Immuno-Suppression of Measles Virus and its Connection to Autism

The measles virus is intensely immuno-suppressive, admittedly temporarily. In well nourished, healthy children with sufficient levels of vitamin A, this usually doesn't present a problem. For most children, measles is a mild illness. Vitamin deficiency or poor immune function can turn it from a benign childhood illness that was a rite of passage for our parents into a killer. It is for this reason that 96% of global deaths from infectious diseases are in developing countries that lack sanitation, decent housing or stable food and water supplies.

(See Journal of General Virology for its suppressive effects and the journal Vaccine for death rate).

Unfortunately by the time children get their MMR vaccine they will have been exposed to thimerosal (49% mercury) because even though it is no longer an added ingredient in most vaccines, it is still present in trace amounts even in vaccines labelled as mercury-free as it is used in the manufacturing process. No vaccine can ever be guaranteed to be 100% free of thimerosal. It is also present in flu vaccines added to the schedule in about 2004.

The International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology used to list waste management guidelines for mercury and wrote on their website:

'"In addition to the multidose vaccines containing thimerosal discussed above, some companies offer a 0.5 mg/L single dose, pre-filled syringe vaccine. Some of these products are labeled “preservative- or thimerosal-free”. Preservative-free products may contain trace amounts (less than or equal to 1 microgram/0.5 mL dose) because thimerosal was used during the manufacturing process. The term preservative- or thimerosal-free can be utilized if the manufacturer further purified the product, leaving only trace amounts (less than or equal to 1 microgram/0.5 mL) per dose. Even at this level, calculations indicate mercury would exceed the TCLP standard; therefore these vaccines, if deemed unusable, should be managed as hazardous waste as well."

This has since been removed from the internet and all you get is 'Page Not Found', probably because parents discovered that mercury free vaccines actually contain mercury at high enough levels to be hazardous waste and after the page was shared around cyberspace it suddenly disappeared.

Thimerosal actually destroys your immune function and makes you more susceptible to disease. Whn mice are exposed to inorganic mercury, it changed the pattern of their cytokine release, causing more pro-inflammatory cytokines and fewer anti-inflammatory cytokines (a pattern that is seen in autistic children). The 4th February 2010 edition of the John Hopkin's Newsletter reported that mercury increases the risk of auto-immune diseases and increase the risk of infectious diseases.

It is also known that when combined with aluminium - an adjuvant in MMR - the toxic effects are amplified.

Some doctors and parents now believe that once live measles is injected via the MMR, the baby's immune system can not deal with it effectively because its ability to fight the virus has been hampered by thimerosal and aluminium exposure, in addition to the other ingredients present in vaccines. In effect, the end result of autism or other disabilities is the result of a synergistic interaction of the whole vaccine schedule.

The John Hopkin's Newsletter wrote:

'"Research on mercury as an immunotoxic agent is relatively new, and these are the first studies to demonstrate effects on immune modulation in humans," said Ellen Silbergeld, the senior author of the study and a professor of Environmental Health Studies at Hopkins' Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Mercury exposure can occur in a variety of settings, and the researchers first started considering the relationship between the immune system and mercury after studying Amazonian gold miners who use the metal.

According to Silbergeld, one of the red flags that triggered their hypothesis was the increased incidence of malaria in the miners and others living in this region. "We've shown associations between mercury exposures and increased susceptibility to malarial infections in both experimental models and human populations."

When mice were exposed to inorganic mercury, the researchers found that it changed the pattern of cytokine release, which are compounds that function as signaling molecules in the immune system. Mercury exposure caused more pro-inflammatory cytokines and fewer anti-inflammatory cytokines to be released.

"There is evidence that mercury can increase risks of both autoimmune disease and certain infectious diseases," Silbergeld said. "These consequences may involve a set of fundamental mechanisms in which the proinflammatory response is not counterbalanced."

This imbalance could increase inflammation when the organism is exposed to infectious disease agents. Increased inflammatory responses could in turn raise the risk of susceptibility to infectious diseases. Additionally, for people with autoimmune disorders, mercury exposure could further worsen their conditions.

Other research suggests a correlation between mercury exposure, inflammation and cardiovascular disease. This is only one of many possible instances in which mercury may play a role in the development of chronic diseases.

Genetic factors may also play a role in an individual's immune response to mercury exposure. When genetically susceptible mice were exposed to mercury, they developed an autoimmune disease similar to lupus. "Given the importance of genetics in immunobiology, this may be an important area of research in understanding differences in population responses to mercury," Silbergeld said.

Although much more research needs to be done to investigate the mechanism behind this phenomenon, Silbergeld hypothesizes that mercury acts on a certain type of receptor, known as the TL4 receptor, to alter the release of cytokines.

Even low levels of mercury were enough to generate this immune response, and the amounts used in the experiment were well within the range of mercury exposure in the United States.

Measles Vaccine Virus

You may be thinking, well, the virus children get is attenuated (weakened) so that it doesn't cause disease. Well, the vaccine strain of measles does cause measles in some children, even though the NHS attempt to brush this off by saying it's mild:

'About one week to 11 days after the MMR injection, some children get a very mild form of measles. This includes a rash, high temperature, loss of appetite and a general feeling of being unwell for about two or three days.'

Prior experience of vaccinated children developing measles - atypical measles syndrome - was that although the expression of the disease was altered, its symptoms were more severe, with pneumonia lasting for an extended period of time. Medicine Net says:

'AMS occurs in persons who were incompletely immunized against measles. This may happen if a person were given the old killed-virus measles vaccine (which does not provide complete immunity and is no longer available); or the person were given attenuated (weakened) live measles vaccine that was, by accident, inactivated during improper storage. Immunization with inactivated measles virus does not prevent measles virus infection. It can, however, sensitize a person so that the expression of the disease is altered, resulting in AMS. '

So while the rash may be milder or the disease a shorter duration, it may be that the vaccine virus is not effectively excreted and could be why it has been found attached to the internal organs of autistic children on post-mortem exam.

The attenuation process is also imperfect and there have been numerous mistakes over the decades where attenuated vaccines were found to be infective (the Cutter incident being the most famous) or the virus is simply too strong.

Nature Biotechnology wrote:

'Empirical attenuation is unreliable in some cases and LAVs pose several safety issues. Although inactivated viruses and subunit vaccines alleviate many of these concerns, they have in general been less efficacious than their LAV counterparts.'

A Chinese research article also wrote:

'Although it has been widely acknowledged that glorious history of vaccination of past 200 years has been a successful feat in the protection of multiple disease calamities, contamination, incomplete attenuation or high virulence of the vaccine, laboratory regulation, injection and preservation problems have witnessed many accidents in the river of history.'

This is probably why a 22 year old vaccinated New Yorker recently gave four other people the measles. As the science is far from exact, the diseases can occur in vaccinated people and no one knows what the virus will do once injected into the body of an immature, immuno-compromised infant - it's really just a guessing game as to its biochemical effect.

Sources:

http://vir.sgmjournals.org/content/80/8/2023.full.pdf

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7887021

Mercury article originally published in John Hopkins Newsletter, 4 February 2010

CDC Pink Book - Thimerosal still in Flu vaccines, DT, Menomune meningitis vaccine

Now you See It Now You Don't Thimerosal Hazardous Waste Guidelines

http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/vaccinations/Pages/mmr-side-effects.aspx

Medicine Net Atypical Measles Syndrome

Rationalizing the development of live attenuated virus vaccines

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19127854

Measles Outbreak Started by Vaccinated Person - Science Mag