More controversies and more "known unknowns"...
Zika Virus – What They Are Not Telling You
While the Brazilian government rushes to blame the Zika virus for this huge rise in abnormal birth defects, causation remains unclear. Only a small number of babies with birth defects, who died, had the virus in their brain or in the mother’s placenta. This means a large number of the babies who died had no Zika virus in their brain. Hard to blame Zika then, which has been around since before 1948 and has never been known to cause birth defects and/or death. In fact, Zika makes only one in five people get “mildly” sick with flu-like symptoms, with no symptoms at all in 4 out of 5 people. So why are they quick to blame a generally benign Zika virus?
In late 2014, the Brazilian minister of health announced that a new Tdap shot would be mandatory for all expectant mothers starting in 2015. Since it’s mandatory, mothers with birth defect babies received this newly formulated vaccine while pregnant. The timeliness of the Tdap vaccine and the sudden rise in birth defects is more than just a little coincidental. The consequences of this untested vaccine is being swept under the rug.
More links (far out warning - not for mainstream believer types!):
The CDC / Its agents run global covert ops / The virus hunters
Zika Outbreak Epicenter ... in Same Area where GM Mosquitoes were Released in 2015
Is the Dreaded Zika Virus Another Giant Scam?
Update 13/02/2016
A dissenting voice of reason. By Anonymous:
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Zika virus damages babies when pregnant women initially become infected for the FIRST time. A mother who was previously exposed to Zika has natural immunity. Zika is native to West Africa, NOT to South America. Women in west Africa have natural immunity since they are exposed to it as children. But Zika was brought to Brazil by the World Cup a few years ago and introduced to a population that was not exposed to it before, leading to a LARGE number of first infections, many of whom were pregnant women.
In other words, a West African woman is unlikely to have her first Zika exposure while she is pregnant and her children will be protected by her already-developed immunity. However, South American women are NOT exposed to Zika endemically and therefore a first infection for them is catastrophic. Zika does its damage in the first 1-2 weeks of exposure, after which the body develops antibodies and fights it off so it is undetectable. This is why many pregnant women and children with microcephaly will not show signs of active Zika infection; the damage has already been done during the initial course of infection, which has resolved and been cleared by the immune system by the time of testing (testing for ANY virus outside of its initial symptomatic outbreak is not very effective, e.g. herpes simplex). Zika causes microcephaly through widespread clotting in the brain during the early weeks of fetal development. Infection with Zika resolves quickly for the mother.
TDAP has never been associated with these specific birth defects. It is in fact a very well tested vaccine which has never demonstrated an increase in microcephaly anywhere it has been used, e.g. in the Western world where it has been administered routinely for decades. Additionally, a 2015 rollout of TDAP would not have produced the massive increase in microcephaly incidence in time for it to be noticed this year (the data that showed the increase in microcephaly is from 2014 onwards).
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2819875/ - paper from 2009 detailing difficulty of accurately assessing Zika infection r/t cross-reactivity of tests with other dengue fever viruses. Also contains data on antibodies vs. Zika in endemic populations.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4593454/ - paper from 2015 detailing clinical cases of Zika in women in Rio. Interestingly, many pts positive for Zika had not been exposed to dengue, an endemic cousin of Zika which may have granted partial cross-immunity?
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/65/wr/mm6502e1.htm - the CDC has a great, sourced write-up on guidelines for pregnant women concerned about Zika.
Added 20/02/2016:
Zika Virus Associated with Microcephaly
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My comments:
There are still some doubts about TDAP vaccine in pregnancy, although the risk may be presumed but not proven.
For example this:
http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/tdap-vaccine-pushed-on-pregnant-women-despite-fetal-risks/
Quote:
The truth is that the Tdap shot has never been proven safe for use during pregnancy. In fact, Tdap is classified by the FDA as a Class C drug.
