http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSN3146783220080901Young women in Australia who got a vaccine to prevent cervical cancer were five to 20 times more likely to have a rare but severe allergic reaction than girls who got other vaccines in comparable school-based vaccination programs, researchers said on Monday. ...
The team of Australian researchers led by Dr. Julia Brotherton of The Children's Hospital at Westmead studied 114,000 young women vaccinated with Merck & Co's Gardasil vaccine as part of a 2007 vaccination program in New South Wales. Of these, 12 had suspected cases of anaphylaxis, a potentially life-threatening allergic reaction that can cause difficulty breathing, nausea and rashes, they reported in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
Eight out of the 12 young women had confirmed anaphylactic reactions after getting the vaccine, for an estimated rate of reaction of 2.6 per 100,000 doses administered. That compared with a rate of 0.1 per 100,000 doses in a 2003 school-based meningitis vaccination program.
http://www.usnews.com/blogs/on-women/2008/9/2/reality-check-for-hpv-vaccine-allergic-reactions-and-more.htmlWhen the first human papilloma virus or HPV vaccine was approved two years ago to protect against the virus that causes cervical cancer, gynecologists hailed it as a major breakthrough. At my own annual checkup last week, my gynecologist told me that she's seeing significantly fewer abnormal Pap smears, probably because her patients have been getting vaccinated. Many women, though, are opting not to get themselves or their preteen daughters vaccinated after reports have been trickling out concerning possible side effects. A study out today, for example, shows that the Gardasil vaccine causes a higher rate of allergic reactions, such as nausea, rashes, and difficulty breathing, than do other vaccines given at younger ages. Though the overall risk is quite small—far less than 1 percent—doctors should still be on guard for these warning signs, the study researchers say, because they can become life threatening if not treated.
Two months ago, I blogged about a teen who, after getting Gardasil, developed severe paralysis, which may or may not have been linked to the vaccine. I received a slew of comments from readers wondering if their daughters' or their own health problems had been caused by the vaccine. One mother told me her daughter developed seizures, while a 15-year-old wrote me that within one month of getting her last shot, she developed headaches, aching joints, and flulike symptoms that haven't gone away. An emergency room nurse E-mailed me that she had a series of allergic reactions to her shots and now has so much joint paint and tiredness, she has had to take a desk job. No one knows whether there's a cause-and-effect relationship here, but some leading experts are beginning to wonder why this new vaccine was adopted so quickly into general practice, particularly in young girls who may not become sexually active for years.
Pediatrician Catherine DeAngelis, who is editor-in-chief of the Journal of the American Medical Association, tells me that while she thinks the vaccine makes sense for sexually active single women, it's absolutely ludicrous to give it to 11- and 12-year-olds (as federal guidelines recommend) since the vaccine may not last long enough to protect them when they start dating. "This may be absolutely the wrong time to give it," she says. "And what are the risks? We won't know until it's given to millions of women."
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080829/hpv_vaccine_080829/20080901?hub=TopStoriesDr. Julia Brotherton, lead author of the study, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, said some women may be allergic to the vaccine components. So far researchers haven't found which parts of the vaccine are causing the reactions.
Brotherton and colleagues in Australia vaccinated 114,000 women between the ages of 16 and 18 in 2007. They found 12 suspected cases of anaphylaxis, and seven in which the allergic reaction was "quite severe."
http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5h9wbmorEfaDeuL_kYIOfrgTx4mOQAnaphylaxis is an allergic reaction involving hives or an itchy rash, a quickening heart beat and wheezing or breathing difficulties. The condition sets in rapidly and is generally triggered by exposure to a food or drug to which a person is allergic, or the sting of insect.
All of the girls recovered after being treated with epinephrine, also known as adrenaline. None experienced the most serious - and life threatening - form of the condition, anaphylactic shock. ...
And Dr. Neal Halsey, of the Institute of Vaccine Safety at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said it will be critical to try to find out what was behind the elevated anaphylaxis rates in New South Wales. "We need to look at that very carefully and try to figure out exactly what was happening." ...
"We do wonder if it's something to do with vaccinating very large numbers in that particular age group," said Brotherton. "And that's why we really are putting this out there to say: We've observed this. We need it to be verified in other places."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/01/AR2008090101711.html"These reactions were all potentially serious, meaning that if they were untreated, it is possible they could have progressed to become potentially life-threatening. However, all were rapidly recognized and treated with no serious effects resulting," Brotherton said.
Allergic reactions to vaccines aren't unusual, although they tend to be rare. It's not clear why the HPV vaccine might cause allergic reactions, Brotherton said.
The study authors did find that the rate of allergic reactions to the HPV vaccine was higher than the rates for other vaccines given at schools, including those for hepatitis B, diphtheria, measles, mumps and the flu. In some cases, the rate of allergic reactions to HPV was 5 times to 20 times as high as the rates for the other vaccines.
The results of the study need to be confirmed by other research, Brotherton said. It's possible that the researchers in the new study may have detected more cases of allergic reactions because they used a different definition of them, she said. It's also possible that the young women who got the vaccine may be more susceptible to problems than other groups of people who get vaccines, she said.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080901.wHPVstudy0901/BNStory/National/homeWith this fall's return to school, HPV vaccine shots will be available to schoolgirls in all 10 provinces, following in the footsteps of Ontario and the Atlantic provinces, which began a year ago. But skepticism is high: In Ontario, for example, only half of eligible girls agreed to receive the vaccine last year. The program is the most expensive vaccination campaign in Canadian history. A Merck Frosst product, the Gardasil vaccine protects against strains of human papillomavirus (HPV) responsible for 70 per cent of cervical cancers. Gardasil is costly, at $400 for the three required shots.
But some experts remain unconvinced, saying policy makers rushed into a pricey immunization program when there is no epidemic of cervical cancer, which can already be screened through regular Pap smears. In a Canadian Medical Association Journal article last year, four researchers led by epidemiologist Abby Lippman of McGill University urged a more prudent course. The New England Journal of Medicine echoed similar feelings in an editorial two weeks ago. “With so many essential questions still unanswered, there is good reason to be cautious about introducing large-scale vaccination programs,” it said.
The Australian study adds some reassurance, but there are still a lot of unanswered questions about the pertinence of HPV vaccine programs, Dr. Lippman said in an interview. ...
“There's still many missing pieces of the jigsaw puzzle,” said Alan Cassels, a drug-policy researcher at the University of Victoria. “This one is so new and the track record is so untested and the disease takes years to develop and is usually detectable with a Pap smear. There's lots of reasons why you would hesitate.”
http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=4bf3bb7c-a52a-4c63-9a90-c3eee5db03e4"Yes, the data do say that if the rates of anaphylaxis are increased, they do remain low. But even if it is shown to have a fairly reasonable safety record, the question still remains: Is this what we need to be doing with the limited funding we have in health care these days?" said Abby Lippman, a professor of epidemiology at McGill University.
http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/cancer/2008/09/02/5-things-to-consider-before-getting-the-hpv-vaccine.htmlGardasil is quickly getting the reputation as the "most painful childhood shot." Merck, the vaccine manufacturer, acknowledges that the sting can be bad, most likely because the viruslike particles generate a strong immune response at the injection site, causing temporary swelling and inflammation. Fainting, among teen girls, is also more common after this shot compared with others, which could be linked to the pain. Though discomfort should hardly be the deciding factor, some experts believe it should be weighed, especially for young girls who aren't yet at risk for contracting HPV.
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