Narcolepsy risk due to swine flu vaccine

Study from Finland: Researchers suspect increased narcolepsy risk from swine flu vaccine Pandemrix

30.03.2012

As previously reported, researchers suggest a link between increased occurrence of sleeping sickness narcolepsy and administration of the swine flu vaccine „Pandemrix“. The results of two published Finnish studies establish one „causal context“ between the pandemic influenza vaccine and neurological disease. The study results were in the science magazine „Plos one“ published and sparked a renewed discussion about the meaning and nonsense of the swine flu vaccine.

During the wedding of the onset of the swine flu, millions of vaccines were stored and administered. The World Health Organization (WHO) and national governments have been calling for swine flu vaccines worldwide. Media campaigns and health ministries created a picture of an impending flu epidemic with millions of fatalities. The population was called worldwide for vaccination against swine flu. Ultimately, the pandemic has largely failed and the vaccine readiness fell significantly, so that most countries remained sitting on the hoarded vaccine doses. The pharmaceutical industry recorded billions in sales in this context.

Increased narcolepsy incidence in children
Two studies now suggest that the pandemic vaccine may increase the risk of narcolepsy. Markku Partinen researchers investigated the incidence of narcolepsy in the total Finnish population and among children between 2002 and 2010. By 2009, there were only 335 cases of narcolepsy in Finland. This corresponds to an annual incidence of 0.79 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants. In the group of minors (under 17 years) the rate was 0.31 percent per 100,000 people.

From 2010 began the first major flu shot wave. During and after the campaign, 54 cases of narcolepsy were reported in the under-17 age group. This corresponds to a rate of 5.3 per 100,000 inhabitants. Calculated, this results in a 17-fold increase compared to the same period of the previous year. In the same reporting period, the adult morbidity rate was 0.87 per 100,000 inhabitants, similar to the previous year. Fifty of the 54 children were vaccinated with the flu medicine Pandemrix for a maximum of eight months. On average, patients had received the vaccine 42 days before the acute onset of the disease. 34 of the 54 children carried a risk gene that promotes the onset of narcolepsy.

Second study with similar results
A second data analysis came to a similar conclusion. A research team led by Hanna Nohynek evaluated the first occurrence of narcolepsy between 1 January 2009 and 31 December 2010 among all children from Finland. The study took into account all patient data of children born between January 1991 and December 2005. Three-quarters of the children (75 percent) were previously vaccinated with the swine flu vaccine. In total, 67 narcolepsy patients were registered. 53 of the patient data was used by the scientists for the survey. Of the 53 cases, 46 were vaccinated. As a result, the researchers wrote: „The narcolepsy incidence of 9.0 per 100,000 person-years was 0.7 versus 100,000 person-years in the unvaccinated children.“ Accordingly, the risk of disease was 13 times higher. In absolute terms, the risk of serious adverse events in the 4 to 19 year old age group is in a case of 16,000 people vaccinated.

Context to the increased occurrence of sleeping sickness very likely
In the meantime, there is a connection between the occurrence of narcolepsy and a pandemrix vaccine among scientists „as very likely“. For this reason, the European Medicines Agency recommends that immunization candidates under the age of 20 cease to be immunized with the designated vaccine. Researchers assume that the active substance is not as such, but the criticized potentiator AS03 responsible for an increased occurrence, if a genetic condition already exists.

At an anesthesia, which is also colloquial „sleeping sickness“ is a neurological disorder of the sleep-wake cycle. Patients often experience regular sleep attacks throughout the day and suffer from significant sleep disturbances during the night. The attacks last from a few moments to half an hour. Especially in road traffic, the disease represents a significant accident risk for those affected. (Sb)

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Image: Bernd Boscolo