has been reported days to weeks after vaccination, including: arthralgia/arthritis (usually transient), fever, and dermatologic reactions such as urticaria, erythema multiforme, ecchymoses, and erythema nodosum (see CONTRAINDICATIONS). Cardiovascular System: Tachycardia/palpitations. Respiratory System: Bronchospasm including asthma-like symptoms. Gastrointestinal System: Abnormal liver function tests; dyspepsia. Nervous System: Migraine; syncope; paresis; neuropathy including hypoesthesia, paresthesia, Guillain-Barré syndrome and Bell’s palsy, transverse myelitis; optic neuritis; multiple sclerosis; seizures. Hematologic: Thrombocytopenia. Skin and Appendages: Eczema; purpura; herpes zoster; erythema nodosum; alopecia. Special Senses: Conjunctivitis; keratitis; visual disturbances; vertigo; tinnitus; earache."
"CONTRAINDICATIONS - Hypersensitivity to any component of the vaccine, including yeast, is a contraindication. This vaccine is contraindicated in patients with previous hypersensitivity to any hepatitis B-containing vaccine."
(Even though my baby, in no uncertain terms, showed "hypersensitivity", his doctors continued to administer the vaccine to him until his regression at 18 months).
This is given to babies that are hours old. And remember, the head of the AAP says, even though the package insert says differently, that the vaccine is safe for every child and no permanent injury will occur.
"Controlled studies on FLUVIRIN® have not been conducted to demonstrate safety in pregnant women."
"CONTRAINDICATIONS INFLUENZA VIRUS IS PROPAGATED IN EGGS FOR THE PREPARATION OF INFLUENZA VIRUS VACCINE. THUS, THIS VACCINE SHOULD NOT BE ADMINISTERED TO ANYONE WITH A HISTORY OF HYPERSENSITIVITY (ALLERGY) TO CHICKEN EGGS, CHICKEN, CHICKEN FEATHERS OR CHICKEN DANDER. THE VACCINE IS ALSO CONTRAINDICATED IN INDIVIDUALS HYPERSENSITIVE TO ANY COMPONENT OF THE VACCINE INCLUDING THIMEROSAL (A MERCURY DERIVATIVE) (SEE ADVERSE REACTIONS). EPINEPHRINE INJECTION (1:1000) MUST BE IMMEDIATELY AVAILABLE SHOULD AN ACUTE ANAPHYLACTIC REACTION OCCUR DUE TO ANY COMPONENT OF THE VACCINE. IMMUNIZATION SHOULD BE DELAYED IN PERSONS WITH AN ACTIVE NEUROLOGICAL DISORDER CHARACTERIZED BY CHANGING NEUROLOGICAL FINDINGS, BUT SHOULD BE CONSIDERED WHEN THE DISEASE PROCESS HAS BEEN STABILIZED. THE OCCURRENCE OF ANY NEUROLOGICAL SYMPTOMS OR SIGNS FOLLOWING ADMINISTRATION OF ANY VACCINE IS A CONTRAINDICATION TO FURTHER USE. THE VACCINE SHOULD NOT BE ADMINISTERED TO PERSONS WITH ACUTE FEBRILE ILLNESSES UNTIL THEIR TEMPORARY SYMPTOMS AND/OR SIGNS HAVE ABATED."
WARNINGS Influenza Virus Vaccine should not be given to individuals with thrombocytopenia or any coagulation disorder that would contraindicate intramuscular injection unless, in the judgment of the physician, the potential benefits clearly outweigh the risk of administration. Patients with impaired immune responsiveness, whether due to the use of immunosuppressive therapy (including irradiation, corticosteroids, antimetabolites, alkylating agents, and cytotoxic agents), a genetic defect, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, or other causes, may have a reduced antibody response in active immunization procedures.
But if Dr. Tayloe is right, the package insert should be changed to read:
"CONTRAINDICATIONS None."
"WARNINGS None."
P.S.:
"No studies regarding the simultaneous administration of inactivated influenza vaccine and other childhood vaccines have been conducted."
