Breaking News – 158 cases of AFM in 36 states have been confirmed so far this year, with an additional 153 cases under investigation.
Since 2014, we have seen several outbreaks of acute flaccid paralysis (the sudden onset of weakness in one or more arms or legs) across the United States.
Why?
We don’t know, except we do know that these folks don’t have polio, even though folks continue to get confused because the kids are described as having a “polio-like” disease. Every case undergoes extensive testing, including testing for polio and other viral infections.
Do Vaccines Cause Acute Flaccid Myelitis?
Tragically, like some other conditions of unknown cause, some people have grasped onto the idea that AFP could be caused by vaccines.
“Of 14 patients with available information, 12 had previously received polio vaccine; one child and one adult were unvaccinated because of personal belief exemptions.”
Acute Flaccid Paralysis with Anterior Myelitis — California, June 2012–June 2014
It shouldn’t be surprising that there is absolutely no evidence that this is any type of vaccine injury.
Of nearly 350 cases of the acute flaccid myelitis (AFM), or the subtype of AFP that we have been seeing since 2014, we know that:
- most cases occur in children
- they have a magnetic resonance image (MRI) showing spinal cord lesion largely restricted to gray matter and spanning one or more vertebral segments
- AFM can be caused by viruses, environmental toxins, and genetic disorders, although no common etiology has been found in recent cases
- cases are occurring sporadically – after 120 cases in 34 states in 2014, there were only 24 cases in 17 states in 2015, but then 149 cases in 39 states in 2016 and 33 cases in 16 states in 2017. And there have been at least 62 cases in 22 states in 2018.
- most cases occur in the late summer and early fall
- most had symptoms of a preceding viral illness, including respiratory symptoms or diarrhea
- some were unvaccinated
- the ages of affected children has ranged from 5 months to 20 years
- some patients have recovered, while others have persistent paralysis
- there has been at least one death
- some, but not all, were positive for enterovirus D68
- in Colorado this year, 9 of 14 cases were linked to EV-A71 infections
- although there was a national outbreak of EV-D68 in 2014 that coincided with the first AFM cases, we didn’t see this kind of outbreak in the following years
So what’s causing these kids, with a median age of about 7 years, to develop acute flaccid myelitis?
We don’t know, but there is certainly no reason to think that it could be a vaccine, as some anti-vaccine folks suggest.
For one thing, several of the kids were completely unvaccinated!
And then, if it was a vaccine, why the seasonal pattern?
And why don’t cases occur in all states and at the same rates each year?
Also, why the big range in ages? After all, what vaccines do a 5 month old and a 20 year old have in common?
And the CDC has been looking at all possible causes.
“Our medical team has been reviewing vaccine records when available during this year’s investigation and do not see a correlation.”
Kristen Nordlund, CDC spokeswoman
Acute flaccid myelitis is not caused by vaccines. Hopefully we will soon find out what really is causing it and can figure out how to prevent it.
Want to prevent a type of acute flaccid paralysis right now?
While AFM is a type of non-polio AFP, we have long had a vaccine that can prevent polio, which also causes acute flaccid paralysis.
More on Vaccines and Acute Flaccid Paralysis
- CDC – Transcript for CDC Telebriefing: Update on Acute Flaccid Myelitis (AFM) in the U.S.
- Paralyzing polio-like illness mainly affecting children confirmed in 22 states, CDC says
- Why health care providers & public health professionals say vaccines are not the cause of recent acute flaccid myelitis (AFM) cases
- Polio-like syndrome – blame enterovirus 68 not vaccines
- Acute flaccid paralysis of unknown etiology in California
- WHO-recommended surveillance standard of poliomyelitis
- Polio-like paralysis in California
- CDC cites 2 more deaths in EV-D68 cases, more polio-like illnesses
- Study – Enterovirus D68 and acute flaccid myelitis-evaluating the evidence for causality.
