Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System Reports Of Meningitis After Hib Vaccine
VAERS ID 25493
An 18 month old boy was vaccinated with hib vaccine and 160 days later he developed pneumonia and according to diagnostic lab tests he had blood cultures positive for Haemorphilus Influenzae type B.
VAERS ID 25796
2 year old boy developed Hib blood poisoning and meningitis 310 days after hib vaccination.
He had a history of febrile seizures.
VAERS ID 25798
A 2 year old girl was given a hib vaccine and 102 days later she developed hib meningitis and had temporary paralysis of her lower limbs. Her blood culture tested positive for Haemophilus influenzae B.
VAERS ID 27261
A 6 month old baby recieved his first hib vaccination and 22 days later he was hospitalized with hib sepsis and meningitis.
VAERS ID 27274
An 18 month old girl had a hib vaccination and developed meningitis within 12 hours of the shot. Her blood culture was positive for hib.
She had had a urine infection at the time of vaccination but was otherwise healthy.
19 month old child had Hib vaccine and DPT and oral polio. 504 days later he DIED after contracting hib meningitis. His blood culture tested positive for Hib.
His father had stated he had some kind of immune system disorder prior to vaccination.
VAERS ID 27813
A 2 month old baby boy had Hib vaccine DPT and oral polio vaccines.
He developed hib meningitis and sepsis 10 days after vaccination.
VAERS ID 233312
A 4 month old boy was vaccinated with DTaP Hib and pneumonia vaccines.
36 days later he was hospitalized with hib meningitis and pneumonia. His blood culture tested positive for hib.
Recent 2008 VAERS Failure Reports
A 2 month old boy was vaccinated with DTAP HIB IPV PNC and ROTHB5 vaccines on 3rd April 2008.
3 days later he developed pneumococcal meningitis and bacteremia.
He had been born at 33 weeks.
VAERS ID 320337
A 5 month old boy was vaccinated with hib vaccine and 279 days later he developed hib meningitis which was confirmed by a spinal tap.
VAERS ID 324934
A 15 week old boy DIED after having his vaccinations on 15th July 2008.
Information regarding PREVNAR was received from a pediatrician regarding a 15-week-old male patient who experienced Pneumococcal meningitis. At 15 weeks of age, the patient received the first dose on 15-Jul-2008. He also received the first doses of HIB (manufacturer unknown), Poliomyelitis Vaccine Inactivated (manufacturer unknown), DTaP and ROTATEQ (Merck & Co Inc) on 15-Jul-2008. Relevant medical history was not provided. Concomitant therapy included Hepatitis B Vaccine, HIB, ROTATEQ, DTaP and Poliomyelitis Vaccine Inactivated. On 25-Aug-2008, the patient presented with nystagmus, irritability and fever. He was hospitalized and diagnostic tests were performed (see test results), however serotyping was not performed. The blood culture and cerebral spinal fluid culture were positive for Pneumococcus. The patient was diagnosed as having Pneumococcal meningitis drug ineffective on 25-Aug-2008. Treatments were not reported. The patient died on 28-Aug-2008. The physician considered PREVNAR to be ineffective in preventing Pneumococcal meningitis, but stated that she realized that only receiving one dose in the series did not confer immunity to the disease. No further information was available at the time of this report. The cause of death was reported as meningitis Pneumococcal.
VAERS ID 325003
A 2 month old girl was vaccinated with DTAPHE HIB PNC ROTHB5. Unresponsive after vaccinations and developed a fever.
2 days later she was diagnosed with meningitis.
She had been previously healthy with no pre-existing conditions.
The VAERS reports were only an example of the 33 pages of meningitis after hib vaccine reports that I studied and these are only the cases which were notified by doctors in the USA.
HIB Disease – New Strains Developing Because Of Advent Of Vaccine, Also Cases Of Regular HIB Are At The Same Rate As Before The Vaccine
In addition to the proportional increase in cases of non-type b Haemophilus influenzae disease in the post-H. influenzae type b vaccine era, the incidence of invasive H. influenzae disease was found to be approaching the rates of H. influenzae type b disease that were documented in the prevaccine period. Fifty-six percent of invasive disease now occurs in individuals aged >10 years.
Source:
Clin Infect Dis. 2007 Jun 15;44(12):1611-4. Epub 2007 May 2.