"CONTRAINDICATIONS Hypersensitivity to any component of the vaccine, including gelatin. Do not give M-M-R II to pregnant females; the possible effects of the vaccine on fetal development are unknown at this time. If vaccination of postpubertal females is undertaken, pregnancy should be avoided for three months following vaccination (see INDICATIONS AND USAGE, Non-Pregnant Adolescent and Adult Females and PRECAUTIONS, Pregnancy). Anaphylactic or anaphylactoid reactions to neomycin (each dose of reconstituted vaccine contains approximately 25 mcg of neomycin). Febrile respiratory illness or other active febrile infection. However, the ACIP has recommended that all vaccines can be administered to persons with minor illnesses such as diarrhea, mild upper respiratory infection with or without low-grade fever, or other low-grade febrile illness. Patients receiving immunosuppressive therapy. This contraindication does not apply to patients who are receiving corticosteroids as replacement therapy, e.g., for Addison's disease. Individuals with blood dyscrasias, leukemia, lymphomas of any type, or other alignant neoplasms affecting the bone marrow or lymphatic systems. Primary and acquired immunodeficiency states, including patients who are immunosuppressed in association with AIDS or other clinical manifestations of infection with human immunodeficiency viruses;41-43 cellular immune deficiencies; and hypogammaglobulinemic and dysgammaglobulinemic states. Measles inclusion body encephalitis60 (MIBE), pneumonitis61 and death as a direct consequence of disseminated measles vaccine virus infection have been reported in immunocompromised individuals inadvertently vaccinated with measles-containing vaccine. Individuals with a family history of congenital or hereditary immunodeficiency, until the immune competence of the potential vaccine recipient is emonstrated."
"WARNINGS Due caution should be employed in administration of M-M-R II to persons with a history of cerebral injury, individual or family histories of convulsions, or any other condition in which stress due to fever should be avoided. The physician should be alert to the temperature elevation which may occur following vaccination (see ADVERSE REACTIONS). Hypersensitivity to Eggs Live measles vaccine and live mumps vaccine are produced in chick embryo cell culture. Persons with a history of anaphylactic, anaphylactoid, or other immediate reactions (e.g., hives, swelling of the mouth and throat, difficulty breathing, hypotension, or shock) subsequent to egg ingestion may be at an enhanced risk of immediate-type hypersensitivity reactions after receiving vaccines containing traces of chick embryo antigen. The potential risk to benefit ratio should be carefully evaluated before considering vaccination in such cases. Such individuals may be vaccinated with extreme caution, having adequate treatment on hand should a reaction occur"
"The AAP states, "Persons who have experienced anaphylactic reactions to topically or systemically administered neomycin should not receive measles vaccine."
Now that Dr. Tayloe is running the AAP, will they remove that statement from the insert?
I have not even gotten to the sections on Adverse Reactions yet, but I have already made my point.
Oh, yeah... and then last week the Hannah Poling case broke.
It is factual to say that in come cases, approved vaccines DO result in permanent injury and that not all vaccines are safe for all children.
Dr. Tayloe is wrong.
Either he knows about the things which I have written above, in which case he has lied to the American public and he has no place being the head of the AAP, or he does not know the things which I have written above, in which case he is incompetent to be the head of the AAP.
... and there is not a chance in hell that he does not know about all that I have written here.
Additionally, allow me to draw your attention to the second half of Dr. Tayloe's statement:
"So we favor this and we know that unless we have vaccination rates that are in the 90 to 95% range we are not going to prevent epidemics from coming into this country of measles, of polio, from countries where these diseases are still endemic. So its very important that we vaccinate all our children."
Note the goal of his vaccination policy, not to serve the best interest of your individual child, but to protect this country of a viral epidemic.
Keep in mind, that when your are in the pediatricians office and he is looking at your child and making decisions on how to treat him, the AAP, his professional organization has taught him that your baby is not his client. That 'society' is his client. And that depending on how ethical he is or how sharp his critical thinking skills are, he may not actually be serving your child, but "the greater good".
