Flu vaccine linked to high risk of narcolepsy in those under 30: study

Tuesday, April 09, 2013 by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer
Tags: flu vaccine, narcolepsy, scientific studies

(NaturalNews) Children are not the only ones at high risk of developing the chronic neurological disorder narcolepsy in conjunction with the pandemic swine flu vaccine Pandemrix, according to a new study. The latest among several in recent years to link the two, the new paper found that people age 20 and younger have a roughly tripled risk of developing narcolepsy if they get the H1N1 jab, while people 30 and younger have about a doubled risk.

Affirming what Sweden and at least a dozen other countries discovered several years ago, the study determined that for every 100,000 people vaccinated with Pandemrix, which is manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline, an extra four cases of narcolepsy develop among those 20 and younger. For those between 21-30, an extra two cases per 100,000 were observed, according to Sweden's Medical Products Agency.

"We're talking about a horribly debilitating disorder, and that's too many cases caused by a vaccine of all things," said Ingemar Persson, author of the study. "The narcolepsy problem came as a total surprise and since it's such a rare disease it wasn't something we could have looked into beforehand," he added, in obvious defense of his country's mass vaccination program.

But Persson's study is not the first to pin Pandemrix as a trigger of narcolepsy. Similar research published just a few weeks ago in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) just a few weeks ago concluded that getting the swine flu vaccine increases ones risk of developing narcolepsy by as much as 1,400 percent (http://www.naturalnews.com). Similarly, a review published in the journal PLoS ONE identified a 1,700 percent increased risk of narcolepsy in those vaccinated for swine flu (https://www.naturalnews.com/035501_vaccines_narcolepsy_children.html).

'We can see that over the whole study period we have 126 cases of those vaccinated getting narcolepsy," added Persson. "There were 20 cases among those not vaccinated. We're talking about a threefold increase in risk."

Reports indicate that both the Swedish and Finnish governments have agreed to provide financial compensation for those injured by Pandemrix, which was the only type of swine flu vaccine administered during the 2009/2010 pandemic. Sweden's Pharmaceutical Insurance agency is also evaluating whether or not it will provide compensation to 90 additional young adults that developed narcolepsy from the vaccine.

The specific trigger in Pandemrix associated with narcolepsy appears to be AS03, a squalene-based adjuvant that was allegedly added to help boost the immune response produced by the vaccine. According to the data, AS03 and other forms of injectable squalene are extremely high-risk, and are associated with causing autoimmune disorders, arthritis, lupus, multiple sclerosis (MS), and various other health conditions.

Sources for this article include:

http://www.iol.co.za

http://www.thelocal.se/46950/20130326/#.UVtm4RntrP0