Swine Flu Cases Overestimated?

CBS News Exclusive: Study Of State Results Finds H1N1 Not As Prevalent As Feared

(CBS)  If you've been diagnosed "probable" or "presumed" 2009 H1N1 or "swine flu" in recent months, you may be surprised to know this: odds are you didn’t have H1N1 flu.

In fact, you probably didn’t have flu at all. That's according to state-by-state test results obtained in a three-month-long CBS News investigation.

The ramifications of this finding are important. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Britain's National Health Service, once you have H1N1 flu, you're immune from future outbreaks of the same virus. Those who think they've had H1N1 flu -- but haven't -- might mistakenly presume they're immune. As a result, they might skip taking a vaccine that could help them, and expose themselves to others with H1N1 flu under the mistaken belief they won't catch it. Parents might not keep sick children home from school, mistakenly believing they've already had H1N1 flu.

Why the uncertainty about who has and who hasn't had H1N1 flu?

Attkisson Blogs: Freedom of Information Stalled at CDC

CBSNews.com report on H1N1

In late July, the CDC abruptly advised states to stop testing for H1N1 flu, and stopped counting individual cases. The rationale given for the CDC guidance to forego testing and tracking individual cases was: why waste resources testing for H1N1 flu when the government has already confirmed there's an epidemic?

Some public health officials privately disagreed with the decision to stop testing and counting, telling CBS News that continued tracking of this new and possibly changing virus was important because H1N1 has a different epidemiology, affects younger people more than seasonal flu and has been shown to have a higher case fatality rate than other flu virus strains.

CBS News learned that the decision to stop counting H1N1 flu cases was made so hastily that states weren't given the opportunity to provide input. Instead, on July 24, the Council for State and Territorial Epidemiologists, CSTE, issued the following notice to state public health officials on behalf of the CDC:

"Attached are the Q&As that will be posted on the CDC website tomorrow explaining why CDC is no longer reporting case counts for novel H1N1. CDC would have liked to have run these by you for input but unfortunately there was not enough time before these needed to be posted (emphasis added)."

When CDC did not provide us with the material, we filed a Freedom of Information request with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). More than two months later, the request has not been fulfilled. We also asked CDC for state-by-state test results prior to halting of testing and tracking, but CDC was again, initially, unresponsive.


Watch CBS News Videos Online

Video above: A CBS News producer asks the director of the CDC, Dr. Thomas Frieden, for this information at a press conference on Sept. 19.

While we waited for CDC to provide the data, which it eventually did, we asked all 50 states for their statistics on state lab-confirmed H1N1 prior to the halt of individual testing and counting in July. The results reveal a pattern that surprised a number of health care professionals we consulted. The vast majority of cases were negative for H1N1 as well as seasonal flu, despite the fact that many states were specifically testing patients deemed to be most likely to have H1N1 flu, based on symptoms and risk factors, such as travel to Mexico.


It’s unknown what patients who tested negative for flu were actually afflicted with since the illness was not otherwise determined. Health experts say it’s assumed the patients had some sort of cold or upper respiratory infection that is just not influenza.

With most cases diagnosed solely on symptoms and risk factors, the H1N1 flu epidemic may seem worse than it is. For example, on Sept. 22, this alarming headline came from Georgetown University in Washington D.C.: "H1N1 Flu Infects Over 250 Georgetown Students."

H1N1 flu can be deadly and an outbreak of 250 students would be an especially troubling cluster. However, the number of sick students came not from lab-confirmed tests but from "estimates" made by counting "students who went to the Student Health Center with flu symptoms, students who called the H1N1 hotline or the Health Center's doctor-on-call, and students who went to the hospital's emergency room."

Without lab testing, it's impossible to know how many of the students actually had H1N1 flu. But the statistical trend indicates it was likely much fewer than 250.

CDC continues to monitor flu in general and H1N1 through "sentinels," which basically act as spot-checks to detect trends around the nation. But at least one state, California, has found value in tracking H1N1 flu in greater detail.

