Brain perfusion SPECT and EEG findings in children with autism spectrum disorders and medically intractable epilepsy http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20594786
Brain Dev. 2010 Jun 29.
Sasaki M, Nakagawa E, Sugai K, Shimizu Y, Hattori A, Nonoda Y, Sato N.
Department of Child Neurology, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry (NCNP), 4-1-1 Ogawahigashi-cho, Kodaira, Tokyo 187-8551, Japan.
Abstract
Objective: We performed brain perfusion single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) to detect the abnormal brain region in children with both autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and medically intractable epilepsy.
Methods: Fifteen children aged 4-16years underwent multimodal examinations (MRI, interictal and/or ictal ECD-SPECT, EEG and MEG) to investigate their indications for surgical treatment. All children were diagnosed with ASD according to DSM-IV criteria and intractable epilepsy. Despite medical treatment for more than a year, all experienced at least one seizure per month.
All had no underlying basic disorders. Each SPECT result was statistically analyzed by comparing with standard SPECT images obtained from our institute (easy Z-score imaging system; eZIS). The relationship between the eZIS pattern and EEG abnormalities or clinical symptoms was investigated. Results: All children showed focal abnormal patterns on eZIS and focal spikes on EEG.
In all children, eZIS revealed a mixed hypoperfusion pattern, especially in the prefrontal cortex, medial frontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, medial parietal cortex, and/or anterior temporal cortex. In seven of 12 children who underwent interictal SPECT studies, areas of hypoperfusion were related to the focus observed on EEG; in six children, the focal EEG spikes represented areas of hyperperfusion.
The children were divided into two groups according to the main type of hypoperfusion patterns seen on eZIS; medial-cingulate type and temporal type. No significant relationship was observed between the areas of hypoperfusion and clinical symptoms.
eZIS showed the epileptic focus clearly on ictal SPECT.
Conclusions: SPECT was useful to detect the abnormal brain region not only in searching for the epileptic focus but also in assessing the low or high functioning region of the brain.
Over the recent months there have been several articles highlighting cases where children have had seizures after vaccines. This is being portrayed as something new. A sudden rise in children having seizures after the flu vaccine in Western Australia caused the vaccine to be suspended while an investigation took place. The HPV vaccine Gardasil, is another vaccine causing great concern, after many parents reported seizures after their children were vaccinated.
This week the focus has moved to the DPT vaccine.
Articles have been appearing in the headlines reporting that babies have experienced seizures after the DPT vaccine. A few examples are listed below.
This is nothing new. Parents and doctors have been raising concerns regarding the DPT vaccine since the 1970′s. This original letter is from a concerned Prof of Neurology raising the issue in 1979 is a strong example.
I have had an increasing number of patients bringing their epileptic children and asking whether the whooping cough vaccine played a part in their disorder. Could you give me as many details as possible about the present legal situation regards this group and the type of information they require in order to prove relationship between the vaccination and the disorder.
I would be most grateful if you could give this information.
D Neary M.D M.R.C.P
Consultant Lecturer of Neurology
This letter proves without a doubt that the DPT was a concern as far back as the 1970′s.
More evidence comes in the form of a single page from a report entitled VIEWS FROM THE ADVISORY PANEL advising the UK Government and stated:-
“However, from a careful scrutiny of the data, it was felt that 3 clinical patterns could be discerned.
Chronic Epilepsy
Acute Encephalopathy
Infantile Spasms
Mental retardation followed in all but 3 of the 50 cases.
b) in children with chronic epilepsy and to the lesser extent , with acute encephalopathy, the timing of the reactions in relation to the immunisation was such that association seemed possible but the strength of the evidence varied from case to case and was more convincing in some than others. In the children with chronic epilepsy, for example, convulsions occurring shortly after each of two or three injections were particularly suggestive of a casual relationship.”
Again this report was from the 70′s.
A report entitled The Tainted History of the DPT by Harold Stearley portrays the full history of the DPT vaccine. Searley speaks open and honestly and asks a very important question :-
“There’s no question that DPT vaccinations save lives; they have lowered the annual pertussis deaths from about 1000 annually to less than ten. Unfortunately, as reported by the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), the form of the vaccine used and sanctioned by the Centers for Disease Control also kills as many as 900 children per year, and leaves one of every 62,000 children immunized with permanent brain damage. Are those acceptable risks?”
The answer to that question is categorically NO! I feel that the question should not be ‘Are those acceptable risks’ because the are not, the real question should be, ‘how many parents are actually made aware of these risks before vaccination’?
In his report Searley mentions Prof Gordon T Stewart. Having interviewed Prof Stewart 4 years ago I know this professional has had his concerns ignored for many years. Prof Stewart is a gentleman who I met, aged 91 who was still campaigning and helping parents in fight their battle for justice after vaccine injury.
