Sleeping sickness by swine flu vaccine

Swine flu vaccine with significant side effects: The Finnish Health Institute (THL) warns against the Pandemrix vaccine because it may cause sleeping sickness.

02/02/2011

Sleep sick by swine flu vaccine? According to initial studies, the State Health Institute (THL) in Helsinki comes to the conclusion that the swine flu vaccine Pandemrix may possibly trigger narcolepsy (sleeping sickness), especially in children.

The swine flu vaccine could be one of the causes of the sudden massive increase in sleeping sickness (narcolepsy) especially among children in Finland, according to the message from the highest Finnish health authority. A spokesman for the THL emphasized that „most likely explanation“ for the increase in new cases is that the vaccine in conjunction with „some other factors“ led to the onset of rare narcolepsy.

Link between swine flu vaccine and narcolepsy?
Initial results of the THL have shown that between the age of four and 19, the risk of getting narcolepsy from a swine flu vaccine is particularly high. The Pandemrix vaccine increases the risk of disease ninefold, the health authority warned. Although further investigations are needed by the time the final report is announced in August, the preliminary results clearly indicate a link between the increase in narcolepsy and vaccination with Pandemrix, a spokesman for the highest Finnish health authority said.

Health authorities refrain from Pandemrix vaccine
In 2009, a nationwide vaccination campaign against the H1N1 virus was started in Finland. However, in view of the accumulation of cases of sleeping sickness, especially in children, the Health Authority has since August 2010 refrained from continuing to use the Pandemrix vaccine of the British pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). GSK defends itself against the allegations and emphasized the close co-operation with the authorities. A spokeswoman for GSK pointed out that 31 million doses had been vaccinated worldwide but only 161 cases of narcolepsy were reported, of which 70 percent were diagnosed in Sweden and Finland. „This is apparently limited to this region“, so the statement of the spokeswoman of GSK. Whether that is so remains an open question. Because even the Paul Ehrlich Institute (PEI), which is responsible for the safety of vaccines in Germany, several suspected cases of narcolepsy have been reported after swine flu vaccines. The PEI told the „Tagesspiegel“, Seven cases are currently under investigation, with six children affected between the ages of 9 and 15. In addition, the case of a 26-year-old woman who may be suffering from narcolepsy following a swine flu vaccine is also being investigated.

Narcolepsy is usually extremely rare
Overall, the numbers of narcolepsy-related illnesses that are promoted by swine flu vaccines seem quite manageable, but sleeping sickness is generally so rare that the number of suspected cases represents a massive increase. According to estimates by the German Society for Sleep Medicine (DGSM), around 40,000 people in Germany suffer from narcolepsy, although only about 4,000 suffer from a diagnosis. Every year, one in every one million children in Germany falls ill, according to the statement of the PEI. With 5.6 million vaccinations with Pandemrix, it would therefore be possible to assume no more than one additional disease. The seven reported cases, they should clear - if they confirm - clearly the frame. Overall, the number of narcolepsy disorders in Finland and Sweden is significantly lower due to the lower population. Here, the 161 new cases, probably caused by the Pandemrix vaccine, are correspondingly more significant in relation to the overall diseases.

Symptoms of sleeping sickness
Sleeping sickness (narcolepsy) is essentially characterized by four different symptoms, which usually occur in varying degrees. For example, sudden compulsion to sleep and cataplexy (loss of muscle tension) as well as abnormal sleep patterns and sleep paralysis (sleep paralysis) are the most common signs of narcolepsy. According to the experts, the sleep disorders are based on a neurological disease of the sleep-wake rhythm, which is not characterized by a generally higher need for sleep but, above all, by a profound disturbance of the sleep rhythm. For those affected a disease often brings significant restrictions in private and professional life with it.

Pandemrix vaccine often criticized for possible side effects
The Pandemrix vaccine has been criticized since its introduction for possible side effects. Common skin reactions including hives (urticaria) have occasionally been reported. It also came in rare cases to nerve pain (neuralgia) and seizures, it says on the vaccine-critical Internet portal „www.impfschaden.info“. Also allergic reactions that have led in rare cases to shock, is reported here. Occasionally, inflammation of the blood vessels and neurological diseases such as inflammation of the brain and spinal cord (encephalomyelitis) after a pandemrix vaccine have been reported.

Skepticism about swine flu vaccinations is not unfounded
The problems highlighted by the results of the highest Finnish health authority in a vaccination with Pandemrix, make it clear that the skepticism of Germans against vaccinations - and in particular against the swine flu vaccines - apparently not completely unfounded. Despite the comprehensive call for vaccination in this country, only a relatively small number of people had been provided with a vaccine. In the Scandinavian countries, however, the population's reservations about vaccination are far from as pronounced as in Germany, and the vaccination rate for swine flu vaccines with Pandemrix was correspondingly higher. The warnings of the THL suggest, however, that this is also the reason for the significantly higher number of narcolepsy diseases in Scandinavia. (Fp)

Also read:
Immune to flu after swine flu infection?
Swine flu is back: RKI recommends vaccination
Swine flu is no reason to panic
Facts about the swine flu

Image: Bernd Boscolo