Posted on 02/13/2016 11:53:41 AM PST by PA Engineer
The World Health Organization says the Guillain-Barre neurological disorder is on the rise in several Latin American countries that are also seeing an outbreak of the Zika virus
BERLIN (AP) - A rare neurological disorder is on the rise in several Latin American countries that are also seeing an outbreak of the Zika virus' the World Health Organization said Saturday.
The U.N. health body in Geneva said in a weekly report that Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS), which can cause temporary paralysis, has been reported in Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, Suriname and Venezuela.
The increase in Guillain-Barre cases is appearing in conjunction with the spread of the Zika virus to 34 countries and also with increasing cases of microcephaly, a rare condition in which infants are born with abnormally small heads.
However, the health agency said "the cause of the increase in GBS incidence ... remains unknown, especially as dengue, chikungunya and Zika virus have all been circulating simultaneously in the Americas."
While "no scientific evidence to date confirms a link between Zika virus and microcephaly or GBS," the agency pointed out that GBS was also observed during the 2013-14 Zika virus outbreak in French Polynesia.
(Excerpt) Read more at usnews.com ...
I am a medical researcher, and my focus happens to be public health.
Is my research funded by the companies who have the most to lose by selling unsafe or ineffective products, and who spend billions to establish the safety and efficacy of their products to satisfy FDA standards? I do not see why that would somehow be a disqualifier--but no.
I work for the government, at a research institution.
Of course, to conspiracy theorists, that is just as bad as working for a company. I do not think that there is any kind of employer of researchers that conspiracy theorists would find non-suspicious.
Many vaccines and other medical products are developed by university researchers or entrepreneurs, who do the initial work and then try to convince a pharmaceutical company that their product is worth an investment of hundreds of millions of dollars to take it through FDA approval and to market. This is a high-stake game, and few products meet the quality level required to spark pharmaceutical company interest.
There is a reason I tell people to go to PubMed and look up the medical research reports for themselves. That is because, unlike anti-vax lunatics like Barbara Loe Fisher, I am not picking and choosing what to tell people in order to shape their opinion. I firmly believe that people have a right to ALL of the information, so I don't cherry-pick which reports anyone should read. Reports published by people using valid scientific method are fairly consistent in their conclusions, no matter who wrote them or did the research.
Is my research funded by the companies who have the most to lose by selling unsafe or ineffective products, and who spend billions to establish the safety and efficacy of their products to satisfy FDA standards?
The reason for that has nothing to do with dangers of vaccines, but is a policy designed to keep vaccines available without subjecting pharmaceutical companies to costly lawsuits every time a kid happens to get sick or injured at about the same time as they received a vaccine. The profit margin on vaccines is so thin that it does not take many such lawsuits to make vaccine manufacture and sale a costly liability for the company. That is true even if not a single lawsuit has any factual basis.
It is a sad fact that people will sue for any bad medical outcome, regardless of whether any human action could have made the outcome any different. And juries, not understanding science or cause and effect, feel sorry for them and award them huge damage awards. You know that lawyers are out trolling for clients--I see their ads on TV all the time: "Have you ever used this drug? Did you suffered any of these side effects: psoriasis, heartburn, blood clots? Well, Shyster, Swindler, and Golddigger are here to help! Call us at 1-800-GET-RICH and we'll get the big payout that you deserve!"
Given this environment, it is inconceivable that any company would try to market a product that is even the slightest bit unsafe or whose benefits drastically outweigh its risks. Heck, even after companies have invested hundreds of millions into a drug, they will still pull it after adverse events--even if those adverse events cannot be directly tied to the drug.
The reason for that has nothing to do with dangers of vaccines, but is a policy designed to keep vaccines available without subjecting pharmaceutical companies to costly lawsuits every time a kid happens to get sick or injured at about the same time as they received a vaccine. The profit margin on vaccines is so thin that it does not take many such lawsuits to make vaccine manufacture and sale a costly liability for the company. That is true even if not a single lawsuit has any factual basis.
Do you have a reputable reference for that, or is that something else you saw at an anti-vax site and fell for, hook line and sinker? That is one of the most egregious lies that anti-vax scammers spread. Take a little time to fact-check the nonsense you see on anti-vax sites, and you won't be tempted to post that bilge here.
