Misfiring magic bullets.Vaccines, once hailed as "magic bullets" against disease, sometimes fly astray. In fact, shots of two common vaccines -- DPT (diphtheria-pertussis-tetanus) and rubella rubella or German measles, acute infectious disease of children and young adults. It is caused by a filterable virus that is spread by droplet spray from the respiratory tract of an infected individual. -- may in rare cases trigger serious health problems, according to a scientific panel assembled by the Institute of Medicine. In reviewing existing data, the panel found a link between the pertussis pertussis: see whooping cough. component of the DPT vaccine DPT vaccine n. See DTP vaccine. and anaphylaxis anaphylaxis (ăn'əfəlăk`sĭs), hypersensitive state that may develop after introduction of a foreign protein or other antigen into the body tissues. , a life-threatening allergic reaction. And women who get rubella shots may develop cripping arthritis, the panel concludes in its July 3 report. Before DPT vaccination began, 95 percent of people contracted pertussis (whooping cough) at some point in their lives. This respiratory infection remains a leading cause of infant deaths in developing countries. Rubella (German measles) usually causes only a mild fewer and skin rash, but exposure to the virus during pregnancy can cause serious birth defects, including mental retardation, heart disease, deafness and diabetes. The new report, commissioned by Congress as part of the 1986 National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act (NCVIA) of 1986 (42 U.S.C. §§ 300aa-1 to 300aa-34) was enacted in the United States to reduce the potential financial liability of vaccine makers due to vaccine injury claims. , examines more than 20 adverse health effects and their relationship, if any, to the two vaccines. Evidence compiled on the pertussis vaccine "indicates a causal relation" not only with anaphylaxis but also with extended periods of inconsolable squalling squall 1 n. A loud, harsh cry. intr.v. squalled, squall·ing, squalls To scream or cry loudly and harshly. in infants who have just received the injection, the panel reports. Evidence linking the vaccine with shock and with acute encephalopathy encephalopathy /en·ceph·a·lop·a·thy/ (en-sef?ah-lop´ah-the) any degenerative brain disease. AIDS encephalopathy HIV e. anoxic encephalopathy hypoxic e. , a structural abnormality of the brain, was weaker but still "consistent with a causal relation." The panel had insufficient evidence to confirm or refute past charges that the pertussis vaccine can cause permanent neurologic damage. Adverse reactions to DPT and rubella shots remain extremely rare, and should not scare people from getting vaccinated or having their children vaccinated, stresses pediatrician Mary L. Coady of Bryn Mawr (Pa.) Hospital, a member of the panel. She adds that a safer pertussis vaccine is undergoing clinical trials in the United States. |
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