Guillain Barre syndrome
Is it worth the 'one in a million' risk?

An American teenager developed Guillain Barre syndrome (GBS) a rare crippling disease that can result in death within hours of receiving a H1n1 vaccine for the swine flu.

Jordan McFarland, a 14-year-old high school athlete from Virginia, USA, suffered severe headaches, muscle spasms and weakness in his legs following H1N1 vaccination in early November 2009.

He spent a week in hospital and was discharged in a wheelchair. He was diagnosed with GBS. Click here for the symptoms of Guillain Barre Syndrome.

Reports say he will need the assistance of a walker for four to six weeks, plus extensive physical therapy. Jordan said: “The doctor said I’ll recover fully, but it’s going to take some time.”

His illness is alarming. But even more so was the way the health authorities responded to it:

• First, they declared it a coincidence even though Jordan became severly ill just hours after the H1N1 vaccination and even though GBS is acknowledged as one of the possibe flu vaccine side effects. The health authorities say this is a coincidence because between 100 and 200 Americans develop Guillain Barre syndrome in America each year anyway.
  
  
• It that is not bad enough, the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention used the incident to affirm the "safety" of flu vaccines, saying that the number of GBS cases following flu vaccination has so far been "fewer than expected".

This is outrageous! Imagine... you fall seriously ill soon after receiving a flu shot and the government cites your case as "proof" that the flu shot is safe, saying it actually expected a lot more people to fall sick like you did.

Symptoms of Guillain-Barre Syndrome include the following: -- Acute neuromuscular paralysis -- Progressive muscle weakness -- Tingling sensations -- Leg / arm weakness / tingling -- Leg / arm tingling -- Upper body weakness / tingling -- Paralysis -- Facial paralysis -- Loss of reflexes -- Blood pressure changes -- Arrhythmias (irregular heart beat) -- Pins and needles sensation -- Lower leg weakness -- Progressive weakness -- Trunk weakness -- Upper extremity weakness -- Neck weakness -- Back pain -- Muscle tenderness -- Stiff neck -- Fever -- Reduced tendon reflexes -- Absent tendon reflexes -- Absent plantar response. In addition, Guillain-Barre Syndrome can lead to complications that lead to: -- Respiratory muscle paralysis -- Respiratory failure -- Permanent muscle weakness • Permanent numbness • Total paralysis • Dysautonomia (dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system • Recurrent attacks of GBS.

Guillain Barre syndrome is expected to affect one out of a million people who receive the flu shot. In the US, five people (not counting Jordan) had so far reported deeloping GBS since the latest H1N1 flu vaccination program began in late September 2009. This is out of 40 million vaccine doses made available (but not necessarily administered) to date. So from the perspective of statistical probability, the numbers are small.

But such probabilities are mere guesses - albeit by so-called medical experts. They could be lower, they could also be higher.

Back in 1976, during what has since been described as the H1N1 swine flu fiasco, 40 million Americans were given a H1N1 vaccine and it resulted in over 500 cases of Guillain Barre Syndrome, including 25 deaths. The vaccination programme was finally halted on 16 December that year, by which time too much damage had already been done.

Also, in September 1995, the US Food and Drug Administration reported that five college students developed Guillian Barre Syndrome after receiving the meningococcal vaccine against meningitis - an illness with symptoms similar to those of the flu.

And in November 2006, Canadian researchers reported a slight rise in the incidence of GBS among those given flu shots.

It does not matter whether the risk of Guillain Barre Syndrome is one in a million (the official figure), six out of 40 million (the 2009 figure so far) or more than 500 out of 40 million (the figure in 1976).

Why take this risk? What benefits do you get in exchange?

Well, according to doctors and governmental health authorities, the H1N1 vaccine will "protect" you against flu influenza by the H1N1 virus. Yet this protection does not come with any guarantee. You may still catch the flu in spite of being vaccinated. Meanwhile, many independent scientific studies tell us that flu vaccines, including the H1N1 vaccine, are generally ineffective. So you may not even get the protection that you seek.

But let's just assume that the H1N1 vaccine and other seasonal flu vaccines do work. They do protect you against the flu. What does this mean? Basically, it means you have a lesser chance of getting flu symptoms such as fever, cough, sore throat, body ache, etc, which may last from a few days to slightly more than a week.

There is a remote chance that you might actually die from the flu, especially if you are already sick to begin with. If you are healthy, with a strong immune system, you chances of getting the flu are very very slim. And your chances of dying from the flu are even slimmer than very very slim.

So the "benefits" are minimal. Is a "one in a million" chance of Guillain Barre Syndrome worth the risk?

Click here to learn about other flu vaccine side effects, including H1N1 vaccine side effects.