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| Dr. Danuta Skowronski. (Photograph by: Jason Payne, PNG , The Canadian Press) |
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.
Skowronski,
who outlined the work at a webcast press conference, worked with 32 ferrets,
giving half the 2008 seasonal flu shot and the rest a placebo injection. The
work was blinded, meaning the researchers didn't know which ferrets received
which shot. Later, all the ferrets were infected with the pandemic H1N1 virus.
The ferrets
in the vaccine group became significantly sicker than the other animals, though
all recovered.
"The
findings are consistent with the increased risk that we saw in the human
studies," Skowronski said.
The reason
is unclear and Skowronski urged other research groups to take up the question.
She said it's important to get to the root before the next pandemic. But in the
meantime, Skow-ronski insisted the findings should not deter people from
getting flu shots.
Related Article:
"... The Common Cold
You're going to catch more colds. Why would that be? But then you're going to heal them quicker - and why would that be? The Human cold has always been a recalibration of the biological process. To catch a cold is needed, and that is why you cannot "cure" it. You must go through it. The common cold is a cyclical opportunity for the immune system to correct itself. Perhaps you didn't know that? That's why you're not going to receive the chemistry to cure the common cold. It's a recalibrating device within you. It builds up the system in a certain way that helps you, and it must be reoccurring. Don't be shocked when you catch one, and say, "Well, I didn't think that would happen because I just got through with the other one." It's recalibration....."
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