Mutated Virus from Vaccine Causing Polio Outbreaks in Africa

August 15th, 2009

See The Polio Vaccine: A Critical Assessment of Its Arcane History, Efficacy, and Long-Term Health-Related Consequences by Neil Z. Miller (pdf).

Via: Boston Globe:

Polio, the dreaded paralyzing disease stamped out in the industrialized world, is spreading in Nigeria. And health officials say in some cases, it’s caused by the vaccine used to fight it.

Experts have long believed epidemics unleashed by a vaccine’s mutated virus wouldn’t last since the vaccine only contains a weakened virus strain — but that assumption is coming under pressure. Some experts now say that once viruses from vaccines start circulating they can become just as dangerous as wild viruses.

“The only difference is that this virus was originally in a vaccine vial,” said Olen Kew, a virologist at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Research Credit: j crash

2 Responses to “Mutated Virus from Vaccine Causing Polio Outbreaks in Africa”

  1. oelsen says:

    The first wtf here is that Polio is still active.

    I think a known disease should be eradicated the moment a vaccine is being made against it. This slow-and-finally-we-will-maybe save everybody is the reason it doesn’t work at all. Scandalous enough that TB and the plain old plague are still there. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_plague_epidemic_in_Surat e.g.

  2. LykeX says:

    But if you vaccinate everyone and eradicate the disease, then who are you going to sell the vaccine to? It makes much more sense to keep it a threat for as long as you have the patent, so you can keep making money for as long as possible.

    This is the reason why our economic system is screwed up. It’s not designed to help people. Rather, it’s designed to make money for the stockholders, no matter how many people are hurt in the process.

    A big part of the problem is that the international corporate structures make it near impossible for the average person to find out who is responsible for any given decision. Thus, there is no accountability and no incentive to do the right thing.

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