We have been lobbying the AAP to reevaluate vaccines and move in a more cautious direction in making recommendations for their doctors.
If the election of Dr. Tayloe and his criminal pronouncements are the response to the AAP of parents increasingly loud protestations of their destructive direction, then it is time to start ignoring the AAP.
There are many, many pediatrician out there who genuinely want to work in the best interests of their patients, and as difficult as it was for me and Honey to hear Dr. Tayloe lie on tv, it must have been more difficult for them to have heard. They know that serious vaccine reactions exist, and they just watched the man that represents them tell a very stupid lie to the entire country.
(please excuse any typos, etc, as I have not had a chance to proof this. I reserve the right to make corrections)
Dr. Stephen Novella on his blog NeuroLogica has posted his evaluation of the Poling case and why he believes it does not support the vaccine autism connection.
Dr. Jon Poling has responded as seen on The Age of Autism countering the arguement and expanding on the information that has been available publicly on the case.
It is a discussion between two neurologists and I will need to read them each 5 times before I can even begin to comment on the conversation.
But I will note two things.
First, I am impressed that Dr. Poling lists his potential conflicts of interest at the end of his letter. I think that every medical professional should do that as a part of their signature (For example I would sign Ginger Taylor, B.S., M.S., Mother of regressive autistic child who suspects vaccines had a causal relationship to ASD, Has Google Ads on her autism blog).
Second, for all of his in depth analysis of the medical facts in this case, Dr. Novella failed to correctly discern the sex of the child in question. He refers to Hannah several times as "he" and "the child", never as a female. He criticizes David Kirby's articles about the case, but did not read them thoughtfully enough to see that Mr. Kirby was clearly talking about a girl.
I will reserve this space for further comment as I come to understand this case further.
No. But David Kirby and other anti-vaccinationist ideologues and members of the so-called mercury militia would like you to think so. For background, the Autism Omnibus refers to a set of hearings before the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program regarding claims by about 5000 parents that their childrens’ autism was caused by vaccines. These claims are primarily based upon the various hypotheses that the MMR vaccine, or thimerosal in some vaccines (but not MMR), or the combination of both, is a cause of autism.
So far there have been hearings, but only one final decision. In November the US government settled one case in favor of the petitioner. This is the case those who have supported the failed hypothesis that vaccines cause autism now point to as admission that they were right all along (or at least as a means of stoking the flames of fear about vaccines.) But the US government did not admit vaccines cause autism - they conceded one case that is highly complex and not necessarily representative of any other case and cannot be reasonably used to support the vaccine/autism connection.
David Kirby, author of Evidence of Harm, wrote a highly misleading article the other day in the Huffington Post on this issue. Orac has already done an excellent job of tearing down Kirby’s claims. He points out that legal cases are often decided for legal - not necessarily scientific - reasons. That the government only conceded that “compensation is appropriate.” That is all - they conceded nothing about the larger question of vaccines and autism. Orac also points out that if this case were a concession of a connection why would the petitioner’s lawyers settle and give away a case that could win them all their other cases?
David Kirby has also written a follow up article, where he publishes verbatim the US government’s decision. Kirby asks his readers:
If you feel this document suggests that some kind of link may be possible, you might consider forwarding it to your elected representatives for further investigation.
But, of course, if you feel that this document in no way implicates vaccines, then let’s just keep going about our business as usual and not pay any attention to all those sick kids behind the curtain.
I think Kirby is hoping that most people will not have the patience or medical background to read and understand the entire document, and that they will come away with a vague notion that there must be something to all this vaccine fear-mongering. What does the document really tell us?
To summarize the case history, the child in the case appeared normal and healthy, except for chronic otitis media, until about 20 months of age at which time he had a series of vaccines according to the routine vaccination schedule. Two days later the child had a fever to 102.3, was lethargic, irritable, and would arch his back when he cried. The child then developed a rash. It was later determined that the child had: “encephalopathy progressed to persistent loss of previously acquired language, eye contact, and relatedness.” The child regressed and developed symptoms similar to those of autism spectrum disorder. However, the child does not have autism - he has a regressive neurological disorder that includes blood and muscle abnormalities not seen in autism, and any clinical resemblance to autism is not a reflection of a common cause.
