by Dr. Mercola

It’s estimated that nearly one in 7 U.S. adults have been diagnosed with sinusitis in the past 12 months, which occurs when the mucous membranes in your nose and sinuses become irritated.iIn most of these cases (90-98%) a virus is the cause, whereas in 2-10% of cases, a bacterial infection is also present.These bacterial infections are becoming increasingly drug-resistant and therefore harder and harder to treat, which is why the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) recently issued new treatment guidelines for sinusitis.

Alarmingly, however, buried on page 16 of their report is the acknowledgement that certain hard-to-treat bacterial infections in children are on the rise because of the widespread use of the conjugated pneumococcal vaccines!

Bacterial Infections on the Rise Since Introduction of the Pneumonia Vaccine

The IDSA report states:ii
” … both the prevalence of H. influenzae (40%– 45%) and proportion of b-lactamase–producing H. influenzae (37%–50%) (extrapolated from middle ear fluid cultures of children with acute otitis media) have markedly increased among other upper respiratory tract infections since the widespread use of conjugated pneumococcal vaccines… Whereas S. pneumoniae was more common than H. influenzae prior to 2000, the prevalence of H. influenzae has clearly increased while that of S. pneumoniae has decreased in the post–pneumococcal vaccine era, such that currently they are approximately equal … “

In the United States the Prevnar vaccine, which is used to prevent pneumoccocal disease that can cause meningitis and bloodstream infections in young children, was licensed in 2000 and has been given to infants in four shots between the age of 2 months and 15 months. The vaccine originally covered seven and now covers 13 of the 90-odd strains of the Streptococcus bacteria.

Although pneumoccocal disease caused by seven pneumoccoal strains in the 7-valent Prevnar vaccine declined after widespread use, one pneumoccocal strain called 19A developed super resistance and is now causing pneumoccocal disease that is antibiotic-resistant.

In 2010, the FDA licensed a 13-valent pneumococcal vaccine to cover more strains, including 19A, in an attempt to interrupt transmission of pneumococcal disease, which is associated with over 80 different strains of pneumococcal. The health community has known for years that non-vaccine S. pneumoniae serotypes had not only quickly replaced the seven included in the original Prevnar vaccine, but were also causing invasive non-vaccine-type pneumonia to increase by 71 percent. Writing in the journal Emerging Infectious Disease, researchers stated:iii
“In the Netherlands, PCV-7 [the 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine] offered high protection against vaccine-serotype IPD in vaccinated children, but increases of non–vaccine-serotype IPD reduced net vaccine benefits.”

That’s the reason U.S. officials introduced the new 13-valent pneumonia vaccine—to hopefully keep the replacement serotypes at bay. However, history suggests that both antibiotics and vaccines may be intricately involved in the evolution of pneumonia superbugs.

Pneumonia Bacteria Swapped Genes Before Prevnar Hit the Market

A new analysis by a team of international researchers revealed the complete genetic makeup of 240 samples of a strain of Streptococcus pneumonia taken between 1984-2008, which allowed the researchers to note changes over time.iv The strain, known as the Pneumococcal Molecular Epidemiology Network clone 1 or PMEN1, is resistant to several antibiotics. There were several interesting revelations, including:

  • The pneumonia strain emerged when penicillin was frequently used, but because it was not killed by penicillin, it flourished
  • The strain changes one of its DNA nucleotides about every 15 weeks, a rate of mutation similar to that of the common antibiotic-resistant superbug MRSA
  • One way the bacteria mutate is with a sugar coating called a polysaccharide capsule; PMEN1 has a capsule called 23F, which was included as a target in the Prevnar vaccine. However, by the time the vaccine hit the market, the bacteria had already morphed into a new serotype called 19A, which the vaccine did not work against.

Wired Science reported:v
“The study “illustrates that these genes are under enormous selection pressure due to human interference with antibiotics and vaccines,” says Garth Ehrlich, a bacterial pathologist at the Allegheny-Singer Research Institute in Pittsburgh. Mapping the organism’s past genetic contortions may not help researchers predict what the bacteria will do next, but the analysis shows that some genes are particularly prone to changes and probably are not good vaccine targets, he says.”

A secondary problem is that the overuse of antibiotics for ear and sinus infections has also caused these serotypes to become resistant to antibiotics. Researchers reported in Science:vi
“More than 700 recombinations were detected, with genes encoding major antigens frequently affected. Among these were 10 capsule-switching events, one of which accompanied a population shift as vaccine-escape serotype 19A isolates emerged in the USA after the introduction of the conjugate polysaccharide vaccine. The evolution of resistance to fluoroquinolones, rifampicin, and macrolides [antibiotics] was observed to occur on multiple occasions.”

Will Vaccines Leave a Legacy of Superbugs and Diseases?

