New Drug-Resistant TB Strains Could Become Widespread, Says New Study

 ScienceDaily (Aug. 12, 2009) — The emergence of new forms of tuberculosis could swell the proportion of drug-resistant cases globally, a new study has found. The finding raises concern that although TB incidence is falling in many regions, the emergence of antibiotic resistance could see virtually untreatable strains of the disease become widespread.

Australian researchers from the University of New South Wales and the University of Western Sydney have published the new finding in the latest issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Laboratory-based studies have suggested that antibiotic-resistant TB strains cause longer-lasting infections but with a lower transmission rate. Therefore, scientists have questioned whether drug-resistant TB strains are more likely than drug-sensitive strains to persist and spread – an important question for predicting the future impact of the disease.

One in three humans already carries the TB bacterium. Although it remains latent in most cases, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has estimated there were 9.27 million new cases of TB in 2007. There were 1.6 million TB-related deaths in 2005. Drug-resistant TB is caused by inconsistent or partial treatment, when patients do not take all their medicines regularly for the required period or because the drug supply is unreliable.

A research team led by UNSW's Dr Mark Tanaka used epidemiological and molecular data from Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains isolated from Cuba, Estonia and Venezuela to estimate the rate of evolution of drug resistance and to compare the relative "reproductive fitness" of resistant and drug-sensitive strains.

"We found that the overall fitness of drug-resistant strains is comparable to drug-sensitive strains," says Dr Tanaka of the Evolution and Ecology Research Centre. "This was especially so in Cuba and Estonia, where the there is a high prevalence of drug-resistant cases."

The finding may reflect an inconsistency in drug treatment programs in these countries. Indeed, Estonia now has one of the highest rates of multi-drug resistance in the world. The intermittent presence of drugs and the resulting transmission of resistant strains would have let drug-resistant strains collectively spend more time within untreated hosts, allowing them to evolve ways to become more infectious and out-compete the drug-sensitive strains.

The study also reveals that the contribution of transmission to the spread of drug resistance is very high – up to 99 per cent – compared with acquired resistance due to treatment failure. "Our results imply that drug resistant strains of TB are likely to become highly prevalent in the next few decades," says UNSW's Dr Fabio Luciani, the study's lead author. "They also suggest that limiting further transmission of TB might be an effective approach to reducing the impact of drug resistance."

"Mathematical and statistical methods can add a lot of value to empirical data by allowing us to account for the processes behind them," says research co-author, Dr Andrew Francis from the University of Western Sydney. "In this case, we use samples of TB genotypes, together with information about drug resistance, to make inferences and predictions that wouldn't have been possible just a few years ago."

About tuberculosis

Tuberculosis is a contagious disease. Like the common cold, it spreads through the air. Only people who are sick with TB in their lungs are infectious. When infectious people cough, sneeze, talk or spit, they propel TB germs, known as bacilli, into the air. A person needs only to inhale a small number of these to be infected.

Left untreated, each person with active TB disease will infect on average between ten and 15 people every year. However, people infected with TB bacilli will not necessarily become sick with the disease. The immune system "walls off" the TB bacilli and it can lie dormant for years. When someone's immune system is weakened, the chances of becoming sick are greater.

Until 50 years ago, there were no medicines to cure TB. Now, strains that are resistant to antibiotics have emerged and about 1.7 per cent of cases worldwide have multi-drug resistant (MDR-TB) disease. In 2006, extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) emerged. XDR-TB is defined as MDR-TB plus resistance to any fluoroquinolone and at least one injectable agent: kanamycin, amikacin or capreomycin. The spread of XDR-TB globally has been fuelled by the HIV epidemic, inadequate public health systems, limited access to high-quality laboratory resources, and a neglect of infection control measures.

"The epidemiological fitness cost of drug resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis," Fabio Luciania, Scott A. Sisson, Honglin Jiangb, Andrew R. Francis, and Mark M. Tanaka, PNAS. Public release date 10-Aug-2009

Vaccine Expert Reveals What You Should Know Before You Roll Up Your Sleeve

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Barbara Minton, NaturalNews

A study by the Harvard Medical School of Public Health confirmed that public health officials could convince most people in the U.S. to alter their daily lives, follow government mandates and do as they are told after only a small amount of hyping that a deadly global pandemic was eminent. It documented that people tend to look to the government as a sort of Big Daddy who has their best interests at heart. People think Big Daddy will take care of them and they don't have to bother taking care of themselves. This mentality has led to an open season of government and government backed corporate abuse resulting in a decline in the standard of life and health in America. It suggests that people will willingly take vaccines they believe have been sponsored by the government without investigating these vaccines on their own. However, a new paper from leading vaccine authority Dr. Sherri Tenpenny shows this may be unwise. She reveals that flu shots merit close examination by those wanting to retain their health.