- AAP – No common etiology, treatment found for acute flaccid myelitis
- CDC – About Acute Flaccid Myelitis
- CDC – AFM Investigation
- CSTE Standardized Case Definition for Acute Flaccid Myelitis
- MMWR – Acute Flaccid Paralysis with Anterior Myelitis — California, June 2012–June 2014
- MMWR – Enterovirus D68 Infection in Children with Acute Flaccid Myelitis, Colorado, USA, 2014
- MMWR – Severe Respiratory Illness Associated with Enterovirus D68 — Missouri and Illinois, 2014
- MMWR – Acute Flaccid Myelitis Among Children — Washington, September–November 2016
- MMWR – Notes from the Field: Cluster of Acute Flaccid Myelitis in Five Pediatric Patients — Maricopa County, Arizona, 2016
- Study – Acute Flaccid Myelitis in the United States, August-December 2014: Results of Nationwide Surveillance.
- Study – Acute flaccid myelitis: A clinical review of US cases 2012-2015.
- Study – A cluster of acute flaccid paralysis and cranial nerve dysfunction temporally associated with an outbreak of enterovirus D68 in children in Colorado, USA.
- Study – Notes from the Field: Acute Flaccid Myelitis Among Persons Aged ≤21 Years — United States, August 1–November 13, 2014
- CDC – About Acute Flaccid Myelitis
- CDC – Non-Polio Enterovirus
- Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP) Surveillance
- India’s Victory Over Polio Has an Unexpected Consequence
- Study – Eradicating poliomyelitis: India’s journey from hyperendemic to polio-free status
- Report – The Spatial Dynamics of Poliomyelitis in the United States: From Epidemic Emergence to Vaccine-Induced Retreat, 1910–1971
- Study – Antigenic Diversity of Enteroviruses Associated with Nonpolio Acute Flaccid Paralysis, India, 2007–2009
- Transverse Myelitis Association
- Six Minnesota kids suffer rare, polio-like disorder
- States and CDC probe reports of rare poliolike symptoms in kids
Updated December 10, 2018
People still harp on the vaccine /autism connection…but if vaccines cause autism, why do 9 out of 10 boys get it and so few girls? Vaccine programs have been around for roughly a century or so…and people were autistic for centuries before that.
Even the CDC and vaccine manufacturers admit that brain damage can be caused by vaccines. It’s a known adverse reaction. Vaccines may not cause autism, but they could cause brain damage that mimics autism and gets misdiagnosed. The number of vaccines we give kids has doubled since the 1980’s and the number of vaccinations has tripled. America gives children around twice as many vaccinations as the average for developed countries and as much as triple the vaccinations given in other developed countries, yet we have no less incidence of vaccine preventable diseases, no lower mortality, the worst health, shortest life expectancy, highest child under five mortality rate, and highest autism rate. In 1980, the autism rate in the US was 1 in 10,000. Today it is 1 in 59. The autism rate has never been higher, so while it did exist long before vaccines, it used to be fairly rare. After vaccines the autism rate dramatically increased. AFM has been occuring for years and always spikes right when the flu shot gets released. The flu shot is responsible for the most vaccine injuries and deaths, is the culprit in most settlements for families who had someone injured or killed by the vaccine, and guillain-barre is known to be caused by the flu vaccine. The symptoms of guillain-barre and AFM are basically identical and the tests to diagnose are basically identical. There are also 3,000-5,000 cases of guillain-barre each year. It’s entirely possible that AFM is either guillain-barre that was misdiagnosed or is another consequence of the flu vaccine. When vaccines are known to cause things like brain damage and paralysis, it’s within reason to say an increase in a paralyzing illness that only occurs during flu shot season could be linked to vaccines. Guillain-barre also affects men more than women. There are many things that either affect men more or women more. Perhaps males are just more sensitive and react differently to vaccines than females.
The most exciting research I have heard about revolves around testing cellular sensitivity of children with symptoms and autism spectrrum disorder, to vaccine. So are their cells more sensitive/reactive than most to speciffic vaccines and their components? Has anyone heard more about this? Sorta changes the game. Also, explains a possible flaw in prior research, subjects studied did not have cellular sesitivity to vaccine tested. Also, are we considering possible synergystic effects with with others exposure(s; ?) to pesticides (food, water, acute) household cleaners, heavy metals, and so on. Guess it’s time to search the databases.
