CDC: Few serious reactions to swine flu vaccine

By Jimmy Downs

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a briefing on Dec 4 saying that serious reactions after receiving the H1N1 swine flu vaccine are rare and not significantly higher than those seen after receiving the seasonal flu vaccine.

One swine flu vaccine used in 1976 was associated with some cases of a neurological disorder known as Guillain-Barre syndrome. But Thomas Frieden, MD, MPH, CDC director cited preliminary safety data showing that the disorder is not an issue with the H1N1 swine flu vaccine for this year.

Dr. Joe Mercola at mercola.com reported that a 14-year-old boy from Virginia known as Jordan McFarland is “weak and struggling to walk after coming down with a reported case of Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) within hours after receiving the H1N1 vaccine for swine flu.”

“McFarland left Inova Fairfax Hospital for Children in a wheelchair nearly a week after developing severe headaches, muscle spasms and weakness in his legs following a swine flu shot,” Dr. mercola said in his report.

Frieden was quoted by Webmd.com as saying "The likelihood that we’ll have a 1976-like problem with this year’s H1N1 influenza vaccine is vanishingly remote."

H1N1 swine flu cases fell off during the Thanksgiving week and fewer states reported widespread activity. Still 17 children reportedly died last week alone of H1N1 flu, bringing the total of pediatric deaths from the flu to 210.

Data obtained early suggest that young people are more likely to get swine flu, but elderly people are more likely to die from it. However, WeBmD cited Frieden as saying that the virus is a much worse virus for younger people.

The safety of swine flu vaccine is not addressed as often as the risk of the flu virus.

One reader posted a message on foodconsumer.org telling readers his experience with swine flu vaccine. The following is cited in verbatim and has not been substantiated.

I am 62 and received the H1N1 flu shot at a local clinic at 7 PM. By 9 PM that same evening I began to experience severe aches and pains. I took 2 tylenol and went to sleep. At 3 AM I woke up with 102 fever and severe chills and unusually high blood pressure and heartbeat rates. My husband called our doctor and then 911. We also called the CDC and found that they have no medical people to guide you. They only are set up to send you a form "Adverse Reaction Report" in the mail. The EMS came and offered to take me to a hospital. They felt it was a reaction to the flu shot. One of the EMS responders told me he had also had a similar reaction to the H1N1 shot and had gotten over it in a few days. I decided to make it through the night and see my own doctor in the morning. It was very difficult for me to make it the next day to my doctor and wait in the office. The pain had moved into my gut and I was in agony.My doctor examined me and thought that rather than having a reaction to the flu shot, I had somehow gotten food poisoning or gastroenteritis. My doctor told me I was very dehydrated. He said if for any reason I could not drink a lot of Gatorade he would have to put me in the hospital. Dehydration remained throughout my illness the major medical concern. I was sent home with antispasmotics. For 5 days I could not eat or keep any food down. My gut was in agony and I went to the bathroom 45 times in one day. I did not want to drink anymore liquid but being an adult I kept forcing myself. By day 4 the idea of going to the hospital for the IV started to sound good. By then I was wearing diapers. My doctor called on the 4th day and I complained of the terrible gastric pain. My fever had gone after the first day but reappeared on and off on the 3rd and 4th days. I actually asked him if I had Cholera. This is a disease I had only read about or seen in movies. He told me that what I had was indeed related, and to my horror that I could have a relapse. By Sunday night I began to feel a little better. On Monday I could eat some bland food. I had survived. The reason I am writing to you is that I was treated as if none of this were a reaction to the H1N1 flue shot. None of my doctors appeared to know that there could be a gastric impact from the shot. I lay in bed and racked my brain for how I could have coincidentally caught gastroenteritis? It was suggested by my doctor that I had caught it at the clinic. It has taken me almost 3 weeks to be back to my normal strength and activity. I continue to wonder if what happened to me was a result of the shot. No one seems to have any answers and like most people I am content to be well. However, if what happened to me is a result of the shot I would want others to know about it. How a healthy person can walk into a clinic and get a shot and then get so very ill is still worrisome to me. I found this site by accident today and you are the first person to list the possible side effects, including gastrointestinal problems from taking the H1N!1 vaccine. I do not think that my doctor knew this information or that his opinion now would be much altered by that news. But I thank you for it.