By Dr. Brian Udell
Pediatrics, one of our primary and most respected medical journals, published a report this week that “There was no elevated risk of ITP after any vaccine in early childhood other than MMRin the 12- to 19-month age group.” ITP stands for “Immune Thrombocytopenic Purpura.” Thromobcytopenic means low platelets – the cells in our body that help the blood clot. Purpura stands for the purplish discolorations on the skin when a person bleeds from within. Yecch, right?
It’s the “I” in ITP that I want to discuss. It used to stand for “idiopathic” – which means “unknown cause.” However, sometime after I graduated medical school in the last century, it was discovered that most cases were due to antibodies created against our bodies’ own platelets. In other words, it is an autoimmune disease, and the more precise name is “immune thrombocytopenic purpura”.
Now, I believe that this is a very important distinction because it means that the MMR vaccination can, indeed, lead to at least one autoimmune condition. I have been noting for several years the differing types of autism and reporting evidence that inflammatory reactions are not an uncommon association. Take a look at the age group that was affected by the vaccine (in the study in question) – 12 to 19 month old children. Sound familiar? It’s probably just another coincidence.
The study concluded that “Among 12- to 23-month-olds who received their first dose of measles-containing vaccine, fever and seizure were elevated 7 to 10 days* after vaccination. Vaccination with MMRV results in 1 additional febrile seizure for every 2300 doses given instead of separate MMR + varicella vaccines.” Begs a couple of questions, huh? Like, “How many febrile seizures for just MMR and how many children do 2300 doses affect?”
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