Thank You
Very Much,
Greg
I hope the tide is turning. It always does in the end. The sun comes up in the east. Likewise, the truth. Saying vaccines are safe… does not equate to them actually being safe.
Because testosterone make chemicals more toxic so girls are less prone to vaccine injuries.
Autism is caused by mercury and aluminum in vaccines.
Males are usual targets.
If you put mercury in petri dish with nerve cells, you can see mercury eating the cells like a firecracker fuse had been lit.
BUT, if you add testosterone to the same petri dish, the firecracker fuse effect is SO much faster. This doesn’t happen with estrogen.
Thats why boys have much more autism than girls.
On top of that, aluminum also gets into body from many sources, not just vaccines.
When mercury and aluminum contact each other they produce a violent reaction. The result is more brain and nerve damage, and too many other illnesses. This effect is also the cause of fibromyalgia.
Mercury and aluminum accumulate in liver after it cleans blood, then its squirted out in bile onto food, most of it during breakfast, the mercury goes through gut and kills all good bacteria, so now victim cannot digest food properly and soon lacks nutrients, so more illness. This also results in very poor bowel movements, sometimes not for days at a time.
Fixing this problem requires chelation of metals using Andrew Cutler protocol.
You don’t need a doctor and shouldn’t even use one for chelation. Doctors are not trained for this and may permanently injure or even kill patient.
If fact doctors kill so many people that they are NO. 3 cause of death in USA, and they admit its due to mistakes.
Thats not a mistake, thats a plan and agenda.
I just read your article. If it’s not a vaccine related as you say, why does it always seem to show up after the promotion of the flu vaccine?
Enteroviruses have a weather related component, they multiply better in warm wet weather, like Fall.
“AFM is a destructive disease of the neurological system. If this virus (enterovirus) was causing this damage, we’d expect to be able to find the virus in the spinal fluid of most of these patients, and we’re not,” she told CNN” – Nancy Messonnier, M.D., Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD).
It shows up in fall just as children are being vaccinated.
It spreads from vaccinated children to unvaccinated children who then get same germ and so disease.
This article’s conclusion could be correct. However, the article states:
“It shouldn’t be surprising that there is absolutely no evidence that this is any type of vaccine injury.”
Sorry, but this is the sort of unqualified declaration that seriously undermines the credibility of the pro-vaccine activists. If I search on a major search engine “vaccines AFM”, or something similar, the first or second result is this paper authored by a doctor:
https://www.bmj.com/content/350/bmj.h308/rr
This paper provides substantial evidence that in the 1940’s/50’s, experts in the UK and the US at least suspected a role played by the polio vaccine in AFM, to the point where it is documented and confirmed that public health authorities in both nations adjusted schedules and even relaxed polio vaccine requirements during outbreaks of AFM.
There is even a scientific term coined for this hypothesis – “provocation poliomyelitis”.
Maybe the hypothesis is wrong. But why do articles like this pretend that this history does not exist, and that this term does not exist? It is utterly condescending to the public to treat them like they cannot be trusted to think for themselves by these medical gatekeepers. And more importantly, it’s dishonest. The vaccine dogmatists basically will lie for bolster their case.
And yet today, a simple google search now blows up these incredible and arrogant declarations.
That’s not a research paper.
It is like a letter to the editor, which anyone can write, and apparently, the BMJ will publish.
That’s not evidence…
https://vaxopedia.org/2018/10/18/why-do-some-people-think-that-vaccines-cause-afm/
Dr. Iannelli, are you aware that the package insert for MMR II calls out Transverse Myelitis as an adverse reaction? “Acute Flaccid Myelitis (AFM) is a variant or sub-type of Transverse Myelitis” according to myelitis.org. So to play it off as if there could be no possible correlation, is very disingenuous.