The definition of a Class C drug which is how the Tdap shot is classified:
Animal reproduction studies have shown an adverse effect on the fetus and there are no adequate and well-controlled studies in humans, but potential benefits may warrant use of the drug in pregnant women despite potential risks.
Sanofi Pasteur Adacel (TDAP) safety sheet (FDA document):
http://www.fda.gov/downloads/biologicsbloodvaccines/vaccines/approvedproducts/ucm142764.pdf
Quote:
--USE IN SPECIFIC POPULATIONS----
Safety and effectiveness of Adacel vaccine have not been established in pregnant women. (8.1)
http://www.vaxchoicevt.com/whooping-cough-shots-during-pregnancy/
Quote:
* from Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) Summary Report February 23-24, 2011 minutes (p. 34-35)
"From January 1, 2005 through June 30, 2010, of 10,350 reports after Tdap vaccines, 129 involved pregnant women who submitted a report to VAERS. Although there were reports of 20 spontaneous abortions, 2 stillbirths, and 2 congenital anomalies, VAERS is not designed to assess whether a vaccine caused an adverse event. A review of VAERS reports in pregnant women who received Tdap vaccines revealed no elevated frequency or unusual patterns. Both GSK and sanofi pasteur maintain vaccination pregnancy registries to collect data on pregnancy outcomes and newborn health status outcomes following vaccination. Both were kind enough to allow Dr. Liang to present on their behalf. The work group reviewed their data in detail, and she provided the summary points. Boostrix® was licensed in 2005 for 10 through 18 year olds, and in 2008 for adults. GSK maintains a registry to collect data on pregnancy outcomes and newborn health status outcomes following vaccination. From its U.S. market launch in 2005 through August 2, 2010, 33 pregnancies were prospectively registered. Of these pregnancies, 18 were lost to follow-up. Outcomes were reported for seven pregnancies, and consisted of six live infants born without birth defects and one spontaneous abortion at seven weeks gestation. The remaining eight pregnancies were on-going at the time of last contact. In addition to the prospective reports of pregnancy received to the pregnancy registry from the U.S., GSK has received 13 reports from other countries. Just over half of these reported normal outcomes. The rest are on-going or were lost to follow-up. There have been no birth defects after Boostrix® vaccination reported to GSK."
Stan (Heretic)
3 comments :
The explanation assumes that every African woman of child-bearing age has Zika antibodies. This 100% degree of population coverage seems unlikely for any virus.
It also fails to explain the absence of microcephaly in other South American countries with Zika.
Without knowing any more than you do about this, it seems to me as if Zika has met with some local factor in Brazil and a synergy between whatever and the virus is causing the problem. If so, what this factor might be is still anyone's guess.
Here we have a report of Zika and microcephaly in French Polynesia.
They are extrapolating from 8 cases, so small numbers, but it's a strong association from the data available.
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(16)00651-6/fulltext
"The Zika virus outbreak began in October, 2013, and ended in April, 2014, and 66% (95% CI 62–70) of the general population were infected. Of the eight microcephaly cases identified during the 23-month study period, seven (88%) occurred in the 4-month period March 1 to July 10, 2014. The timing of these cases was best explained by a period of risk in the first trimester of pregnancy. In this model, the baseline prevalence of microcephaly was two cases (95% CI 0–8) per 10 000 neonates, and the risk of microcephaly associated with Zika virus infection was 95 cases (34–191) per 10 000 women infected in the first trimester. We could not rule out an increased risk of microcephaly from infection in other trimesters, but models that excluded the first trimester were not supported by the data."
However infection status was not confirmed in mothers
" We used serological data to establish the overall proportion of the population infected during the epidemic and used epidemic curves to establish the weeks when infections were likely to have occurred. From these datasets we estimated the probability of infection for each week of the epidemic. These probability values can be used to calculate the proportions of women who were infected with Zika virus during the first, second, or third trimesters of pregnancy among those who became pregnant in any given week. "
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