Posted by Marina on March 04, 1999 at 14:40:27:
In Reply to: Measles/Mumps/Rubella Question posted by KenC on March 03, 1999 at 20:33:09:
The following is an excerpt from testimony given by Dr. Harris Coulter before congress on 4/16/97. I just copied a small portion below but I think the entire site is worth reading:
Rubella Vaccine Virus Persists In Body - P.K. Coyle and colleagues demonstrated in 1982 that
"rubella-specific immune complex formation is frequent after vaccination and could be demonstrated in
two-thirds of an unselected group of vaccinates for as long as eight months after vaccination." (18) In
fact, the virus has been found to persist in the body of the vaccinated person for as long as seven years
after vaccination. (19)
This is not surprising, given that in congenital rubella syndrome the virus can persist for at least 20 years
and, probably, for a lifetime. (20)
Thus, there is no reason to make a distinction between rubella virus entering the organism as part of the
disease process and the same virus entering via a vaccination. It is known, for instance, that "vaccinees
sometimes develop mild rubella, including rash, lymphadenopathy, fever, sore throat and headache." (21)
In adult women this occurs in about half the vaccinees. (22)
In both cases, immune complexes are formed and persist in the host organism for lengthy periods.
Immune complexes from a vaccination can attack the pancreas just as easily as if they were from
congenital rubella syndrome.
The actual mechanism of such an attack on the pancreas is probably multifactorial. Aside from the
possibility that the immune complexes attack the islet cells of the pancreas directly, there is also the
likelihood that they generate an allergic (anaphylactic, hypersensitive) or autoimmune state with
subsequent autoimmune destruction of the pancreas. Margaret Menser wrote:
"Clinically it is not possible to show whether the pathogenesis of the diabetes initiated by the rubella
virus is due solely to direct viral invasion of the beta-cells of the islets of Langerhans, or whether the
virus induces an immunologic reaction in the islet cells, which then leads to the development of
diabetes." (23)
E.J. Mayfield and colleagues wrote in the same connection:
"The mechanism of virus-induced diabetes is not known. Viruses associated with diabetes in animals
may cause disease by (1) directly lysing [i.e., dissolving] the beta-cells; (2) triggering an autoimmune
response; or (3) specifically impairing the secretory process of beta-cells through a persistent infection."
He concluded that option (2) was the most probable one: the generation of an autoimmune state in which
the body, as it were, becomes allergic to itself or to a part of itself. (24)
The reasonableness of this explanation is enhanced by the observation that the rubella vaccine can
cause an allergic reaction. (25) A Canadian survey in 1987 found "allergic reactions" in 30 children who
reacted adversely to the MMR vaccine. (26) Indeed, the possibility of an anaphylactic reaction from the
MMR vaccine is specifically recognized by the Vaccine Injury Table in Title 21 of the Public Health
Service Act (this table was developed as a guideline for compensating victims of vaccination under the
National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986, Public Law 99-660).
Diabetes after a rubella vaccination probably represents a combined effect: the virus attacks the islet
cells of the pancreas in an organism which has already been weakened by an autoimmune reaction to
the same virus.