WELL SAID THANKYOU – ALSO I REFUSED TO BE LABELLED AS ANTI VACCINE MY FIRST 3 ARE FULLY VACCINATED MY GUT TOLD ME MY 4 SHOULD NOT BE THERES SOMETHING NOT GOOD AND LOW AND BEHOLD I IGNORED MY GUT TWICE AND TWICE I HAD TO WATCH MY BABY SCREEM ARCHING BACK UNCONSOLABLE THEN WENT LIMP NEARLY EVERY NIGHT For a month following his vaccinces not to mention was like thoer mindbhad to start all over again. my baby used to sing at 2\3 months old amidst many things (he was premmy i waited till his corrected age) So i refuse to get any more after 2nd lot. felt like i was watching my baby get brain damaged my family and i all could see it. i cant live with that on my conscience. He still mightnt be ok when he is older i know that – something tells me that 3rd round n the rest wouldve sealed his fate to being left with lifelong injury.
Seasonal pattern is due to seasonal administration of flu vaccine. Were these children “Completely Unvaccinated” or just unvaccinated for Polio.
Sources state completely unvaccinated due to religious beliefs.
Not true at all. In the most recent instance, I saw that 12 of 14 were recently vaccinated against the Flu.
Why the seasonal pattern because flu shots are given seasonally at that exact time! Why age range because now they push the flu shot on all age levels NOT just the elderly and those with week immune systems. It’s so obvious I don’t understand why people just don’t get it. I’m not against vaccination but against too much vaccination!!
Enteroviruses have a weather related component, they multiply better in warm wet weather like Fall.
As others have pointed out, AFM only becomes a problem when the flu shot is released. Most of the states with cases have higher rates of flu vaccination. The flu shot is responsible for the most injuries and deaths of any vaccine every year and is usually the vaccine in the case of families getting settlements due to vaccine injury/death, and is known to cause guillain-barre which has basically identical symptoms to AFM. So if the flu shot is known to cause an illness that results in paralysis, why is it unreasonable to wonder if it could be the cause of this paralyzing illness too? Also, 91.9% of US children get the polio vaccine and more than enough of the US population is vaccinated to provide herd immunity. Most of the kids getting AFM have been vaccinated. I’d also like to point out that there is no vaccine for AFM and the polio vaccine doesn’t protect against AFM. So how exactly does vaccinating lower your chances of getting AFM? Vaccines don’t prevent every illness or disease on Earth. They only work on diseases that have a vaccine. It’s like how antibiotics work really well for bacterial infections but won’t help if you have a cold or cancer.
If it is flu shots, then why isn’t it every year. And why does it peak in August and why are there cases in June and July?
And the polio vaccine prevents AFP. AFM is a type of non-polio, AFP.
Isn’t it possible to get a bad batch of flu vaccine?
I agree with the lady that commented on the article. I believe this AFM is related to the kids getting the vaccines. I’m totally against all the shots including the flu shot. My kids will never get a shot .
Are you kidding me? If not vaccine related, why is it listed as a possible side effect on many of the vaccine inserts? Also, why would getting vaccinated help protect you when there is no vaccine for AFM? You just stated that 12 of the 14 cases mentioned were vaccinated so again, how is it that vaccines help with prevention? Please inform yourself before publishing this information.
Again, AFM is a type of non-polio, acute flaccid paralysis. These summer time outbreaks should recall, from the pre-vaccine era, when we had another type of acute flaccid paralysis that was caused by the polio virus. If too many folks skip that vaccine, it could come back.
Then why are non-vaccinated children getting AFM? And why aren’t all vaccinated children developing said symptoms? Stop speading unfounded fear. I am greatful children don’t have to suffer childhood illnesses I did, and lead healthier lives because of vaccines.
I see that my initial comment was rejected. Shame. It wasn’t inflammatory.
This article’s conclusions could well be true, but it definitely has hyperbole, which undermines its credibility. It states: “It shouldn’t be surprising that there is absolutely no evidence that this is any type of vaccine injury.”
A simple google search of “AFM Vaccine” turns up a paper as the third result, “Do we need a new approach to making vaccine recommendations?”, from the BMJ. I am omitting the link in case this triggers comment rejection.