"What we are doing is much more detailed and expensive than what CDC wants," said Dr. Bela Matyas, California's Acting Chief of Emergency Preparedness and Response. "We're gathering data better to answer how severe is the illness. With CDC's fallback position, there are so many uncertainties with who's being counted, it's hard to know how much we're seeing is due to H1N1 flu rather than a mix of influenza diseases generally. We can tell that apart but they can't."

After our conversation with Dr. Matyas, public affairs officials with the California Department of Public Health emphasized to CBS News that they support CDC policy to stop counting individual cases, maintaining that the state has the resources to gather more specific testing data than the CDC.

Because of the uncertainties, the CDC advises even those who were told they had H1N1 to get vaccinated unless they had lab confirmation. "Persons who are uncertain about how they were diagnosed should get the 2009 H1N1 vaccine."

That's unwelcome news for a Marietta, Georgia mom whose two children were diagnosed with "probable" H1N1 flu over the summer. She hoped that would mean they wouldn't need the hastily developed H1N1 flu vaccine. However, since their cases were never confirmed with lab tests, the CDC advises they get the vaccine. "I wish they had tested and that I knew for sure whether they had it. I'm not anxious to give them an experimental vaccine if they don't need it."

Speaking to CBS' "60 Minutes," CDC Director Dr. Frieden said he has confidence that the vaccine will be safe and effective: "We're confident it will be effective we have every reason to believe that it will be safe."

However, the CDC recommendation for those who had "probable" or "presumed" H1N1 flu to go ahead and get vaccinated anyway means the relatively small proportion of those who actually did have H1N1 flu will be getting the vaccine unnecessarily. This exposes them to rare but significant side effects, such as paralysis from Guillain-Barre syndrome.

It also uses up vaccine, which is said to be in short supply. The CDC was hoping to have shipped 40 million doses by the end of October, but only about 30 million doses will be available this month.

The CDC did not response to questions from CBS News for this report.

Washington Unplugged: H1N1 Cases Exaggerated?
H1N1 Misdiagnoses Could Have Consequences

Watch CBS News Videos Online

[_bigfoot2_]

mardigal,
God bless you. Heaven has a special place for special ed teachers. Science, however, does not. Special ed has been responsible for many well meant fiascoes because of their lack of scientific training. I need only remind you of "facilitated communication." Your particular scientific method is neither scientific nor methodical. It might produce the nidus of an idea, but it then needs to be fleshed out by methodical research. You are right, you probably don't have the time to do that. But that is no excuse for passing your dabbling in the literature off as serious research.
Again, I have all the respect in the world for special ed teachers and work with them on a daily basis. But scientists they are not.

[h5mind]

Why is it that when there's a potentially embarassing revelation about sneaky politicians or kleptocratic corporations, anyone leery of the official version of events is immediately assumed to harbor some nefarious hidden agenda? Meanwhile, the bumbling actors at the heart of the controversy are given a gentle pass with little or no scrutiny. There's a reason professional jouranlism used to be called propaganda. "News is that which someone, somewhere, does not want revealed. Everything else is advertising."

[_bigfoot2_]

General point of information. Maybe avoid some confusion. The seasonal and H1N1 vaccines are both available in three forms. There is a multidose vial with thimerosal preservative meant for injection; there is a single dose vial without thimerosal (or any other preservative), meant for injection; and there is a live, attenuated virus for intranasal use, without any preservative (a nose spray.) For those who still believe, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that thimerosal is dangerous, you have some choices. Be carful of that tunafish sandwich though. Far more mercury in one of those than in the flu shot.

[baltimorecrunch]

Your comment has some great information. You are absolutely right about the contents of the H1N1 vaccinations. However, despite the CDC and IOM withdrawing their original statements of being unable to either confirm or deny a causal link between thimerosal in vaccinations and adverse developmental reactions, there is little to no information available on the toxicokinetics and neurotoxicity of ethyl mercury, which is a different toxin than methyl mercury, which can be found in tuna and other large fish.
A 2005 study of brain-blood reduction of ethyl vs. methyl mercury will provide you with a shocking look into the difference between the two. In sum, the study discovered that while ethyl mercury is removed from the blood twice as fast, it stays in the brain 1.7- 3-fold longer than methyl mercury. The implications of this study are that ethyl mercury is far more dangerous to the brain than previous known.
Free link to article below:
http://www.ehponline.org/members/2005/7712/7712.pdf

[_bigfoot2_]

baltimorecrunch,
Please tell us which form of mercury has been proven to cause brain damage in virtually every known case of mercury toxicity just to keep the record straight? I am not talking putative cases. (hint: The largest class action lawsuit involving ethyl mercury and brain damage just got tossed from the courts in Portland this year because there was no demonstrable scientific link between ethyl mercury and neurological or developmental abnormalities.)