Overall Cases Of HIB Have INCREASED Since The Vaccine
We reviewed retrospectively all invasive Haemophilus influenzae (Hi) infections in adults ascertained from reference laboratory records and notifications from five NHS regions over the 5 years from 1 October 1990, a period encompassing the introduction of routine Hib childhood immunization (October 1992). A total of 446 cases were identified, a rate of 0.73 infections per 10(5) adults per annum. Though numbers of Hib infections in adults fell after the introduction of Hib vaccines for children (P = 0.035), and there was no increase in infections caused by other capsulated Hi serotypes, total numbers of invasive Hi infections increased due to a large rise in infections caused by non-capsulated Hi (ncHi) strains (P = 0.0067). There was an unexpectedly low rate of infections in those aged 75 years or more (P < 0.0001). The commonest clinical presentations were pneumonia with bacteraemia (227/350, 65%) and bacteraemia alone (62/350, 18%) and the highest rates of disease were in the 65-74 years age group (P < 0.0001). Clinical presentation was not influenced by the capsulation status of the invading Hi strain. 103/350 cases (29%) died within 1 month, and 207/350 (59%) within 6 months of their Hi infection. Case fatality rates were high in all age groups. Pre-existing diseases were noted in 220/350 cases and were associated with a higher case fatality rate (82% vs. 21%, P < 0.0001). After the introduction of Hib immunization in children, invasive Hib infections in unimmunized adults also declined, BUT THE OVERALL RATE OF INVASIVE HI DISEASE IN ADULTS INCREASED, with most infections now caused by non-capsulated strains. Physicians and microbiologists should be aware of the changing epidemiology, the high associated mortality and high risk of underlying disease. Invasive haemophilus infections in adults should be investigated and treated aggressively.
Source: Epidemiol Infect. 2000 Jun;124(3):441-7
Haemophilus Influenzae A Increased 8 Fold After Vaccine For Haemophilus influenzae B
Surveillance for Haemophilus influenzae meningitis cases was performed in Salvador, Brazil, before and after introduction of H. influenzae type b (Hib) immunization. The incidence of Hib meningitis decreased 69% during the 1-year period after initiation of Hib immunization (from 2.62 to 0.81 cases/100,000 person-years; P<.001). In contrast, the incidence for H. influenzae type a meningitis increased 8-fold (from 0.02 to 0.16 cases/100,000 person-years; P=.008). Pulsed-field gel electrophoretic analysis demonstrated that H. influenzae type a isolates belonged to 2 clonally related groups, both of which were found before Hib immunization commenced. Therefore, Hib immunization contributed to an increased risk for H. influenzae type a meningitis through selection of circulating H. influenzae type a clones. The risk attributable to serotype replacement is small in comparison to the large reduction in Hib meningitis due to immunization. However, these findings highlight the need to maintain surveillance as the use of conjugate vaccines expands worldwide.
Source: J Infect Dis. 2003 Jan 1;187(1):109-16. Epub 2002 Dec 13.
VAN UK’S Comment: This is what happens with vaccination, a disease may go down but then another type of the disease sky rockets – its called serotype conversion or mutation.
443 Cases Of HIB Infection – 82% Of Cases Were Vaccinated. Vaccine Estimated To Only Be 56.7% ‘Effective’.
A total of 443 cases of Hib infection occurred in children eligible for vaccination; 363 (82%) were fully vaccinated. Vaccine effectiveness was estimated to be 56.7% (95% confidence interval, 42.5-67.4).
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Infect+Dis.+2003+Aug+15%3B188(4)%3A481-5
Indian Babies Don’t Need Hib Vaccine Because They Have Natural Immunity And Much Less Hib Than Western Children
The authors found the incidence of hib meningitis to be only 0.007% and they speculate that the population may have natural immunity to invasive hib disease.
In Asia, hib disease is very low, 6 in 100,000, compared with the 109 in 100,000 in the Western Pacific.
The study revealed a remarkably low incidence of hib disease, not convinced, WHO undertook a large population based study in Tamil Nadu, assuming that the previous hospital based study would miss cases of meningitis in the community, before they reach the hospital. The very low incidence of in this community based study is therefore of great interest to epidemiologists.
Unfortunately because of the delay in publication of the study, the data could not inform the debate prior to the decision of WHO to recommend Hib vaccination to all infants. We have previously suggested that natural immunity was the reason for the low incidence of hib disease in India and the reason why this population does not need vaccination with hib.’