This article demonstrates a clear historical record that mainstream scientists, and even public health officials, recognized as far back as the 1950’s that the polio vaccine may be triggering AFM. Vaccine schedules have even been delayed in the past during AFM outbreaks, by the same public officials. There is even a term for the connection – “provocation poliomyelitis”, as in provoked by the injection.
So again, I wish articles like this would lose the hyperbole, which comes off as condescension. Arguments will not be won if they do not respect the audience.
Your article doesn’t mention the polio vaccine or AFM…
Flu vaccine is given to all ages and varies in its composition annually, also different manufacturers may be prevalent in certain localities
It is just the antigens that vary. Is that what you folks are worried about now? Not the other ingredients, but rather the antigens?
And flu vaccines are distributed across the country, not to specific cities or states.
Most importantly though, if it is the flu vaccine, how do you explain that the cases begin rising and then peak before folks start getting flu vaccine? Very few folks are getting their flu vaccines before the end of August/middle of September. For most, it is late September and by through October.
Flue vaccine is manufactured in 3 different ways. The way the virus parts are sourced, cultured, and purified are different in each case. It would be interesting to know how the FDA certifies the manufacturing/testing of the purified samples. I’d imagine the only reasonable way to certify purity is to perform ‘batch’ certification which only certifies batches with a level of statistical confidence. Recombinant flu vaccine was approved in 2013 (1 year) prior to the uptick in incidences (2014). I agree that if it were flu vaccine itself, then the most rationale expectation would be that it occur every year rather then be cyclical in nature. I think the deeper question is the mechanism of damage? This sounds eerily familiar to an MS flare up and/or many other auto-immune diseases, where our own immune system is somehow activated to turn on itself. Is the actual cause of symptoms from AFM an immune attack? In AFM MRI imaging is used to look at the spine. Doctors can see the damage from AFM as lesions in grey matter (just like MS). I think there needs to be more research into how flu vaccine (vaccines in general) affect our natural immune system function. Immune system function changes/matures throughout the course of human development. I have read articles written by doctors (not published in medical journals) that claim vaccines destroy the natural balance between cell mediated and humoral immune responses. Might there be some complex, time delayed, cascading or synergistic affects, that may be triggered or exacerbated by a vaccine that is being overlooked or not even remotely close to being understood…..? Probably.
https://www.bmj.com/content/350/bmj.h308/rr
What exactly do you think that is?
It sure isn’t the article you mentioned!
https://www.bmj.com/content/350/bmj.h308
Recombinant flu vaccines were approved in 2013, just before these cases started. But who were they approved for? Ages 18 and up. Few of the kids affected by AFM would have gotten this type of flu vaccine and again, why so many cases in June, July, and August?
So the single point that the recombinant flu vaccine release year in 2013 is inconsequential but I think my other points stand…not all vaccines products are the same by virtue of manufacturing differences and inherent gaps in QA/QC . In my unprofessional opinion, the fact this occurs every other year points to an ‘unnatural’ cause. What other virus causes revolving epidemics in nature? What other natural phenomena other than astrologic? Why only a very narrow age group? AFM occurrence just seems like its too predictable to be a natural pattern, more like one that is related to man made external factors. It may or may not be vaccines but clearly nobody knows, not even the professionals. The CDC admits it may be environmental, genetic (genetic susceptibility to external factors is closer to the truth), or VIRAL. If the CDC admits it could be a natural virus or mutated virus, why is it a stretch to think it could be caused by an unnatural reaction to viral antigens? Viruses evolve, why is it a stretch to think our immune system is not dynamic enough to evolve? It is an immune response that does the damage correct? So really its our immune system that is the problem? God or evolution engineered our immune system to attack our own bodies?…..I’m not convinced. Data shows allergies (aka immune hyperactivity) are more pronounced in vaccinated populations. My 4 year old (perfectly healthy) got all his vaccines by age 1.5 years old. He had a severe reaction to the tDap at 1.5 year old (fever of 104 without Tylenol or Ibuprofen bringing it down) he went to the ER. He ended up totally fine After his reaction, learning about how vaccines alter our natural immune system balance (50% cell mediated / 50% humoral) to a mostly humoral response (hyperactive humoral), and in lieu of his mother having an autoimmune disease (potential genetic pre-disposition) we got a medical exemption from his pediatrician without a problem in a pretty conservative state. I get that vaccines help the broader population through heard immunity. That is protection against external forces, what about how our internal systems respond overtime? I don’t thinks its fair to completely disregard concerns about them when we still know so little about the latent and cascading affects to more genetically predisposed sensitive immune systems. I am not totally against vaccines or totally for them. I am leery of vaccines because I know they have consequences some we know about and some I’m positive we cant yet understand. This is problematic when trying to evaluate risk/benefit for some people. Much respect and I don’t envy doctors who work within this grey area.