On June 11th, the decision was made by Dr. Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization to declare a Level 6 Pandemic. This is a pandemic alert of the highest order possible. Under Level 6 conditions, the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HSS) is able to declare mandatory vaccination under the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (PREP). There is no criteria listed stating what constitutes a threat.

The HHS web site says the Secretary may "issue a declaration...that provides immunity from tort liability (except for willful misconduct) for claims of loss caused, arising out of, relating to, or resulting from administration or use of (vaccine or other pharmaceutical) countermeasures to diseases, threats and conditions determined by the Secretary to constitute a present, or credible risk of a future public health emergency..." This means that if you or your child is harmed by a vaccine during these conditions, there is nothing you can do about it.

With this declaration, Big Daddy has made it clear that it would rather protect corporate interests than your interests. This means it is time to stop giving the government your blind faith. It is time to become educated about flu vaccines.

Here are Dr. Tenpenny's well documented findings in the form of questions everyone should be asking.

What is in the regular flu shot?

What we have come to know as the seasonal flu shot is made from:

Egg proteins: including avian contaminated viruses

Gelatin: known to cause allergic reactions and anaphylaxis usually associated with sensitivity to egg or gelatin (anaphylaxis is a rapidly progressing, life-threatening allergic reaction)

Polysorbate 80, (trademarked at Tween 80): a preservative that can cause severe allergic reactions including anaphylaxis.

Formaldehyde: a known carcinogen.

The shot also contains Triton X100 (a strong detergent), table sugar, resin that is known to cause allergic reactions, and an antibiotic (Gentamycin). Multi-dose vials also contain thimerosal, a preservative made with mercury, a known neurotoxin. Infants and children are most at risk for neurological damage from mercury because their nervous systems are still developing. Neurological dysfunctions are also common in adults who have ingested mercury.

Do flu shots work?

The flu shot does not work for babies. In a review of 51 studies involving more than 294,000 children, it was found there was "no evidence that injecting children 6 to 24 months of age with a flu shot was any more effective than a placebo. In children over the age of 2 years, it was effective only 33% of the time in preventing the flu. ("Vaccines for preventing influenza in health children", The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2008)

The flu shot does not work in children with asthma. In a study of 800 children with asthma in which one half were vaccinated and the other half were not, the two groups were compared with respect to clinic visits, emergency department visits, and hospitalizations for asthma. The researchers concluded that no evidence was provided that the influenza vaccine prevented pediatric asthma exacerbations (Christly, C. et al, "Effectiveness of influenza vaccine for the prevention of asthma exacerbations." Arch Dis Child, August, 2004, 734-5)

"The inactivated flu vaccine, Flumist, does not prevent influenza-related hospitalizations in children, especially the ones with asthma...In fact, children who get the flu vaccine are more at risk for hospitalization than children who do not get the vaccine." (The American Thoracic Society's International Conference, May 15-20, 2009, San Diego)

Adults are also not protected by flu vaccine. In a review of 48 reports including more than 66,000 adults, "Vaccination of healthy adults only reduced risk of influenza by 6%, and reduced the number of missed work days by less than one day (0.16). It did not change the number of people needing to go to a hospital or take time off work." ("Vaccines for preventing influenza in healthy adults," The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2006)

Although the hype is that the elderly must be protected, in a review of 64 studies in 98 flu seasons, for elderly living in nursing homes, flu shots were non-significant for preventing the flu. For elderly living in the community, vaccines were not significantly effective against influenza, ILI or pneumonia. ("Vaccines for preventing influenza in the elderly," The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2006)

What about the new "Swine Flu" shot?

A new report from a World Health Organization advisory group predicts that global production of vaccine for the novel H1N1 influenza virus could be as much as 4.9 billion doses a year, far higher than previous estimates. The new H1N1 ("swine flu") vaccine is being made by the pharmaceutical company Novartis. It will contain MF59, a potentially debilitating adjuvant.