Six years after symptoms began the child also developed partial temporal lobe epilepsy that required treatment.
During this time the child also had an extensive workup, which discovered:
A CSF organic acids test, on January 8, 2002, displayed an increased lactate to pyruvate ratio of 28,1 which can be seen in disorders of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation.
A muscle biopsy test for oxidative phosphorylation disease revealed abnormal results for Type One and Three.
In February 2004, a mitochondrial DNA (”mtDNA”) point mutation analysis revealed a single nucleotide change in the 16S ribosomal RNA gene (T2387C)
It if often difficult or impossible to draw firm conclusions from a single case, so I will lay out what I see as all the possible alternative hypotheses to explain this information.
1) One possibility is that the child was perfectly normal prior to the vaccines, which caused an encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) which caused brain damage, including the later seizures. The metabolic disorder and mutation may be a red herring and have no bearing on the child’s clinical condition.
2) The mitochondrial disorder predisposed the child to have a reaction from the vaccines, resulting in encephalitis. The subsequent neurological regression was due to some combination of the vaccine-induced encephalitis and the underlying mitochondrial disorder.
3) The child’s mitochondrial mutation is the primary cause of their neurological regression, but that this regression was exacerbated by the vaccine-induced encephalitis (this seems to be the US government’s conclusion).
4) The child has a mitochondrial encephalopathy which is the sole cause of all of the child’s neurological signs and symptoms. The reaction to the vaccines may have played no role at all in the subsequent regression, and the child’s current neurological condition is exactly what it would have been had they never been vaccinated. It is even possible that the encephalitis was merely the first manifestation of the mitochondrial disorder and the timing after the vaccines was merely coincidental.
That lays out the spectrum of possibilities in this case. At this point in time we do not have (or at least I am not privy to) sufficient scientific information to say definitively where along this spectrum the truth lies. The US government’s decision was based partly on this uncertainty - erring on the side of compensating the child and family.
But we can discuss the plausibility of each scenario. Kirby dismisses anything resembling option 4, but his dismissal is naive and unjustified. In fact the patient’s clinical syndrome resembles what is called a mitochondrial encephalopathy - with increased lactic acid, abnormal muscle biopsy, neurological regression, appropriate age of onset, even seizures. It is probably not a coincidence that the child has a point mutation in a gene that has been previously linked to these very mitochondrial disorders. Kirby incorrectly argues:
While it’s true that some inherited forms of Mt disease can manifest as developmental delays, (and even ASD in the form of Rhett Syndrome) these forms are linked to identified genetic mutations, of which T2387C is not involved. In fact little, if anything, is known about the function of this particular gene.
This is misleading. Kirby refers to “this particular gene” which makes me think that he believes T2387C is a gene. It’s not - it describes a point mutation (at location 2387 a thymidine has replaced a cytosine). The gene is the 16S ribosomal RNA gene. Mutations in this gene have been identified to cause mitochondrial encephalopathy. So Kirby is just wrong. It is true that I could not find that this specific mutation has been identified before, but that is common in genetics - a disease is linked to point mutations in a specific gene (or perhaps specific regions of a gene) but most or all families identified have their own specific mutation.
This makes option 4 very plausible - it would be an incredible coincidence if this child just happened to have a mutation in a gene that was known to cause their exact constellation of neurological signs and symptoms and yet the mutation was not the sole or primary cause of those symptoms.
But it does not rule out option 3 - that the mitochondrial disorder was the primary cause of the child’s neurological disorder but that a reaction to the vaccines worsened the ultimate symptoms. Therefore the government’s decision was reasonable - but is absolutely not a concession about any claim made by the petitioners concerning a link between vaccines an autism.
It does, however, make any hypothesis resembling option 1 or 2 extremely unlikely. Further testing regarding the physiological effects of this child’s specific mutation would be helpful, and such testing may be under way but I could find nothing published to date. It is theoretically possible that the identified mutation does not cause a change in the gene product or mitochondrial function, and is therefore just a coincidence. But this is unlikely given the clinical features in this case are a good match to known mutations of that gene.
