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DeSwiss

(27,137 posts) Wed Sep 19, 2012, 01:00 AM Sep 2012

Vancouver Researcher Finds Flu Shot Is Linked To H1N1 Illness

Vancouver Sun
By Helen Branswell, Canadian Press
September 10, 2012

A strange vaccine-related phenomenon spotted in Canada at the start of the 2009 flu pandemic may well have been real, a new study suggests.

Researchers, led by Vancouver's Dr. Danuta Skowronski, an influenza expert at the B.C. Centre for Disease Control, noticed in the early weeks of the pandemic that people who got a flu shot for the 2008-09 winter seemed to be more likely to get infected with the pandemic virus than people who hadn't received a flu shot.

Five studies done in several provinces showed the same unsettling results. But initially research outside Canada did not, and the effect was dismissed as a "Canadian problem," a problem with the flu vaccine used in Canada. But a new study suggests the findings were real.

Skowronski and a group of researchers have recreated the event in ferrets. Their findings were presented Sun-day at the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, a major international infectious diseases conference taking place in San Francisco.

12 replies

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Vancouver Researcher Finds Flu Shot Is Linked To H1N1 Illness (Original Post) DeSwiss Sep 2012 OP

I understood that the H1N1 vaccine is a dead vaccine. longship Sep 2012 #1

I am not sure how this can be possible either, Avalux Sep 2012 #4

No shit. I stopped taking them years ago for that very reason. TalkingDog Sep 2012 #2

I worked with someone in the 90's who likewise had closeupready Sep 2012 #7

Same here. sofa king Sep 2012 #10

I've never taken flu shots and this may be anecdotal but... justiceischeap Sep 2012 #3

I'll add to your anecdote and say that I stopped eating eggs in the early 2000s because I developed Brickbat Sep 2012 #8

Maybe, just maybe, it's the eggs. justiceischeap Sep 2012 #11

What it seems to say is that the flu shot made people more likely to get the flu. bemildred Sep 2012 #5

It seems to say people who got seasonal flu shot were more likely to get H1N1 later. uppityperson Sep 2012 #6

Yes exactly. bemildred Sep 2012 #9

So they weakened the immune systems, temporarily, of a dozen ferrets. Robb Sep 2012 #12

longship

(40,416 posts)

1. I understood that the H1N1 vaccine is a dead vaccine.

Reply to DeSwiss (Original post)

Wed Sep 19, 2012, 02:00 AM

Sep 2012

In other words, there's no way to get H1N1 from it. Sounds fishy to me.

There are side effects, but none of them are H1N1, AFAIK.

Bookmarked. Have to look at this.

Avalux

(35,015 posts)

4. I am not sure how this can be possible either,

Reply to longship (Reply #1)

Wed Sep 19, 2012, 11:45 AM

Sep 2012

The vaccine is made with inactivated H1N1 parts, intended to stimulate an immune response after its given. I'd love the see the actual data, and know what they 'recreated' in ferrets. I wonder if its possible that the vaccine lot used in Canada was actually active H1N1? Weird and if true, someone needs to do some explaining.

TalkingDog

(9,001 posts)

2. No shit. I stopped taking them years ago for that very reason.

Reply to DeSwiss (Original post)

Wed Sep 19, 2012, 11:38 AM

Sep 2012

They were free because I worked with the public. After 3 years of really bad bouts of the flu (as opposed to my normal routine of catching the flu every 3 or 4 years), I stopped taking the shots. After that, back to my normal routine.

Have I had wretched cases of the flu since? Yes. But not with the regularity AND severity I had it when I took the shots.

Yes... I KNOW it's anecdotal. I'll live with that.

closeupready

(29,503 posts)

7. I worked with someone in the 90's who likewise had

Reply to TalkingDog (Reply #2)

Wed Sep 19, 2012, 11:58 AM

Sep 2012

one of the worst bouts of flu (a week long, as I recall) after having taken the flu shot. He vowed never to take it again. Don't blame him one bit, nor do I blame you.

sofa king

(10,857 posts)

10. Same here.

Reply to TalkingDog (Reply #2)

Wed Sep 19, 2012, 12:08 PM

Sep 2012

I lost all my sick and vacation time after a late-90s flu shot ran me through multiple bouts over several months. I felt I couldn't afford to risk one ever again, and haven't. Nor have such conditions ever returned.

That's not enough information to draw a proper conclusion, but I don't care.

justiceischeap

(14,040 posts)

3. I've never taken flu shots and this may be anecdotal but...

Reply to DeSwiss (Original post)

Wed Sep 19, 2012, 11:42 AM

Sep 2012

since having given up eating eggs, I haven't had the flu either. People can be raging with the flu all around me but I don't get it. *knock wood*

PS, another part of the anecdotal is that I'm vegetarian. I don't eat meat or eggs and haven't had the flu in like ten years or so (it's been about that long since I stopped eating eggs).

Brickbat

(19,339 posts)

8. I'll add to your anecdote and say that I stopped eating eggs in the early 2000s because I developed

Reply to justiceischeap (Reply #3)

Wed Sep 19, 2012, 12:00 PM

Sep 2012

an allergy to them. So I also didn't get the flu shot, because it has egg proteins in it. I haven't gotten the flu that entire time. I am not a vegetarian, however.

justiceischeap

(14,040 posts)

11. Maybe, just maybe, it's the eggs.

Reply to Brickbat (Reply #8)

Wed Sep 19, 2012, 12:14 PM

Sep 2012

If people started eating less eggs, there'd be less flu?

bemildred

(90,061 posts)

5. What it seems to say is that the flu shot made people more likely to get the flu.

Reply to DeSwiss (Original post)

Wed Sep 19, 2012, 11:51 AM

Sep 2012

I.e., the opposite of the desired effect. The inference is not that the patients got the flu from the shot.

uppityperson

(115,677 posts)

6. It seems to say people who got seasonal flu shot were more likely to get H1N1 later.

Reply to bemildred (Reply #5)

Wed Sep 19, 2012, 11:58 AM

Sep 2012

They were vaccinated for 1 virus, then were more likely to get another one they weren't vaccinated for.

bemildred

(90,061 posts)

9. Yes exactly.

Reply to uppityperson (Reply #6)

Wed Sep 19, 2012, 12:01 PM

Sep 2012

Not surprising when I think about it. Virii don't have a lot of genes to choose from, and a lot of what they do have relates to breaking the cells defenses, so you put in one thing, you have to take something else out.

Robb

(39,665 posts)

12. So they weakened the immune systems, temporarily, of a dozen ferrets.

Reply to DeSwiss (Original post)

Wed Sep 19, 2012, 12:23 PM

Sep 2012

Then injected them with a virus, and found the ones with temporarily weakened immune systems got sicker.

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