Research document and recommendation for Dan Burton--Binstock

Research document and recommendation for Dan Burton,
Representative from Indiana,
House Government Reform Committee,
regarding: Vaccines: finding a balance...

MECHANISMS OF VACCINATION SEQUELAE a sampling from scientific literature

August 3, 1999

final by Teresa Binstock Researcher in Developmental and Behavioral Neuroanatomy email: aspergerian@yahoo.com

Introduction

This letter does not recommend that all vaccinations be discontinued;
instead, this document offers a sampling of scientific evidence delineating
mechanisms by which vaccination-induced neuropathy and vaccination-induced
intestinal problems occur in some individuals, including children plunged into
the autism-spectrum soon after a vaccination. For reasons set forth hereinbelow,
my conclusion is as follows:

     In light of a growing body of scientific information, vaccination-
     exemption criteria ought be expanded, especially in regard to
     infants, toddlers, and women of childbearing age.

Despite using restrictive criteria, many studies have documented a
relationship between vaccinations and adverse neurologic sequelae (eg, 1-8).
Some of these studies focused upon febrile seizures during short time periods
after various vaccinations.

More recent studies have documented brain regions that are affected by febrile
seizures (9-11); and these brain regions correspond to brain regions implicated
in autism-spectrum disorders (eg, 12). In the very least, these two research
domains offer a mechanism whereby some children's deterioration into the
autism-spectrum may have occurred.

Interferon gamma

When a child is vaccinated, a complex physiological process is initiated.
For instance, a 1997 article documented that in human infants, a primary effect
of the MMR vaccination is a prolonged pulse of endogenously created interferon
gamma (13).

This finding, in conjunction with other studies about interferon gamma, supports
the anecdotal documentation by numerous parents of children whose
gastrointestinal and/or neurologic function deteriorated subsequent to a
vaccination.

One of interferon gamma's most important effects is that of increasing
permeability of tissues that normally have highly restricted permeability. Two
such tissues are the intestinal tract and the blood-brain barrier. Interferon
gamma is now realized to increase permeability in both of these tissues (eg, 14-
17); and the increased permeability can have pathological significance.

Intestinal permeability increased by interferon gamma can lead to increased
translocation of pathogens (eg, 18); and increased permeability of the blood-
brain barrier is associated with a variety of pathologic states, ranging from
CNS-infiltration of peripheral pathogens, to CNS-entry of activated B-cells and
T-cells of the human immune system (19-24).

Measles virus and measles vaccination impair immunity

For nearly two decades, Diane E. Griffin and colleagues at Johns Hopkins
have been documenting the mechanisms by which measles and measles vaccinations
impair immunity, thereby increasing risk of reactivation of current infections
and increasing the likelihood that a newly acquired infection will be more
serious (25-29).

By subjecting an an infant to an MMR around the time of his or her 1st birthday,
a physician not only causes the pre-toddler to have impaired immunity for
several weeks or months thereafter, but this impairment in immunity occurs
during what for some children is an extended period of normally occurring
"transient hypogammaglobulinemia of infancy", ie, a time between (a) the decline
of maternal antibodies in the infant's blood, and (b) the gradual strengthening
of the infant's own immune defenses (eg, 30-32). 

In other words, a naturally occurring period of increased susceptibility to
infection in some pre-toddlers is the very time at which the MMR and its
immune-impairment are mandated. To administer the MMR during a time of naturally
lower immunity (in some children) means that those children would be at
increased risk of having an increased pathogen load in peripheral tissues as the
MMR-induced pulse of interferon gamma increased permeability in the intestinal
and blood-brain barriers.

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) provides an example, because infants can be congenitally
or neonatally infected but remain asymptomatic even though the CMV remains
within the child (33). For some such children, a vaccination that impairs
immunity would be permissive for increased viral replication. Furthermore, that
same vaccination (eg, the MMR), via its pulse of endogenous interferon gamma,
would increase blood-brain barrier and gastrointestinal permeability
concurrently with increased viral replication occurring in the presence of
vaccination-impaired immunity.