Kirby, however, apparently wants to wring as much fear and confusion out of these events as he possibly can. So now he speculates wildly that maybe children diagnosed with autism really have this mitochondrial disorder combined with vaccines (he has to keep vaccines in the loop). Given the rarity of such mutations, and the fact that there were specific features in this case that would likely be uncovered in the routine evaluation of a child with autism (like an elevated lactic acid), it is highly unlikely that there are many children with vaccine-triggered mitochondrial encephalopathy mimicking autism out there.
It has been found that some children with autism have mitochondrial dysfunction - one study found that 7.2% of subjects with autism had “definite mitochondrial respiratory chain disorder.” Poling et al, in response to this child’s case, did a retrospective study of children with autism and with other neurological disorders and found that “Aspartate aminotransferase was elevated in 38% of patients with autism compared with 15% of controls.” Such findings are preliminary - the only conclusions that can be drawn is that the association between autism and metabolic disorders requires further investigation. However, these studies did not look at the incidence of suspicious mitochondial mutations in autism, and these findings may not be relevant to this case.
Kirby also wildly speculates that perhaps the evil toxins in vaccines caused the mutation in the first place. He writes:
Use of the AIDS drug AZT, for example, can cause Mt disorders by deleting large segments of mitochondrial DNA. If that is the case, might other exposures to drugs or toxins (i.e., thimerosal, mercury in fish, air pollution, pesticides, live viruses) also cause sporadic Mt disease in certain subsets of children, through similar genotoxic mechanisms?
Among stiff competition, this is perhaps the most absurd and scientifically ignorant thing Kirby has every written. AZT does NOT cause a genetic disorder. AZT blocks DNA replication (it blocks the copying of DNA) - that is its mechanism as an anti-retroviral drug. In patients it can also block mitochondrial DNA replication, thereby causing mitochondrial depletion. This results in there being too few mitochondria (the energy factories of cells) in some cell populations and causes dysfunction in tissue that is especially susceptible to the effects of this dearth of mitochondria. This is a side effect of AZT and also other retrovirals because of sustained use at doses designed to inhibit DNA replication. This does result in some effects that are similar to mitochondrial genetic disorders - because both result in insufficient mitochondrial activity. But that is the only similarity. AZT does not cause a disseminated somatic mutation, which is the incredible analogy that Kirby is making.
What Kirby is suggesting is that in infants and toddlers toxins can cause the same point mutation in millions of different cells throughout the body. Toxin-induced mutations do not cause genetic diseases, unless they occur in a germ cell in which case a mother or father can pass the mutation onto their children. If it occurs in the womb then large cell populations may be affected (whatever cells derive from the cell that had the mutation). But in a child a point mutation would affect only one cell and any cells that derive from it. A toxic mutagen would cause different random point mutations in different cells. This could not cause the mitrochondrial encephalopathy in this child. It can increase the risk of cancer, because cancer can develop from a single mutation in a single cell that causes it to become neoplastic.
Conclusion
This is a unique and idiosyncratic case that raises more questions than it answers. In my opinion as a neurologist, with the information provided, the child has a mitochondrial encephalopathy. The role of the vaccines is unclear, but at worst a rare vaccine reaction exacerbated the underlying mitochondrial disorder. This case has no clear implication for the larger question concerning vaccines and autism, which is likely why both sides agreed to settle.
Yet those who insist, despite the evidence, on claiming that vaccines or mercury are linked to autism are likely to add this permanently to their litany of misinformation and fear-mongering.
Note: I am searching for any follow up information pertinent to this case and will post any addendum here.
DR. JON POLING TO DR. STEVEN NOVELLA ON AGE OF AUTISM
PolingsBy Dr. Jon Poling, father of Hannah Poling.
OPEN LETTER TO DR. STEVEN NOVELLA IN RESPONSE TO "Has the Government Conceded Vaccines Cause Autism?"