MF-59 is oil-based and composed of squalene, Tween 80 and Span85. All oil adjuvants injected into rats were found to be toxic. All rats injected developed a disease similar to multiple sclerosis which left them crippled and dragging their paralyzed hindquarters across their cages. (Kenney, RT. Edleman, R. "Survey of human-use adjuvants," Expert Review of Vaccines, 2003 p171)

Squalene causes severe arthritis (3 on a scale of 4). Squalene in humans at 10-20 parts per billion leads to severe immune responses, such as autoimmune arthritis and lupus. (Matsumoto, Gary. Vaccine A: The Covert Government Experiment That's Killing Our Soldiers and Why GI's Are Only the First Victims of this Vaccine, New York: Basic Books. P54)

Federal health officials will probably recommend that most Americans get three flu shots this fall: one regular flu shot and two doses of any vaccine made against the new swine flu strain. (Washington Post, Wednesday, May 6)

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is talking to school superintendents around the country, urging them to spend the summer planning what to do if the government decides it needs their buildings for mass vaccinations and the vaccinations of children first. (CBS News, June 12)

Is mandatory vaccination possible?

In 1946, the U.S. Public Health Service was established and Executive Order 9708 was signed, listing the communicable diseases where quarantines could be used. Between 1946 and 2003, cholera, diphtheria, TB, typhoid, small pox, yellow fever, and viral hemorrhagic fevers were added to the list. In April, 2003, SARS was also added through Executive Order 13295.

In January, 2003, Project BioShield was introduced during Bush's State of the Union Address. This created permanent and indefinite funding authority to develop "medical countermeasures". The National Institute of Health was authorized to speed approval of drugs and vaccines. Emergency approval of a "fast tracked" drug and vaccine can be given without the regular course of safety testing.

In April, 2005, Executive Order 13295 added "Influenza caused by novel or re-emergent influenza viruses that are causing, or have the potential to cause, a pandemic." Under this order, the president gave the secretary of HHS the power to quarantine, at his or her discretion.

The secretary of HHS has the power to arrange for the "apprehension and examination of persons reasonably thought to be infected." A cough or a fever could put a person at risk for being quarantined for an extended period of time without recourse.

December 17, 2006, Division E: The Public readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act was added as an addendum to Defense Appropriations Bill HR 2863 at 11:20 on Saturday night, long after House Committee members had signed off on the bill and gone home for the holidays. Section (b)(1) states that the secretary of HHS can make a determination that a "disease, health condition or threat" constitutes a public health emergency. He or she may then recommend "the manufacture, testing, development, administration, or use of one or more covered counter measures..." A covered countermeasure is defined as a "pandemic product, vaccine or drug."

Division E also provides complete liability protection for all drugs, vaccines or biological products deemed a "covered counter measure" and used for an outbreak of any kind. Complete liability protection has been given to drug companies for any product used for any public health emergency declared by the secretary of HHS. This means that pharmaceutical companies are now protected from all accountability, unless "criminal intent to do harm" can be proven by the injured party. They are protected from liability even if they know the drug will be harmful.

What can I do about all this?

Here are a few of Dr. Tenpenny's suggestions. You can add your own ideas to this list once you let your mind wrap itself around this issue.

Give this information to everyone you know and love. Contact local first responders (EMTs, paramedics, fireman, etc). Tell them what will be in the flu shots and that they will be the first ones to get them. Tell local police and discuss your concerns about mandatory vaccination. Contact local city council members about your desire to preserve your liberties. You will need their support to maintain your right to refuse vaccination.

Write an article for your local community newspapers. Samples will be posted soon on www.DrTenpenny.com. Go to www.oath-keepers.org. A PDF of their oath for easy printing will be posted on Dr. Tenpenny's site. Connect with other activist organizations, such as those supporting 2nd amendment issues, the environment and animal rights. Help spread the word about their passion and get them involved with yours.

Sign the Universal Declaration of Resistance to Mandatory Vaccination at  http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/a-...

To learn more about Dr. Tenpenny and her stance on vaccines see http://www.naturalnews.com/025941_v...

 http://video.google.com/videoplay?d...

Review the "Pandemic Influenza Survey" at
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/panflu/...