Vaccines carry health risks and do not guarantee protection against contracting infectious disease. In the case of Prevnar, no long-term studies were conducted to evaluate whether it is associated with development of chronic illness or disability. And the clinical trials that were conducted by the vaccine manufacturer before the Prevnar 7 vaccine was licensed in 2000, compared one experimental vaccine (pneumococcal) against another (meningococcal), which means no true placebo was used in a control group, compromising the results. Still, children in the pneumococcal vaccine group had more seizures, high fevers and other reactions, and there were 12 deaths (including 5 labeled as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)) reported in the pre-licensing clinical trials.

Each dose of Prevnar vaccine contains aluminum as an adjuvant, which is used to provoke a strong immune response but is also a known neurotoxin.vii

Now it’s being suggested that widespread use of the Prevnar vaccine is leading to other unforeseen consequences, like increases in bacterial infections and the emergence of antibiotic-resistant supergerms. Other vaccines also have produced serious, unintended adverse effects, such as the chicken pox vaccine, which can increase the risk of adult shingles.

It’s so important to understand that your best defense against any disease is a robust healthy immune system. Vaccines can actually compromise your immune function, and this is true regardless of your age. Two of the most important factors influencing the health of your immune system are:

  • Your gut flora
  • Your vitamin D status

About 80 percent of your immune system resides in your gut, so maintaining a healthy gut flora is imperative for maintaining a fully functioning immune system. Also, if your child’s gut is populated with too many pathogens, he or she is likely to be more prone to vaccine-induced damage. For more information about this, I highly recommend listening to my interview with Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride.

Vitamin D is another crucial component for maintaining optimal health, so I urge you to get your children’s vitamin D levels tested, and, if found deficient, to follow my recommendations for optimizing their levels.

Artificially manipulating your immune system with a vaccine does not produce the same kind of lasting immunity and sought after disease-fighting results that a healthy lifestyle can. It may actually make you less healthy in the long run.

For more information about vaccines, vaccine ingredients and vaccine policies and state laws, the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) is a good place to start to do research and obtain information that you need to help you make intelligent, informed decisions about vaccination.

Share Your Story with the Media and People You Know

The media is quick to warn about the dangers of infectious diseases but rarely discuss the dangers of the vaccines against those diseases. This has created a very lopsided view of the safety of vaccines. So please, if you or a family member has suffered a serious vaccine reaction, injury or death, talk about it. If we don’t share information and experiences with each other, everybody feels alone and afraid to speak up. Write a letter to the editor if you have a different perspective on a vaccine story that appears in your local newspaper, or make a call in to a radio talk show that is only presenting one side of the vaccine story.

It is important for you to be brave because you might be strongly criticized for daring to talk about the “other side” of the vaccine story. Be prepared for it and have the courage to not back down. Only by sharing our perspective and what we know to be true about vaccination will the public conversation about vaccination open up so people feel comfortable talking about these critical health issues.

We cannot allow the drug companies and medical trade associations funded by drug companies to dominate the conversation about vaccination. The vaccine injured cannot be swept under the carpet and treated like nothing more than “statistically acceptable collateral damage” of national one-size-fits-all mass vaccination policies that put way too many people at risk for injury and death. We shouldn’t be treating people like guinea pigs instead of human beings.

Internet Resources Where You Can Learn More

To learn more about informed consent, the six principles for protecting your vaccine choices, and a summary of the U.S. law pertaining to vaccine exemptions, please review the article, STOP! Read This Before Vaccinating for Anything.

I encourage you to visit the following web pages on the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) website at www.NVIC.org:

    • NVIC Advocacy Portal: Protect vaccine exemptions in YOUR state. Right now, legislation (AB2109) to restrict the right for Californians to file a personal belief exemption to vaccination has passed the Assembly and is in the Senate. If you are a resident of California and don’t want to be forced to get a signature of a medical provider in order to file an exemption to vaccination for personal religious or conscientious beliefs, you need to act NOW!

Sign up today to use the free online interactive NVIC Advocacy Portal and stay informed so you can take immediate action when proposed legislation in your state threatens your legal right to make voluntary vaccine choices. As a Portal user, you will be put in immediate touch with your own legislators with the click of a mouse or touch on your SmartPhone screen so you can tell them what you want them to do.

  • NVIC Memorial for Vaccine Victims: View descriptions and photos of children and adults, who have suffered vaccine reactions, injuries and deaths. If you or your child experiences an adverse vaccine event, please consider posting and sharing your story here.
  • If You Vaccinate, Ask 8 Questions: Learn how to recognize vaccine reaction symptoms and prevent vaccine injuries.
  • Vaccine Freedom Wall: View or post descriptions of harassment by doctors or government officials for making independent vaccine choices.

References:

Published on May 29, 2012