Dr. Novella,
Thank you for generating interesting discussion regarding my little girl, Hannah Poling. I would like to give you additional information in order to generate further productive discussions on this matter amongst the neurology community. This information should assist you, Dr. DiMauro, and Dr. Trevethan, who have also commented publicly, to formulate better theories as to the significance of Hannah’s mitochondrial dysfunction in relation to her autism.
1. Mito Dysfunction or Mito Disease? Chicken or Egg?
To begin with, I would like to point out that the spectrum of mitochondrial dysfunction is probably considered more broad and complex than the spectrum of neurobehavioral abnormalities seen with autism. Dysfunction of the mitochondria, specifically dysfunction of the oxidative phosphorylation pathway, most likely contributes, but may not be the cause of many diseases—including Parkinson’s disease, Friedreich’s Ataxia, Alzheimer disease, etc. Thus, it is probably incorrect to refer to mitochondrial dysfunctional and mitochondrial disease interchangeably. Indeed, the role of the dysfunctional mitochondrial are yet to be clarified in these diseases. Thus, I will refer to Hannah’s metabolic condition as a mitochondrial dysfunction, not a mitochondrial disease.
ADDITIONAL GENETIC TESTING NOT AVAILABLE IN THE J CHILD NEUROL CASE REPORT: Dr. Shoffner performed genetic testing on both Hannah’s muscle and her mother’s leukocytes subsequent to our case report. Hannah (muscle mtDNA) and her mother (leukocyte mtDNA) were both found to be HOMOPLASMIC for the mtDNA T2387C transition mutation. Our analysis of this genetic finding in the mtDNA was significantly different than those of other physicians that I’ve seen in scientific blogs or commentary. I suspect it would have been fatal to both Hannah and her mother if this homoplasmic mutation was pathogenic since (as I am sure you are aware) the mutation is on the 16S ribosomal subunit which is highly conserved. Thus, this mutation probably represents a benign polymorphism rather than pathogenic mutation. It is unlikely, but possible, that the mutation is significant to Hannah, but in such a case, it must work in concert with other nuclear genes to cause her mitochondrial dysfunction. To our knowledge, this point mutation has not been reported in cases similar to Hannah’s.
3. Encephalitis? Metabolic Encephalopathy? Or “Regressive Encephalopathy with Features of Autism Spectrum Disorder”
The other interesting term you used was encephalitis rather than encephalopathy. We are not sure that she had an “-itis” but we did clearly document a regressive encephalopathy based on not only our parental reporting, but also based on the pediatrician’s documents, affidavits from other family members, and the growth curve measurements (injury pattern). Early on in the regression we did note back arching (opisthotonus), fever, and disrupted sleep. Although fever occurred a lumbar puncture was not performed.
An interesting developing story in autism research is the immune/inflammatory connection. In her senior resident thesis, Dr. Anne Comi, a former JHU colleague, along with Dr. Andy Zimmerman, reported, the increased prevalence of autoimmune disease in families of autistic offspring. Interesting, Hannah also has a maternal family history of autoimmune disease. Dr. Carlos Pardo, another one of my former chief residents, along with Andy and Dr. Vargas, published a beautiful study in the Archives of Neurology, demonstrating neuroinflammation on autopsy of brain samples and inflammation cytokine markers in the CSF of individuals with Autism. The interesting thing was that inflammation was demonstrated in autopsy specimens from adults as old as 44 years of age. The conclusion was that further research would be required to determine if inflammation was a primary disorder in autism or; alternatively, if inflammation and microglial activation was secondary to neurodegeneration. Dr. Sudhir Gupta at UC Irvine has a nice model of how the two pathways of neuroinflammation and mito dysfunction may not be mutually exclusive. This remains to be seen; however, study of mitochondrial dysfunction and neuroinflammation hold the promise of treatment development. The two avenues of research deserve funding at the highest levels.
4. How many Hannah Polings are out there?
The short answer is that nobody knows. However, there is emerging data to suggest that she is not alone.