[mittsngrits]

Ahh the old tuna in the can trick. I've never known someone to inject tuna into their arm personally. But hey, thats just me and the fellas I hang out with. I'm sure you'll have some crooked report done by the liars and thieves at the FDA or the lobbyists from big pharma that indicates it is exactly the same thing to ingest/inject mercury.

Hey, how about Vioxx, cleared by the FDA and it killed 60,000 Americans. Or bovine growth hormones, since 1994 every industrialized country in the world has banned this drug, except the United States. Despite warnings from scientists, such as Dr. Michael Hansen from the Consumers Union and Dr. Samuel Epstein from the Cancer Prevention Coalition, that milk from rBGH injected cows contains substantially higher amounts of a potent cancer tumor promoter called IGF-1, and despite evidence that rBGH milk contains higher levels of pus, bacteria, and antibiotics, the FDA gave the hormone its seal of approval, with no real pre-market safety testing required. Heres a news story talking FDA corruption and having convicted criminals continue to work there.

http://www.naturalnews.com/027536_criminals_doctors.html

The FDA is also known as having a revolving door with the large pharma companies. Work for Monsanto for a few years... then work for the FDA for a few years. If you are in a place to approve a Monsanto drug while at the FDA, I'd call it a conflict of interest. I know none of this has to do with vaccines, but the point is that the FDA and the American scientific community cannot be trusted with the publics health. They have screwed up time and again. How about when Baxter (the same American company that got the swine flu contracts) got a contract for bird flu and sent thousands of doses of live bird flu to Europe, rather than the vaccine! Thousands of people would have been infected if not for testing that was done before the shots were administered to people. And this is the company we are supposed to trust? It's a joke. You can come up with all the phony documents you want... I will never put something in my body that has cooked up by these corporations.

[_bigfoot2_]

mittsngritts,
Most mercury poisoning is industrial in nature and injection has nothing to do with it. Mercury is readily absorbed into the body from fumes and from ingestion. That is a verifiable fact. Methyl mercury (not ethyl mercury) causes mercury poisoning.(http://en.wikipedia./wiki/Minamata_disease.) Methyl mercury bioaccumulates like lead and other heavy metals.
We have poisoned our world to the extent that there is methyl mercury in breast milk, in predator fish, and in the air we breath. This is verifiably harmful to developing brains, not to mention adult brains.
You can rant all you want about conspiracies, but the greatest conspiracy is that we ignore the obvious pollution of our world by industry and concentrate on the ridiculous ones like mercury amalgam in fillings or ethyl mercury in vaccines. Just so you know, THERE HAS BEEN NO ETHYL MERCURY IN VACCINES GIVEN TO CHILDREN IN THE UNITED STATES IS THE LAST SEVEN YEARS. Unfortunately, there has been no change in the incidence of autism and other developmental disorders in children in this time. Please find another obsession and let us get on with the business of saving lives.

[tianma462851]

Good reports!

[doctorellisor]

Hello all you friendly humans.
The simple fact is that there has never been a double blind research study performed on a flu vaccine. This is usually considered the "gold standard" for the mainstream medical community, so why not with this? You could speculate that you wouldn't want to put people at risk by sham vaccinating them, but what about the risk of injecting them with potentially harmful chemicals that have no legitmate proof of being beneficial? When the usual bias of cohort data is accounted for it is revealed that the regular seasonal flu vaccine has no benefit in reducing hospitalizations, or deaths during the flu season. Did you know that the population of people, especially elderly, that are vaccinated each year have a lower mortality rate during the non-flu season from all other causes of death. AMAZING new discovery; the seasonal flu vaccine protects you from all causes of death according to the cohort study data I looked at!
Anyway, if there is a chance oserious side-effects (which no real scientist disputes) why give something to people that has no benefit? $? $?