myelitis is an ingredient in some vaccines c’mon people
I think this article has a lot of misinformation as Merck Pharmaceuticals, the manufacturer of the hep B vaccine, lists acute flaccid myelitis as a side effect. Any live cell attenuated vaccine culture is susceptible to cross-species retrovirus infection such as the SV-40 Simian monkey virus infected the live polio vaccine for years. Especially when vaccines are produced in sub-par, overseas labs with little to no oversight as drug companies aim to cut labor costs and increase share holder profits, only known retroviruses are isolated or even looked for. New retroviruses are developing yearly and the so-called flu vaccines is rushed to market within a six-month window yearly which makes it especially susceptible. Read the inserts people before you mindlessly inject your babies directly into their blood stream with any drug effectively bypassing many levels of defenses the body has (saliva, skin, stomach acids, etc) to fight disease and boost the immune system naturally.
Yes, read the inserts and understand what they say. Where the HebB vaccine mentions myelitis, it clearly states that “The following additional adverse reactions have been reported with use of the marketed vaccine. Because these reactions are reported voluntarily from a population of uncertain size, it is not possible to reliably estimate their frequency or establish a causal relationship to a vaccine exposure.”
QUESTION WHAT COULD THE 5MTH OLD AND 20 YR OLD HAVE IN COMMON ? GARDASIL VACCINATION- YES? POSSIBLE? 20YR OLD MADE TO HAVE IT AT SCHOOL OR MUM GETS REDUCED PAYMENTS FTB AND MUMS 27 AND UNDER WERE GIVEN AND ENCOURAGED IT FROM THERE GPS FOR FREE
How many 5 month olds get Gardasil?
im sure thier mothers were encouraged to have it just like i was. besides that the vaccine injuries are actually written( ive no idea about whether its written for the gardasil ) but it is written forball the rest that those are possible sidebeffects of the vaccines ingeneral really.
im sure thier mothers were encouraged to have it just like i was. besides that the vaccine injuries are actually written( ive no idea about whether its written for the gardasil ) but it is written for all the rest that those are possible side effects of the vaccines ingeneral really.
I am embarassed for the author of this article… I’m flabbergasted by the blatant disregard that VACCINES ARE ADMINISTERED BEFORE SCHOOL STARTS!! End of summer, start of fall. Why am I even having to state this?! This article supports my point over and over.🤣
Vaccines are not usually administered in the summer, right before school starts, unless a child is playing catch-up. Most kids get them at well checks around their birthdays. And the only school age kids routinely getting vaccines are those entering kindergarten and middle school, but again, most of them don’t actually wait until the summer right before entering school to get vaccinated.
Plus, whatever point you think you are making, most of the kids with AFM didn’t receive any recent vaccines.
there was no link to vaccines directly with any if the afm sufferers , some were some werent vaccinated.
It makes sense that it would be a seasonal phenomenon when considering a coincidence with back-to-school and back-to-daycare vaccine requirements, since the cases peak in September, and also if you consider that it Could be a two-hit phenomenon as described in the 4 abstracts below.
Intramuscular injections within 30 days of immunization with oral poliovirus vaccine–a risk factor for vaccine-associated paralytic poliomyelitis.