Conclusion

A large number of parents are convinced that their child's descent into the
autism-spectrum began soon after a major vaccination such as the HepB, DPT, or
MMR. Increasingly, medical literature is documenting the vaccination-related
mechanisms by which immunity is impaired by vaccinations and by which neurologic
and gastrointestinal sequelae may ensue.

As examples, this document offers citations (a) about vaccination-induced
interferon gamma and its effects upon permeability of intestinal tissue and of
the blood-brain barrier, and (b) about how a measles vaccination induces 
prolonged impairment of immunity. In addition, other concerns regarding advense
vaccinal events ought be addressed by the committee. Specifically, 

A. The post-vaccination time-periods studied for negative effects have been too
brief, especially (i) since the mechanisms by which vaccination sequelae can
occur are diverse and, (ii) since, given the epidemiology of childhood
pathogens, when combined with effects induced by a vaccination-induced pulse of
interferon gamma, there is likely to be much inter-individual variation in
vaccination-induced pathology and related data.

B. Febrile seizures and their sequelae are important, but they are not the only
mechanism by which vaccination-induced neuropathy or gastroinestinal difficulty
can occur. Interferon gamma's effects upon MHC-I and MHC-II presentation should
also be considered in regard to not uncommon "asymptomatic" infections common
in infants (33).

C. Some individuals have impaired antibody responses to a vaccinal antigen (34).
When a child or woman of childbearing age is found to have missing antibodies
for a common vaccinal antigen, there are at least two possibilities to be
considered: One, that the person's vaccinal immunity has subsided, or Two, that
he or she has an immune weakness specific for that pathogen-specific antigen
ought be watched more closely for vaccinational responses or infectious episodes
that might have neurologic or other adverse effects (35-36). For a child or
woman with seemingly low vaccinal antibodies, additional immune testing ought
preceed hasty decisions to vaccinate, especially since at least some vaccines
impair immunity, thereby creating the possibility of a woman of childbearing age
acquiring an infection she might otherwise have successfully immunosuppressed. 

D. This document is but a preliminary sketch, the proverbial tip of a very large
iceberg. In other words, solidly researched findings of the last ten years are
revealing numerous mechanisms by which vaccination-induced pathologies can
occur. Vaccination guidelines need revision.

Recommendations to the Committee

As a researcher who listens to parents of autism-spectrum children and who
has perused medical literature regarding various mechanisms by which negative
vaccination-induced sequelae can occur, my suggestions to the Committee are as
follows:

1. In studying vaccination-induced pathologies, longer post-vaccination time
periods and a variety of vaccination-pathology mechanisms ought be considered.
2. US infants and toddlers are receiving too many vaccinations too soon.
3. Sick kids or recently sick kids ought not be vaccinated.
4. The criteria for vaccination-exclusion and vaccination-delay ought be
expanded significantly.

Sincerely and respectfully,

Teresa Binstock
Researcher in Developmental and Behavioral Neuroanatomy
Denver

A series of autism-related webpagesContents email to: Teresa Binstock

References

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     ab: Convulsions or status epilepticus in 11 infants after pertussis
vaccination are reported. In 3 cases grand mal epilepsy persisted and 2 children
developed infantile epileptic encephalopathy (Lennox syndrome). On the basis of
our own experience, the incidence of seizures approximates 1:4800 infants
vaccinated or 1:12 800 vaccinations. According to a recent prospective study
from the USA, the incidence of seizures may be closer to 1:600 infants... 
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Medicaid children who received 107,154 DTP immunizations in their first 3 years
of life. There were 2 children with encephalitis; both had disease onset more
than 2 weeks following DTP immunization. There were 277 children who had febrile
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retrospective cohort study was conducted among 18,364 Tennessee children
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36 months; there were no encephalopathies during this period. Four children had
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     ab: Cell-mediated immune responses in 27 infants and children with
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A series of autism-related webpagesContents email to: Teresa Binstock