-A recent study published in the October 2008 issue of the Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine found that vaccinating young children against the flu had no impact on flu-related hospitalizations or doctor visits during two recent flu seasons. The researchers concluded that ?significant influenza vaccine effectiveness could not be demonstrated for any season, age, or setting? examined.
-A study published in the Lancet just two months ago found that influenza vaccination was NOT associated with a reduced risk of pneumonia in older people. Vaccination coverage among the elderly increased from 15 percent in 1980 to 65 percent now, yet there has been no decrease in deaths from influenza or pneumonia.
-That Lancet study supports a similar study done five years ago, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, which concluded that vaccination against pneumonia does not reduce your risk of contracting the disease.
-Research published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine last month also confirms that there has been no decrease in deaths from influenza and pneumonia, despite the fact that vaccination coverage among the elderly has increased from 15 percent in 1980 to 65 percent now.
-Last year, researchers with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and the National Institutes of Health published this conclusion in the Lancet Infectious Diseases: ?We conclude that frailty selection bias and use of non-specific endpoints such as all-cause mortality have led cohort studies to greatly exaggerate vaccine benefits.?
-A large-scale, systematic review of 51 studies, published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews in 2006, found no evidence that the flu vaccine is any more effective than a placebo in children. The studies involved 260,000 children, age 6 to 23 months.

http://doctorellisor.com/general/the-flu

For more come and visit us at http://doctorellisor.com

Thanks for reading!

[_bigfoot2_]

It is good to see that someone is at least superficially following the scientific literature on this issue. It is one of the strengths of the scientific method that all aspects of medicine are open to debate. Unfortunately, that leaves an opening for the intellectually dishonest to exploit this openness and present the points of the debate that they have a personal stake in, ignoring the rest of the debate. I went to your site and was impressed that not a single one of your postings was backed by any sort of scientific evidence. So we have a "doctor" who has no scientific basis for any of his recommendations criticizing vaccines because he feels that they have inadequate scientific basis. There is something wrong with that picture.
Anyways, there is ample scientific data from studies done with placebo injections confirming that the influenza vaccine is effective in healthy young adults. Double blind studies are lacking and not likely to be forthcoming given all the evidence from less than perfect studies that the vaccine is effective. There is also a legitimate issue as to whether frail, elderly people can respond adequately to seasonal flu vaccines. This does not mean that healthy young people who are at risk for complications in a pandemic can't respond adequately to vaccines.
The issues that are open for further study concern whether the frail elderly can be protected by vaccinating all their contacts (herd immunity) and how best to protect vulnerable children (especially those with chronic lung and heart problems.)
As for the rest of your philosophy, I would love to have you talk to some of the parents of children I have cared for who have either died or been left permanently disabled by vaccine preventable diseases. The last one was convinced by a doctor of chiropractic that they didn't need to immunize their third child against Hemophilus influenza meningitis. The child is now permanently deaf and the parents have started a campaign to inform other parents of the benefits of immunization and the risks of listening to "doctors" without a background in infectious diseases.

[jemma333]

If it weren't so ridiculous this post would be hilarious. Interesting that you are citing cohort studies (Influenza Vaccine Effectiveness Among Children6 to 59 Months of Age During 2 Influenza Seasons/October 2008 issue of the Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine)to make your argument against vaccination and then rail against the bias of such studies on your own website stating "Corrected asymptotic relative efficiency results show that the case-cohort design for single "disease" outcomes offers less improvement for intervention trials for which there is no random censoring than originally suggested. Furthermore, simulation results indicate that if there is moderate random censoring or staggered entry, the case-cohort method can do substantially worse than the nested case-control method." And then you refer to "real scientists"? Seriously? This coming from someone who says "The experience of wellness is a marker of the degree to which one is engaged in their life creatively expressed". Very scientific. I guess instead of immunizations we should all accept that we get the flu from "lack of full expression" in our lives. Well, whew! that sure will save us a lot of money on hand sanitizer! Silly me I thought that influenza was spread by virus-infected droplets that are coughed or sneezed into the air.
For every study you inaccurately cite, there are a 100 more which conclude that immunization against influenza and other disease are probably the greatest medical discovery in the history of man.