N Engl J Med. 1995 Feb 23;332(8):500-6.
Abstract
BACKGROUND:
In Romania the rate of vaccine-associated paralytic poliomyelitis is for unexplained reasons 5 to 17 times higher than in other countries. Long ago it was noted that intramuscular injections administered during the incubation period of wild-type poliovirus infection increased the risk of paralytic disease (a phenomenon known as “provocation” poliomyelitis). We conducted a case-control study to explore the association between intramuscular injections and vaccine-associated poliomyelitis in Romania.
METHODS:
The patients were 31 young children in whom vaccine-associated paralytic poliomyelitis developed from 1988 through 1992. Eighteen were vaccine recipients, and 13 had acquired the disease by contact with vaccinerecipients. Each of these children was matched with up to five controls according to health center, age, and in the case of vaccine recipients, history of receipt of the live attenuated oral poliovirus vaccine. Data were abstracted from medical records that documented the injections administered in the 30 days before the onset of paralysis.
RESULTS:
Of the 31 children with vaccine-associated disease, 27 (87 percent) had received one or more intramuscular injections within 30 days before the onset of paralysis, as compared with 77 of the 151 controls (51 percent) (matched odds ratio, 31.2; 95 percent confidence interval, 4.0 to 244.2). Nearly all the intramuscular injections were of antibiotics, and the association was strongest for the patients who received 10 or more injections (matched odds ratio for > or = 10 injections as compared with no injections, 182.1; 95 percent confidence interval, 15.2 to 2186.4). The risk of paralytic disease was strongly associated with injections given after the oral polio virus vaccine, but not with injections given before or at the same time as the vaccine (matched odds ratio, 56.7; 95 percent confidence interval, 8.9 to infinity). The attributable risk in the population for intramuscular injections given in the 30 days before the onset of paralysis was 86 percent (95 percent confidence interval, 66 to 95 percent); that is, we estimate that 86 percent of the cases of vaccine-associated paralytic poliomyelitis in this population might have been prevented by the elimination of intramuscular injections within 30 days after exposure to oral poliovirus vaccine.
CONCLUSIONS:
Provocation paralysis, previously described only for wild-type poliovirus infection, may rarely occur in a child who receives multiple intramuscular injections shortly after exposure to oral poliovirus vaccine, either as a vaccinerecipient or through contact with a recent recipient. This phenomenon may explain the high rate of vaccine-associated paralytic poliomyelitis in Romania, where the use of intramuscular injections of antibiotics in infants with febrile illness is common.
PMID: 7830731 Free full text
Injections and paralytic poliomyelitis in tropical Africa.
Bull World Health Organ. 1980;58(2):285-91.
Abstract
A case-control study was conducted in Yaoundé, United Republic of Cameroon, to evaluate the hypothesis that intramuscular inoculations predisposed young children to paralysis if they were later exposed to poliomyelitis virus. Thirty-three cases with lower motor neuron disease and 66 neighbourhood controls were studied. Poliovirus was isolated from 39% of the paralytic cases but from only 18% of the comparison group. Controls were more likely to have had serological evidence of previous exposure to all three poliovirus types while most of the paralytic cases had been exposed to a poliovirus for the first time. Two-thirds of the paralytic cases but only 11% of the comparison group had been ill, visited a medical facility, and received multiple injections, primarily with quinine and penicillin, in the month prior to the onset of poliomyelitis. There was a strong temporal relationship between these injections and the onset of paralysis. The increased relative risks (15 and 32, respectively) of paralysis associated with inoculations in the two weeks immediately prior to onset of disease were felt to represent the treatment of symptoms related to poliomyelitis. However, the increased relative risks (13 and 27, respectively) three and four weeks prior to onset were felt to be consistent with the hypothesis that intramuscular injections provoked paralysis. Overestimation of this measure of the effect because of bias in the control group is discussed.
PMID: 6249510 Free PMC Article
[Acute flaccid paralysis after drug injection: a case report in the pediatric service of the Befelatanana Hospital Center in Antananarivo].