Dr. Shoffner will be presenting his experience with 37 patients with combined autism and mitochondrial dysfunction at the AAN meeting in Chicago this April. 65% of his referrals are positive for mitochondrial dysfunction. Of course, his yield is subject to referral bias as a mito expert, so the prevalence of mitochondrial dysfunction in Autism is surely less than 65%.
The best estimate to date of the prevalence of mitochondrial dysfunction in autistic patients comes from Oliviera et al. in a population of 120, 5 of 69 (or 7.2%) showed mitochondrial dysfunction. If this is generalized to the US estimate of 1 million patients with ASDs, then the number of kids like Hannah could be 72,000! Isn’t this worth further study?
Dr. Shoffner furthermore advocates, along with us, that vaccination is important even for kids with mitochondrial dysfunction. I would argue that you should not give nine at one time and that none of them should contain Thimerosal (mercury).
5. Thimerosal—On or Off the Table?
I don’t want to dwell on mercury, as this theory is not why HHS conceded Hannah’s case (imo). Dr. DiContanzo just wrote an interesting blog about how his opinion of mercury in vaccines has changed (http://drugs.about.com/b/2008/03/08/mercury-in-vaccines-and-autism-the-burden-of-proof-may-shift.htm).
My opinion is that mercury is a potent neurotoxin. Therefore, don’t inject it into kids! Interestingly, basic research studies have shown that Thimerosal toxicity occurs through mitochondrial pathways. Officials point to the large epidemiology studies as proof that there is no link between thimerosal and autism. However, these studies are not powered to disprove the null hypothesis when considering that the mitochondrial autistic population may be just a small percent of the case totals. Remember that while the CDC sponsored Verstraten study is hyped as a negative study, it DID find a statistically significant increase in childhood tics in those exposed to higher doses of thimerosal.
6. Hannah was destined to regress? Or was she?
Some experts have already stated that ‘mitochondrial disease’ is degenerative so the vaccine reaction was just the start of an inevitable decline. This was neither the opinion of Dr. Richard Kelley at KKI nor Dr. John Shoffner. In fact, the markers that led us down the mitochondrial trail (inc AST but not ALT, low serum bicarbonate, and slight increased CK, increase in the alanine to lysine ratio on PAA) are no longer present. Furthermore, in our pilot study (unpublished but mentioned in the J child neurol paper), Dr. Frye (the statistician for our study and also a child neurologist) found a non-significant trend that AST decreased toward normal with increasing age. With further studies we hoped to examine the hypothesis that this abnormality may be representative of a developing/immature biochemical pathway present in some children.
7. Triple Hit Hypothesis—#1Underlying genetic susceptibility #2Insult must occur during specific developmental period #3 A certain vaccination or combination thereof is the environmental trigger (?vaccine component like thimerosal ?direct immune stim/fever reaction ?live virus reaction?)
The implication is that Hannah’s type of autism requires a genetic susceptibility and properly timed insult to manifest disease. We have not subjected Hannah to another muscle biopsy or re-examined ox phos functional assays that were published in the paper. I can inform your readers though that the serum biochemical markers have resolved, growth resumed and continues along a normal trajectory, and there have been no other episodes of regression since 2000. We are however left with autism and later in 2006, epilepsy. It is recommended that studies be initiated immediately to screen siblings of cases to identify biochemical markers so as to identify potential screening tests.
I agree with the mainstream that my daughter’s case has raised many intelligent discussions and questions. I’m very proud of her for starting this discussion. Our hope is that further research into this case and others like it, we will be also to find screening tests to prevent what happened to my daughter from happening to anybody else.
(Dr. Poling acknowledges the editorial comments and insightful suggestions of Dr. Richard E. Frye. He also would like to declare his conflicts of interest. First of all, he is the father of Hannah Poling. Dr. Poling has also accepted consultancy or speakers honoraria from Pfizer, Eisai, Ortho-McNeil, Biogen, Teva, Immunex (now Amgen), and Allergan.)
PS While I thought it useful to clarify some of the neurological issues raised by the government's concession of my daughter's case, please understand that I will not be able to respond to individual comments posted. Thank-you. Jon