[fredtheredshirt]

See also:

http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/updates/international/map.htm

And again, why won't CBS news release the data they received from
the states?

Could it be because a competent examination of the data agrees
with what the CDC has released?

[_bigfoot2_]

They have to feed the trolls somehow.

[FreeIgnorance]

I am not getting the vaccine 9at least till I see the side effects) and still wonder how did it all get started?? http://typobounty.com/Funny/Swine_Flu_2.htm

[_bigfoot2_]

So far with several million doses given, no unusual side effects. They even have a separate group to watch the watchers. I only wish the all too obvious outcome of this super exaggerated response would serve to convince those who think all vaccines are the product of some fantasized conspiracy. Unfortunately, these people have already made up their minds and no amount of evidence as to the safety and efficacy of vaccines will convince them otherwise.

[_bigfoot2_]

H1N1 probably came from Southern China, where most flu originates. People and pigs and fowl all live in close quarters and interesting genetic recombinants of the influenza virus arise there almost every year as the virus is passed back and forth between the different animals involved. Every so often, a virus arises that is so genetically different that we have no natural immune response. Hopefully, the virus is not too dangerous because billions of people are infected when this happens. The H1N1 virus is not that much more malignant than most seasonal flu, but because so many people can become infected, it has the potential to overwhelm our ability to care for those who develop serious complications.

[keekabanana]

Bigfoot:

No unusual side effects?
This is a pretty damn unusual side effect.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEN5KGwNGeo

The cause here was a seasonal flu vaccine, which, theoretically, should be 'safer' than the H1N1 vaccine.
Of course the vast majority of H1N1 or seasonal flu vaccines administered will not result in the above 'side effect', but to claim that there have been no unusual side effects is grossly inaccurate.

[_bigfoot2_]

Can't believe this thread is still alive. The issue is pretty dead here in Washington State. We are in the midst of a real outbreak with over 100 confirmed deaths from H1N1. (All persons hospitalized with suspected swine flu are tested.) People are pretty upset that the vaccine is slow in arriving. This vaccine is no different than the seasonal flu vaccine. It is made the same way. The hold up is that the virus is slow to grow in egg media. It has no resemblance to the vaccine of the '70's which contained adjuvants which proved to be dangerous. This is the same vaccine that has been produced for decades with no adjuvants. Just a different strain of influenza A from the usual one. So far, no alarms about unusual side effects from the vaccine. I think it is time for all you conspiracy theorists to get real and see what is happening in the world outside your little heads.

[_bigfoot2_]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2010177661_vaccinelines01m.html

[bushsux2]

You're either a megaphone for the pharmaceutical industry or you should educate yourself.

[_bigfoot2_]

I loathe the pharmaceutical industry, but I loathe ignorant people like yourself even more. The only ones for whom I have more contempt are in the insurance industry.
I would be interested to learn upon what vast readings and research you base your opinions. It will be very interesting to see how you justify your stance as more and more information about the H1N1 outbreak and vaccines appears. I suspect you will just try and wish it away like you do all the other data on vaccines and disease.

[nobox]

You seem to around bigfoot2. Are you a professional sophist employed by a lobby organization?

It took me less than 5 seconds to find an extract of a scientific paper published in 2007 that said that there is little information on human responses to low level exposures of mercury. Say what? There is LITTLE INFORMATION on the human immune response to low level exposures of mercury. The cited study reported that exposures to both inorganic and organic mercury (Hg) compounds can affect immune function and therefor resistance to infections (i.e. mercury is immune suppressive). Mercury also puts the human body at risk of autoimmune disease. The results of the study showed that mercury had a significant effect on cells studied in a laboratory environment at levels that were so low that the mercury were not toxic to cells nor did it result in a significant change to the cellular environment. Yet, these very low doses did have an impact on signalling pathways.