Arch Inst Pasteur Madagascar. 2000;66(1-2):58-60.
Abstract
In the framework of the poliomyelitis program eradication, the World Health Organization suggests two markers to survey the circulation of the poliovirus: notification of all cases of acute flask paralysis (AFP) and etiological research of these AFP from two stool samples. The authors reported the case of a AFP, occurring after a polio vaccination in a 5-year-old boy who had later an acute rhinopharyngitis treated by antibiotics and quinine intramuscular injections. A left lower limb AFP justified his hospitalisation. The isolation of a Sabin type 3 poliovirus was a pitfall because clinical and complementary investigations demonstrate a peripheral neuromuscular paralysis. This demonstrative case shows the need for health staff to be trained to perform correctly an usual act like intramuscular drug injections.
PMID: 12463038
Attributable risk of DTP (diphtheria and tetanus toxoids and pertussis vaccine) injection in provoking paralytic poliomyelitis during a large outbreak in Oman.
J Infect Dis. 1992 Mar;165(3):444-9.
Abstract
Although injections administered during the incubation period of wild poliovirus infection have been associated with an increased risk of paralytic poliomyelitis, quantitative estimates of the risk have not been established. During a poliomyelitis outbreak investigation in Oman, vaccination records were reviewed for 70 children aged 5-24 months with poliomyelitis and from 692 matched control children. A significantly higher proportion of cases received a DTP (diphtheria and tetanus toxoids and pertussis vaccine) injection within 30 days before paralysis onset than did controls (42.9% vs. 28.3%; odds ratio, 2.4; 95% confidence interval, 1.3-4.2). The proportion of poliomyelitis cases that may have been provoked by DTP injections was 35% for children 5-11 months old. This study confirms that injections are an important cause of provocative poliomyelitis. Although the benefits of DTP vaccination should outweigh the risk of subsequent paralysis, these data stress the importance of avoiding unnecessary injections during outbreaks of wild poliovirus infection.
PMID: 1538150
Provocation polio and VAPP are real things. These kids don’t have polio though.
And few were recently vaccinated.
Why the seasonal variation? Kids getting up to date on vaccines so they can go to school? This is kids aged 4-6 mostly which means their parents were likely behind and trying to comply with mandatory vaccines prior to the start of school. Very simple, folks.
Should look into common elements of flu vaccine from years with high case numbers
My kid got weakness in legs and abd pain 2-3 weeks after flu vaccine
I think it’s the flu vaccine
During the end of the summer vacation, many kids are spending inordinate amounts of time on the smart phone. Could it be related? I don’t know but certain worth looking into! (as I use my smart phone…)
Let’s not forget about Bill Gates and his foundations genetically modified mosquito program…. For our safety of course.
I realize this is about the flu but even with that crap I’ve got to wonder why we can’t prevent even that. It’s worse than ever and your vaccinating left and right. I think it’s the vaccines mutating a worse form (similar to the MRSA issue). I can’t for the life of me understand this system of shit. Why don’t doctors simply check titters to what we have been exposed to as an individual. (That’s funny I can answer that with a simple well there’s no money in that). I’m tired of people complaining that they have been put at risk when they have more rights than anyone to go ahead and get vaccinated if they’re not protected. And please don’t start with the new born stuff. First of all, I’ve read that if a mother had the real disease (ie mumps, measles etc. ) that they may be transferring that protection. Also since the media is also “bought” all that’s advertised is a case of the measles going on in bum fuck Egypt. WTF. How many babies died at the local hospital this week? Childhood cancers and chronic illness are at an all time high but thank God you didn’t get the mumps. Vaccines ruined my life and I had the real mumps the real measles etc etc. I’d bet my life that vaccines trigger many illnesses. And yes I said triggers not cause. There is a difference just like there are differences in individuals. But vaccines are always one size fits all.
Unvaccinated probably caught it from someone shedding the vaccine virus. Duh! You’re so stupid. Just like unvaxed are catching measles from vaccinated and whooping cough from recently vaccinated. Vaccines are a bio weapon.