Vaccine could stop MS in its tracks

Hoping for a breakthrough here. The key is that those "renegade cells" that attack the myelin sheath are also a part of the immune system that eliminates their damaged counterparts. It is essentially using the immune system to counter an autoimmune reaction, which is pretty slick.

Crossing my fingers. A lot of people would get their lives back.

i bet that once the drug companies take out the mercury and make the MMR vaccine into 3 separate vaccines, you will see many of the anti-vaccine people come around.

I bet that once people stop spreading rumors that MMR vaccine contains mercury, the anti-vaccine people will come around. MMR vaccine does NOT contain mercury. (on second thought, they probably won't)

Thimerosal was used to prevent contamination in multi-dose vials (to the best of my knowledge, the only vaccine that currently contains Thimerosal is the ADULT flu vaccine). I have personally given at least hundreds of doses of the MMR vaccine since 1994, and the vaccine has always been in 2 separate single-dose vials (the 1 vial is sterile water, the other is the powdered form of the vaccine). If you look at the prescribing info, you will see that Thimerosal is NOT an ingredient.

In addition, the MMR and mercury "theories" on autism seemed to have merged. From what I gather, though, these are 2 separate theories.

Andrew Wakefield proposes a theory that by giving the measles and mumps vaccine together, there is a risk due to a poorly understood reaction that causes damage to the intestines ("autistic bowel").This was based on a study of 12 autistic children with "severe bowel conditions". That's pretty weak. If the study involved hundreds of autistic children over a period of years, you may be able to have some hope that the theory is correct, but a study of 12?

As for the link between mercury and autism, read this.

MMR vaccine does NOT contain mercury. >>

I didn't say that, let me rephrase.

Most of the anti vaccine people will turn around if the drug companies and the medical professsion do 2 of the following:

1. Make the MMR into 3 separate vaccines: one vaccine for measles, one for mumps and one for rubella all given at separate times.

2. Remove mercury from vaccines.

(to the best of my knowledge, the only vaccine that currently contains Thimerosal is the ADULT flu vaccine). >>>

that's today, after: the the long fight, some pressure from congress and from pediatricians who follow the DAN protocol. From what I understand thimerosal is no longer used anymore in childhood vaccines, the consumer and political pressure envoked a change.

Thanks for clarifying.

As for separate vaccines, I don't think that will happen anytime soon; there is minimal, if any scientific evidence to support that. My theory on multiple vaccines: everyday, our immune system is literally bombarded by thousands of microorganisms. Therefore, I don't think that giving multiple antigens will have any adverse effect.

I agree that the reason that Thimerosal was removed after political pressure, and indirectly, to consumer pressure. It's interesting to note that most of the vaccines were mercury-free by the end of the 20th century, yet autism rates continue to climb.

I don't know why they are giving children hepatitis B shots. It's a disease usually contracted sexually and through sharing needles.

Back in the 60's most of us lived through the measles, mumps and the chicken pocks. As a matter of fact, when one of us contracted the disease, the doctor told our parents to let us all sleep in the same room, get the disease and be done with it all at once.

You can probably tell that I'm pro-vaccine, but I agree about Hep B; why are we doing mass vaccinations of children? I can see MAYBE giving it pre-adolescence, but to babies? And now, they are going to start giving Hepatitis A; neither are common childhood diseases.

Yes, we did live through measles, mumps, and chicken pox, but measles can cause deafness and meningitis. Chicken pox vaccine-it's effective in 80% of kids who receive it, and the other 20% who get the disease even though they were vaccinated, will have a much milder case of it. There aren't too many healthy kids who get chicken pox and have bad outcomes, but it does help people with suppressed immune systems to cut down on the incidence of the disease.

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