Would you have me (us) believe that mercury at a low dose suddenly becomes safe if you add it to vaccines? If there is little information on the effects of low doses of mercury on the human immune response how is that the very people we are supposed to have confidence in are telling us that vaccines are absolutely safe when they contain mercury and (worse) aluminum? Here's the link to paper I found. This paper was in the Journal of Immunology not some sci fi comic book.

The effect of low doses of mercury in the human immune response.
The Journal of Immunology, 2007, 178, 89.11
www.jimmunol.org/cgi/content/meeting_abstract/178/MeetingAbstracts/S150-a

Over to you bigfoot.

[_bigfoot2_]

This is not a high school debate team where you can cherry pick the literature to find a paper that agrees with your point of view. There are literally hundreds of thousands of scientific papers published yearly. You can find one to support just about any opinion. Critically reviewing all aspects of the literature concerning the subject you are interested in and arriving at a rational conclusion is a whole different matter. Right now, lives are at stake. We just lost a 22 year old perfectly healthy young adult to ARDS and have an 18 year old with about a 20% chance of surviving in our local hospital intensive care unit. These are real people dieing. It is not the time to engage in sophomoric debates pulling quotes from random papers turned up with google or whatever search engine you use. Get a grip and do some serious research. Try reading papers that disagree with your preconceived notions.

[musa_sartor]

RJonCBS1
500 Americans received Guillain-Barre syndrome thanks to the Vaccine of the 70s. Chris Dodd, Barney Frank,Harry Reid, Barack Hussein Obama, Junior, CDC, HHS are all a fraud. "Fall of the Republic" would be a good DVD for you for Christmas. Can I send it to CBS to hold for you?

[fredtheredshirt]

Why hasn't CBS released the data they have obtained from the individual states?

[afe17]

Shame on CBS.
http://scienceblogs.com/effectmeasure/2009/10/cbs_news_on_swine_flu_testing.php
Do you all believe what the media tells you?

[factsfirst]

CBS, please revive this ongoing investigation. Can 60 Minutes get involved? You are the only mainstream news organization doing fact checking.

[want_the_truth]

Sorry, the website is www.gbs-cidp.org

[RJonCBS1]

Did you even read what is posted on the site you provided?

"Anyone who has a history of GBS and is in higher risk groups, including the elderly and those with other serious illnesses, should consider getting vaccinated."

http://www.webmd.com/brain/tc/guillain-barre-syndrome-topic-overview
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/gbs/gbs.htm
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/guillain-barre-syndrome/DS00413


It is an autoimmune reaction, which means your body reacts abnormally. It is induced by various types of outside stimuli, most often, infections. Very rarely, immunizations and surgery are causes. In most susceptible individuals, it is recommended that they are vaccinated because the likelihood of a severe adverse reaction (and induction of GB) is likely to occur upon exposure to the disease agent; an adverse reaction by the body is less likely to occur is antibodies/plasma cells are present to ward of the infection.

If you look hard enough, you can find instances where people have died from seat belts. Who is going to advocate not using a seat belt based on those instances?

[want_the_truth]

If we had a test for antibodies to the H1N1 virus then we would have the knowledge to make an educated decision. Would a private (non-governmental please!) corp. please step forward and develop an antibody test that we can get over the counter?

[RJonCBS1]

That will take at least 6 months to develop for a commercial-scale product.

[RJonCBS1]

Sharyl,

You've done it again! Seriously, you've got to quell the activist-journalist and curtailing facts for your anti-vaccine opinions.

First, those data were available in July, which means they were collected for months before. The point that is relevant, that was not made, was that H1N1 was showing up in a relatively large number of test to begin with. The fact that you are making this "report" based on months-old information (dated the 21st of October, from data made available in July, are you kidding me?!?!) has totally misled the public into thinking there is no pandemic or that H1N1 is not the dominant strain...this is in no way true.

Second, big surprise! Most people claiming to have the flu really don't have influenza. People call everything the flu and do not know how to properly differentiate it. It happens all the time, people say they have the flu, when they really don't.