Source: Indian J Med Res 129, February 2009, pp.205-207.
http://www.icmr.nic.in/ijmr/2009/february/0216.pdf
Hib Infection 3 Hours After Hib Vaccination In 4 Month Old Baby
A 4 month-old infant was admitted for a severe form of Hib meningitis with septicemia whose first manifestations developed 3 hours after the first immunization with a conjugate vaccine against Hib (PRP-T). The outcome was good without any sequelae. DISCUSSION: A dramatic decrease in serum antibodies due to antigen-antibody reaction during the first days after immunization has been reported; this mechanism and some epidemiological data could favor the hypothesis that the vaccine is responsible for the infection, at least the unconjugated vaccines. CONCLUSION: Any fever occurring in the immediate post-immunization period must alert the possibility of a Hib infection.
Source: Arch Pediatr. 1996 Apr;3(4):342-4.
Hib Vaccine Decreases Antibodies And May Cause Invasive Hib Disease
Children: a convenience sample of 32 healthy 2-year-old children from diverse locales. Adults: a convenience sample of 16 healthy adults chosen from employees at the Washington University and Tulane University schools of medicine. INTERVENTIONS: PRP or PRP-D vaccine administered to the adults and serum obtained daily for 5 days. PRP vaccine was administered to the children, and serum was sampled 2 or 3 days or 4 or 5 days after immunization, or both. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Decline in serum antibody in all seven (100%) adult recipients of PRP. The nadir occurred on days 1 to 3, and the decrease average 26.0% of the preimmunization concentration. Eight (89%) of nine PRP-D recipients had a similar decline that averaged 25.9%. Of 29 children, 20 (69%) had a decline that averaged 14.7%. The magnitude of anticapsular antibody present before immunization was correlated with the magnitude of the observed decrease. CONCLUSIONS: A decrease in serum anticapsular antibody occurs in most children and adults immunized with PRP (adults and children) or PRP-D (adults). Such a decrease might transiently increase the risk of invasive disease if it occurred during a period of asymptomatic colonization with H. influenzae type b.
Source: J Pediatr. 1989 May;114(5):742-7
1.8 Fold Increase In Hib Disease In The Week After Hib Vaccination
One concern with the use of PRP vaccine was the suggestion that the incidence of invasive disease caused by H influenzae type b in the immediate period after immunization might be increased; this idea was supported by evidence from several sources. In a case-control study of the efficacy of PRP vaccine, Black et al found that 4 children were hospitalized for invasive disease within 1 week of immunization, a rate of invasive disease 6.4 times greater (95% confidence interval [CI], 2.1 to 19.2) than the background rate in unvaccinated children. In Minnesota, the relative risk for invasive disease in the first week after immunization was 6.2 (95% CI, 0.6 to 45.9), and the results of a study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control in six areas of the United States revealed a 1.8-fold (95% CI, 0.3 to 10.2) increase in the occurrence of invasive disease caused by H influenzae type b in the first week after immunization.
Source: Pediatrics. 1990 Apr;85(4 Pt 2):698-704
Hemophilus influenzae meningitis despite vaccination
An 18-month-old male previously vaccinated with 4 doses of HbOC developed meningitis caused by Hemophilus influenzae type B. Immunological status was normal and antibody titer to Hemophilus influenzae type b was in the normal range for immunized children. Meningitis due to this organism should be considered even in children who are fully vaccinated.
Source: Harefuah. 1994 Oct;127(7-8):231-4, 287
Hib Vaccine Makes ‘No Difference’
Indian paediatricians have accused these agencies – USAID, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, The Hib Initiative and The GAVI Alliance – of misrepresentation of facts by selectively and inaccurately reporting the actual findings of the Bangladesh Hib probe study in order to promote the vaccine’s wider use.
According to the agencies’ joint press release, the results of the Bangladesh study conducted in 2007 ‘showed that routine immunization of infants with a Hib conjugate vaccine prevented over one-third of life-threatening pneumonia cases and approximately 90 percent of Hib meningitis cases’.
It further said ‘this vaccine study builds on the evidence of the real burden of Hib pneumonia’ in Indonesia.
Both these statements argue in favour of Hib vaccination in developing countries through ‘selective interpretation/presentation of the actual research findings’, says Jacob Puliyel at St.Stephens Hospital in New Delhi and one of the doctors finding fault with the press release.
The Bangladesh study compared Hib vaccination status among children with confirmed pneumonia or meningitis against those without these diseases (controls). The major finding that there was ‘no difference’ in the Hib vaccination status of children with pneumonia compared to community controls was omitted in the press release, the Indian doctors claim.
The study also found that among those who received all three doses of the vaccine, there was ‘no statistically significant protective effect’ against either confirmed meningitis or probable meningitis but it found statistical significance in a sub-group that received only two doses of the vaccine.
‘This latter point was highlighted in the press release in a manner suggesting benefit of the vaccine, without mentioning that no significant difference was found with three doses of vaccine,’ Puliyel points out.
