David Baxter PhD
Late Founder
Study Finds No Vaccine Link to Guillain-Barr?
By NICHOLAS BAKALAR - NYTimes.com
June 27, 2013
Concerns about a connection between flu vaccines and the neurological disorder Guillain-Barr? syndrome have been widely publicized since a small but significant association was found after the 1976 swine flu epidemic.
But now a 12-year retrospective study, published in the July 15 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, has found no link between the syndrome and the flu vaccine or other vaccines.
Using data from a large California health care system ? covering more than 30 million person-years ? researchers identified 415 confirmed cases of Guillain-Barr? syndrome, which can cause severe weakness and other serious problems. Of these, only 25 had received any vaccine in the six weeks before the onset of the illness. Most had received flu vaccines, but there were also pneumococcal, tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis, typhoid, hepatitis A and hepatitis B vaccinations in the group.
The researchers acknowledge that the rare occurrence of Guillain-Barr? limits the statistical power of the study, but they found no significant connection between getting a vaccine and developing Guillain-Barr? syndrome.
?We do believe that there was a connection with flu vaccine years ago when they made the vaccine under special circumstances,? said the lead author, Dr. Roger Baxter, co-director of the Kaiser Permanente Vaccine Study Center in Oakland, Calif. ?But we haven?t seen it since, and we?re confident we won?t. We think infections are much more likely than vaccines to cause Guillain-Barr?.?
Related Articles:
Guillain-Barre Syndrome, Influenza, Tetanus, Vaccination and Immunization
By NICHOLAS BAKALAR - NYTimes.com
June 27, 2013
Concerns about a connection between flu vaccines and the neurological disorder Guillain-Barr? syndrome have been widely publicized since a small but significant association was found after the 1976 swine flu epidemic.
But now a 12-year retrospective study, published in the July 15 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, has found no link between the syndrome and the flu vaccine or other vaccines.
Using data from a large California health care system ? covering more than 30 million person-years ? researchers identified 415 confirmed cases of Guillain-Barr? syndrome, which can cause severe weakness and other serious problems. Of these, only 25 had received any vaccine in the six weeks before the onset of the illness. Most had received flu vaccines, but there were also pneumococcal, tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis, typhoid, hepatitis A and hepatitis B vaccinations in the group.
The researchers acknowledge that the rare occurrence of Guillain-Barr? limits the statistical power of the study, but they found no significant connection between getting a vaccine and developing Guillain-Barr? syndrome.
?We do believe that there was a connection with flu vaccine years ago when they made the vaccine under special circumstances,? said the lead author, Dr. Roger Baxter, co-director of the Kaiser Permanente Vaccine Study Center in Oakland, Calif. ?But we haven?t seen it since, and we?re confident we won?t. We think infections are much more likely than vaccines to cause Guillain-Barr?.?
Related Articles:
Guillain-Barre Syndrome, Influenza, Tetanus, Vaccination and Immunization
