Swine flu vaccines 53 times trigger sleeping sickness narcolepsy in Germany

Swine flu vaccine could have caused narcolepsy in more than 50 people in Germany
After the swine flu virus H1N1 spread rapidly from Mexico in 2009 and triggered a pandemic, the German authorities also recommended that the population be vaccinated against it. In Europe, the swine flu vaccine Pandemrix was administered to nearly 31 million people during the 2009-2010 influenza epidemic, with severe consequences in some cases. As it turned out, the vaccine could trigger the rare and incurable sleeping sickness narcolepsy. Other vaccines that were used at that time are not suspected to favor the development of the disease.

Swine flu vaccine may have resulted in narcolepsy in 27 children and adolescents
In Germany, 53 suspected cases are registered, as confirmed by a response of the Federal Ministry of Health to a small request from the Left Party. According to the study, "27 minors are affected who have narcolepsy symptoms averaging about 160 days after the swine flu vaccine with Pandemrix". The adults with confirmed diagnoses showed "the symptoms after about 194 days".

Sleeping sickness by swine flu vaccine. Image: Photographee.eu - fotolia

During the swine flu outbreak in 2009, a possible association between pandemrix and the development of narcolepsy was not yet known. In addition, the danger of the flu was overestimated. "It is a scandal that many people who have been affected by the swine flu vaccine with the active ingredient Pandemrix serious illnesses, have still received no compensation payments," said Kathrin Vogler of the left-wing fraction. The health expert referred to the "compensation claim of those affected, which exist because the authorities would have recommended the vaccine".

Narcolepsy is a rare neurological disease in which sufferers experience sudden sleep attacks, unexpectedly lose their normal muscle tension or hallucinate. Often, sleeping sickness is detected late or not at all. According to the self-help association narcolepsy Germany around 4,000 cases are known in this country, which includes children. (Ag)