The press release made another misrepresentation by saying the study ‘builds on’ evidence of the burden of Hib pneumonia from Indonesia whereas the Indonesia study actually reported more pneumonia in the Hib vaccinated group than controls, says Puliyel.
In fact, the Indonesia study paper concludes by saying ‘Hib vaccine will not have a major role in efforts to reduce the overall burden of respiratory illness…..as improvements in nutritional status, maternal education and socioeconomic status’ (can have).’
Source: Yahoo India, 15 April 2010.
Hib Infection Rising Since Introduction of Hib Vaccine
More people are contracting Hib infection despite a child vaccination programme, government advisors warn.
Rates of the meningitis-causing bacteria among adults have reached levels higher than before 1992, when routine vaccination of babies started.
Rates in children are also rising, mainly among those immunised as babies, according to Health Protection Agency (HPA) experts.
Booster jabs should reduce rates they told the British Medical Journal.
Resurgence
Hib is the term commonly used to describe a disease caused by the bacteria Haemophilus influenzae type b.
As well as meningitis, it can cause infection in joints, pneumonia and epiglottitis (swelling of part of the windpipe causing noisy, painful breathing and even blockage of the airway).
The Hib vaccine was introduced into the routine immunisation programme for babies in 1992, and led to a big reduction in Hib infection rates and deaths.
However, a number of factors, including problems with the type of vaccine used at the time, led to a drop in its effectiveness, and a corresponding rise in cases of Hib, according to the HPA.
From 1998, Hib cases in children started to rise significantly, almost doubling each year and mostly among those who were immunised in the programme as babies.
To combat this rise, the Department of Health launched a Hib booster campaign between May 2003 and January 2004, targeting all children aged from six months up to four years.
Following this campaign, the number of cases reported fell in the age groups vaccinated.
But a smaller decline occurred in older children and in adults.
Booster
Rates of adult Hib infection are now higher than they were before the vaccination was introduced, say the HPA researchers.
There were 0.27 cases per 100,000 in 2003, compared with 0.17 in 1992.
Dr Mary Ramsay from the HPA’s immunisation department, who led the research, blamed the introduction of the Hib vaccine in 1992 for the rise in adult cases.
“The drop in infection rates among children meant reduced exposure to the disease for adults, and therefore lower rates of infection.
“This means that the level of antibodies in adults, to enable them to fight Hib infection, was no longer being boosted.
“Therefore, as the disease started to rise once again amongst children, some adults were less able than before to fight the infection.”
Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3660660.stm
Hib in Vaccinated Children
Methods.The families of UK children with Hib vaccine failure diagnosed during the period October 1992 through December 2005 were identified through enhanced national surveillance and approached for the study at a median interval of 4 years after invasive disease. The Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium data sets were used as controls. Nineteen functional SNPs in 14 immune response genes were investigated in 172 white children.
Source: http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/656236
Galesburg boy dies of infection even after vaccination
Jaden Lester died Sept. 15 after contracting Hib
GALESBURG, Ill. (KWQC) – An autopsy confirms a Galesburg first-grader who passed away last September died of an airborne bacterial infection.
Jaden Lester, 6, died Sept. 15 after his breathing became restricted because his tonsils had suddenly become inflamed.
What caused the inflammation was a mystery until Tuesday, when Knox County Coroner Mark Thomas announced Lester died from Haemophilus influenzae, also known as Hib.
A vaccine for Hib is commonly administered to children in a series of doses beginning at two months of age, and Thomas says Lester had received the vaccination.
However, Thomas says the vaccine does not cover all strains of Hib and infection is still possible in vaccinated kids.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports a child can get Hib by being around other children or adults who may have the bacteria and not know it.
Death from Hib is rare and cases have declined dramatically since the vaccine became available in the 1980s, with cases declining by more than 99 percent, according to the CDC.
Lester, a student at Steele Elementary School, had complained of a sore throat on Sept. 14, 2016, according to WGIL Radio.
At 3:27 a.m. the next day, a 911 call was placed and Lester had passed away by the time first responders arrived.
Source: KWQC TV 6, November 20th 2016.
VAN UK’s Comment: I made a comment regarding the development of new strains since the introduction of the vaccine and placed a link to a medical journal for parents information. The comment was:
“As this little boy had received his hib vaccine – if he had done so recently it may have given rise to the formation of a different strain. Just as antibiotics gave us MRSA, vaccination can cause bugs to mutate and come back even stronger.”
My comment was CENSORED and removed.