Third, are you insinuating you've made some special epidemiological discovery about the prevalence of H1N1 influenza that the the world's public health infrastructure doesn't know? You used their data, and derived a different conclusion. Judging by these comments and the blogosphere, you've accomplished just that. If you are really interested in honest journalism, you need to rectify this.

Finally, in accordance with your typical anti-vaccine baloney, here is another gem of yours:

"However, the CDC recommendation for those who had "probable" or "presumed" H1N1 flu to go ahead and get vaccinated anyway means the relatively small proportion of those who actually did have H1N1 flu will be getting the vaccine unnecessarily. This exposes them to rare but significant side effects, such as paralysis from Guillain-Barre syndrome."

If they don't get GB from the virus, they are not going to get it from a vaccine. Nearly all cases of GB are from an infection. Very few are a result of immunization. It is very likely that if this small group can develop GB from a vaccine, they are as sure as heck going to get it from the wild-type virus! In reality, even if they are disposed to GB from a vaccine, they would likely fair far, far better from a vaccine-induced cases than following infection. But, the hysteria doesn't play well in light of those facts, does it.

You've (once again) provided a disservice to our community by propagating misleading information.

[want_the_truth]

You said: Nearly all cases of GB are from an infection. Very few are a result of immunization. It is very likely that if this small group can develop GB from a vaccine, they are as sure as heck going to get it from the wild-type virus!

I suggest you check your facts! Here's a posting on the Guillian-Barre website www.gbs-cipd.org:
For GBS patients ? note the following statement by the CDC:
? Tell your doctor if you ever had:
? A life-threatening allergic reaction after a dose of seasonal flu vaccine.
? Guillain-Barre syndrome ( a several paralytic illness also called GBS)."

The reason that GBS is even associated with the H1N1 vaccination is because it is known that the vaccine can cause GBS. GBS is a rare autoimmune disorder & one of the causes is from vaccinations. Do your research on the last swine flu vaccine that was developed in the 70's for the last outbreak and how that caused GBS.

My son has had GBS and I've done a lot of research. You will also find that the website www.gbs-cipd.org which is devoted to GBS research has a public support forum for patients and family. There is even a "vaccine Reactions" forum in which many GBS sufferers report on how they obtained GBS shortly after getting a vaccination. Any vaccination which stimulates an artificial immune response can cause GBS and the H1N1 is no exception! This forum was started in 2006.

My son was fortunate, he lost his ability to walk for only a couple of weeks, and was only in extreme nerve pain for about 6 months. He didn't get complete paralysis of his lungs and heart and didn't need intubation and complete blood and plasma replacements. I don't wish this on anyone.

[RJonCBS1]

Excuse me, but those are the facts. If you re-read what I posted, it is correct.

http://www.webmd.com/brain/tc/guillain-barre-syndrome-topic-overview
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/gbs/gbs.htm
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/guillain-barre-syndrome/DS00413
http://www.gbs-cidp.org/

Sorry to hear about your son.

[usorname]

Do you guys not see whats happening. They have been working all along to produce vaccines with relatively low side effects. Now they get all americans to be vaccinated. Then they can release a truly deadly version of the H1N1 on our enemies. The problem is our enemies found out about this and are creating there own version of the swine flu secretly named the flying H1N1. Please, everyone, wake up and eat more chicken. MOOOOOOOOOOOO

[mmmagic777]

Read the pharmaceutical manufacturer package inserts for any vaccine you're considering getting for you or your children. Base your decision ONLY on that information alone as those are the raw facts...the package inserts can all be found on-line in .pdf format. Do a search for H1N1 package inserts. You will be alarmed; I guarantee it!

[nnsfrank]

Its amazing how people can become like cattle and just wander along following the leader and never questioning anything. Wake up people! The govt does not always have your best interest at heart!

[hmmogil8]

I had a feeling about this. It's clearly a self-fulfilling prophesy. Guess the insurance and climate change fit into the same mold.

[EllenMo]

Thank you so much for this news investigation and story. You guys are the voice of reason in a media gone Swine Flu doom & gloom crazy. Please please, please stay on this.