It takes a *minimum* of 10 years to bring a vaccine to market, and that is only if all the stars align and the cards fall right. In reality, it takes 12 years or longer. That is because vaccine prototypes first have to be formulated and tested in vitro, then in animals. The best prototypes are then tested in a handful of human volunteers, in what is called "Phase 1", or safety, testing. The next step, Phase 2, is dose-finding, when the vaccine prototype is tested in a few hundred volunteers to find the optimal dose. After that comes Phase 3 efficacy testing, where the vaccine is tested in thousands of volunteers, usually in several sites around the world. After FDA approval (hardly a trivial process), the vaccine enters Phase 4, which is a post-approval process for gathering data from actual patients.
The FDA will not approve a vaccine for a group that it hasn't been tested in. So, if a company wants to sell vaccines for use in children, they have to be tested in children. If they want to sell the vaccine for seniors, they have to test it in seniors (age 65 and older). And so on. Furthermore, most countries want the vaccine to be tested on their own populations before they approve its sale in that country. For that reason, you can find concurrent vaccine trials going on in Japan, Brazil, France, Germany, Saudi Arabia, etc., etc.
As I have already pointed out, this process costs hundreds of millions of dollars. Contrary to what anti-vax websites would have you believe, it is not uncommon for a vaccine to have been tested in tens of thousands of people prior to FDA approval.
Learn to fact check. You can find the medical literature databased at www.pubmed.org. PubMed is a search engine--so if you want to look at whether influenza vaccine has been tested in pregnant women, just type "influenza vaccine pregnant" in the search box, and you will get over 600 results (I got 615 just now). You can type *any* search phrase you want, and you will find the literature about that specific topic, unfiltered by anti-vax scammers who, frankly, just want your money without providing anything of value in return.
Another resource is www.clinicaltrials.gov. Here, you can find the clinical trial registry. Again, it is a search engine where you just type the search term and get the results. It has, right now, 59 studies registered for "influenza vaccine pregnant." If I scroll through the studies, I can see the study design, and often the results.
These resources are available to ANYONE. And they are free, paid for with our taxes. There is absolutely no excuse for falling for anti-vax propaganda when you can look up the facts for yourself. Also, these resources cover more than just vaccines--they cover all medical issues. The FDA approval process applies to all drugs, not just vaccines.
Sorry, I am not up to doing a research project for you. How much are you paying? I know what I know about vaccines from years of reading and researching. The safety of vaccines is as sure as global warming. Ask the CDC.
Also Sanofi Pasteur conducted phase 3 trials for dengue fever vaccine that preceded this GBS cases in South Asia and in 2014 - 2015 in Latin America
What can go wrong? since those viruses all in the same family are very hard to isolate to create a pure one virus content vaccine. Furthermore the dengue vaccine is a live virus one and is a DNA manipulation of the Yellow fever vaccine virus.
Capeding M.R. et.al, Clinical efficacy and safety of a novel tetravalent dengue vaccine in healthy children in Asia: a phase 3, randomised, observer-masked, placebo-controlled trial ; Volume 384, Issue 9951, 11–17 October 2014, Pages 1358–1365.
Villar L, Dayan GH, Arredondo-Garcia JL, Rivera DM, Cunha R, Deseda C et al. Efficacy of a tetravalent dengue vaccine in children in Latin America. N Engl J Med. 2015.
Believe me, if I need someone to conduct research, I will choose someone who has knowledge of basic science and understanding of the scientific method. Which means I wouldn't choose you under any circumstances.
What I have tried to do is empower you by directing you to the sources of all medical information. I have told you where you can find the clinical trial registry and look at the unfiltered data about on-going and completed clinical trials. I have told you where you can find the reports of study results, straight from the people who conducted the studies. As the old saying goes, knowledge is power.
What I see in your reaction (and the reaction of just about anyone who has fallen for anti-vax scammery) is not that you want that knowledge and power for yourself--in fact, that is the last thing you want. What you seem to want is someone who will promise you perfect health if you will just let them think for you and tell you what to do. You are completely blind to the fact that, behind their facade of deep caring, they are cynical psychopaths who want to take advantage of you and take your money while giving you nothing in return. If you ever decide that you would rather arm yourself with the knowledge that would protect you against unscrupulous scammers like anti-vaxxers, I have shown you where that knowledge is.
BTW, avidly reading and memorizing the contents of anti-vax websites is not research.
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