Tag: hepatitis B vaccine

Chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia following immunization with the hepatitis B vaccine: another angle of the ‘autoimmune (auto-inflammatory) syndrome induced by adjuvants’ (ASIA)

Abstract:

The objectives of this study were to gather information regarding demographic and clinical characteristics of patients diagnosed with either fibromyalgia (FM) or chronic fatigue (CFS) following hepatitis B vaccination (HBVv) and furthermore to apply the recently suggested criteria of autoimmune (auto-inflammatory) syndromes induced by adjuvants (ASIA), in the aim of identifying common characteristics that may suggest an association between fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue and HBV vaccination.

Medical records of 19 patients with CFS and/or fibromyalgia following HBVv immunization were analyzed. All of which were immunized during 1990-2008 in different centers in the USA. All medical records were evaluated for demographics, medical history, the number of vaccine doses, as well as immediate and long term post-immunization adverse events and clinical manifestations. In addition, available blood tests, imaging results, treatments and outcomes were analyzed. ASIA criteria were applied to all patients.

The mean age of patients was 28.6 ± 11 years, of which 68.4 % were females. 21.05 % had either personal or familial background of autoimmune disease. The mean latency period from the last dose of HBVv to onset of symptoms was 38.6 ± 79.4 days, ranging from days to a year. Eight (42.1 %) patients continued with the immunization program despite experiencing adverse events. Manifestations that were commonly reported included neurological manifestations (84.2 %), musculoskeletal (78.9 %), psychiatric (63.1 %), fatigue (63.1 %), gastrointestinal complains (58 %) and mucocutaneous manifestations (36.8 %). Autoantibodies were detected in 71 % of patients tested. All patients fulfilled the ASIA criteria.

This study suggests that in some cases CFS and FM can be temporally related to immunization, as part of ASIA syndrome. The appearance of adverse event during immunization, the presence of autoimmune susceptibility and higher titers of autoantibodies all can be suggested as risk factors. ASIA criteria were fulfilled in all patients eluding the plausible link between ASIA and CFS/FM.

 

Source: Agmon-Levin N, Zafrir Y, Kivity S, Balofsky A, Amital H, Shoenfeld Y. Chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia following immunization with the hepatitis B vaccine: another angle of the ‘autoimmune (auto-inflammatory) syndrome induced by adjuvants’ (ASIA). Immunol Res. 2014 Dec;60(2-3):376-83. doi: 10.1007/s12026-014-8604-2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25427994

 

Report of the working group on the possible relationship between hepatitis B vaccination and the chronic fatigue syndrome

Introduction:

On 2 June, 1992, the Laboratory Centre for Disease Control (LCDC), Health Protection Branch, Department of National Health and Welfare, asked Dr. Gilles Delage to set up an independent working group to evaluate the evidence linking hepatitis B vaccination with the chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Dr. Delage agreed to act as the chairman of the group, and experts were recruited in the following fields: clinical investigation of patients with CFS, clinical studies of hepatitis B vaccination in health care workers, epidemiology and study design, public health programs pertaining to hepatitis B vaccination, and immunology of vaccine response. The working group held a 1-day meeting on 2 November, 1992. It reviewed in detail the data collected by LCDC on 30 self-reported cases of CFS (meeting a standard case definition) alleged to be secondary to hepatitis B vaccination. The working group then reviewed data made available by some of its members. After a lengthy discussion, all members of the working group agreed that there is no evidence of a cause-effect relationship between hepatitis B vaccination and CFS. This report outlines the reasons why the group arrived at this conclusion.

You can read the rest of this article here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1485526/pdf/cmaj00271-0068.pdf

 

Source: Report of the working group on the possible relationship between hepatitis B vaccination and the chronic fatigue syndrome. CMAJ. 1993 Aug 1;149(3):314-9. [Article in English, French] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1485526/

 

Alleged link between hepatitis B vaccine and chronic fatigue syndrome

I thought it fitting that Mr. Andrew House’s letter “Alleged link between  and chronic fatigue syndrome” saw the light of day in your Apr. 1 issue (page 1145), sharing space with “Psychopharmacology of lycanthropy.”

It was an appropriate debut for a letter that unblushingly ridiculed sick human beings. The disparaging tone and point of view reminded me of the way psychiatric patients used to be discussed in the bad old days.

You can read the full comment as well as the author’s reply here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1336231/pdf/cmaj00257-0021c.pdf

 

Source: O’Sullivan SJ. Alleged link between hepatitis B vaccine and chronic fatigue syndrome. CMAJ. 1992 Aug 15;147(4):399, 402. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1336231/

 

Alleged link between hepatitis B vaccine and chronic fatigue syndrome

Comment on: Alleged link between hepatitis B vaccine and chronic fatigue syndrome. [CMAJ. 1992]

 

It was with great interest that I read this article in the Jan. 1, 1992, issue of CMAJ (146: 37-38). As a 4th-year medical student at the University of Ottawa I was pleased to read of a possible medical (albeit iatrogenic) explanation for my complaints of fatigue and ill health.

You see, in my first year of medical school I was engaged in an elective in general surgery and, as a precaution, received complete hepatitis B prophylaxis. Now, some 3 years later, I find that I can hardly drag myself out of bed every morning at dawn, and it is a struggle to keep my eyes open to read Harrison’s every night, not to mention the nearly impossible task of stifling yawns and the embarrassment of nodding off at rounds and lectures after a 36-hour shift.

I also find it fascinating that most of my classmates (who have also received the hepatitis B vaccination series) have similar complaints of excessive daytime somnolence, lack of energy and listlessness as they too struggle to complete a work week in excess of 70 hours.

I am sure that the Nightingale Research Foundation would find this information very useful in its attempt to link hepatitis B vaccination with chronic fatigue syndrome. I wonder how many other medical students, interns and residents, family physicians and specialists who have received the vaccine are suffering as I am. Our voices must be heard!

~Andrew House University of Ottawa Ottawa, Ont.

 

Source: House A. Alleged link between hepatitis B vaccine and chronic fatigue syndrome. CMAJ. 1992 Apr 1;146(7):1145. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1488336/

Note: You can read the full letter here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1488336/pdf/cmaj00296-0011a.pdf

 

Alleged link between hepatitis B vaccine and chronic fatigue syndrome

In 1989, 3456 cases of hepatitis B were reported in Canada. It is generally accepted that the true incidence of the disease is about 10 times the reported incidence.

Hepatitis B virus is a major cause of acute and chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis and primary hepatocellular carcinoma. Chronic hepatitis may develop in 10% of infected adults and 90% of infected infants and may progress to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. In its acute form hepatitis B is fatal in a small number of cases. The disease is transmitted through sexual contact and infected blood and other body fluids. Carriers frequently show no symptoms until later in life and may therefore infect others unknowingly.

Hepatitis B vaccine has been used in populations that have an established risk of infection with known consequences (e.g., health care workers, male homosexuals and injection drug users).

Recent attention in the Canadian press has focused on the possible association between hepatitis B vaccination and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS).

You can read the rest of this article here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1488229/pdf/cmaj00290-0039.pdf

 

Source: [No authors listed] Alleged link between hepatitis B vaccine and chronic fatigue syndrome. CMAJ. 1992 Jan 1;146(1):37-8. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1488229/