Searley says ;-
“In 1977, British researcher Dr. Gordon T. Stewart, of the Department of Community Medicine at the University of Glasgow, documented adverse reactions to DPT vaccine and evaluated the benefit to risk ratio for children in the United Kingdom. His research demonstrated that 1 of every 54,000 children receiving the vaccine suffered encephalopathy (brain disfunction) with rare instances of mental retardation ensuing. Other symptoms included fits of screaming, unresponsiveness, shock, vomiting, localized paralysis, and convulsions.
Of the 160 adverse cases he examined, 40 percent demonstrated hyperkinesis (increased muscle movements accompanying brain dysfunction), infantile spasms, flaccid paralysis, and partial or complete amentia (severe mental retardation).
He determined that adverse events were severely under-reported or overlooked, that no protection from the disease was demonstrable in infants, and that claims by official bodies that risks of whooping-cough exceeded those of vaccination were very questionable. He estimated the risk of transient brain damage and mental defect to occur in 1 out of every 10,000 vaccinated, and risk for permanent brain damage to occur in 1 out of every 20,000 to 60,000 vaccinated. “
In fact Prof Stewart made countless attempts to make his feelings known over many years. Here is just one example of an enormous amount of letters he wrote over many years to the UK Government. This particular letter is to Mr P Allen, Secretary, Committee on Safety Medicine written in the 1980′s.
Professor Gordon
Stewart letter Page One. Click Here
Professor Gordon Stewart
letter Page Two Click Here
Professor Gordon
Stewart letter Page Three Click Here
“It is generally accepted that immunisation against whooping cough may cause brain damage, the sequence being the immunising procedure provokes a reaction, the reaction or the related fever causes a fit, the reaction of the fit if prolonged, damages the brain cells and that damage is sometime irreversible”
My argument is, these are the professionals we trust and yet here they are speaking in my opinion about vaccination causing brain damage which is ‘IRREVERSIBLE’ as if it is an everyday occurrence which should be perfectly acceptable. Prof Sir David Hull as he is now known, should try sitting opposite a parent facing this for real.
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Childhood vaccines may trigger early onset of a severe form of infant epilepsy, but researchers say the disorder is ultimately caused by defective genes and lifesaving vaccines should not be withheld from these children.
The researchers said they feared the study published in the Lancet medical journal would scare parents away from getting their children vaccinated but stressed the babies in the study would likely have developed seizures within months regardless of the vaccine.
The disorder, called Dravet syndrome, generally begins with seizures around six months of age. These children have poor language and motor skills and difficulty relating to others.
Up to 80 percent of them have mutations in the SCN1A gene.
Anne McIntosh of the University of Melbourne’s Epilepsy Research Center and colleagues examined the medical records of 40 Dravet syndrome patients with the genetic mutation who had been vaccinated against whooping cough, or pertussis.
They said 30 percent of these children developed their first seizures within two days of receiving the vaccine but symptoms of their disorder were no worse than the other children who had their first seizures later on.
“In about 30 percent of people, it appears that (first seizures) came on rather quickly after the vaccination. But the overall message is that the outcome to the patients did not differ regardless of whether the onset of the disorder was shortly after the vaccination, or later on,” said McIntosh.
“These kids already had that genetic abnormality, (so) regardless of the relationship with the vaccine, they would have actually had that disorder happen to them anyway,” she added.
“Essentially, there is no proof that people should not be vaccinated … from concerns about it causing the onset of that disease,” she said in a telephone interview.
SENSITIVE ISSUE
Reports linking childhood vaccines to any sort of disorder are always sensitive because they can result in parents refusing to get their children vaccinated. This has caused a resurgence of dangerous diseases, including mumps, measles and whooping cough, in Britain, the United States and elsewhere.
In 1998 British doctor Andrew Wakefield published a study in The Lancet, suggesting the combined measles, mumps and rubella or MMR vaccine might be linked to autism and bowel disease.
The assertion has been widely discredited for years, the Lancet has withdrawn the paper and Britain’s General Medical Council has ruled Wakefield acted dishonestly and irresponsibly.
But the damage has been done — the number of MMR vaccinations in the United States and Europe plunged, prompting a resurgence of both measles and mumps.
This Australian study by McIntosh and colleagues follows an earlier investigation into whether the pertussis vaccine, which is routinely given to children together with diphtheria and typhoid vaccines (DTP), may have led to cases of encephalopathy.
The earlier investigation, led by Samuel Berkovic of the Epilepsy Research Center at the University of Melbourne, found that 12 of 14 patients with so-called vaccine encephalopathy were actually suffering from Dravet syndrome. Eleven of these 12 children were also found to have the SCN1A gene variant.
In an accompanying commentary, Max Wiznitzer from the Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio, said McIntosh’s study was “consistent with the conclusion that outcome is determined by the underlying disorder and not by proximity to vaccine administration.”
Wiznitzer, who was not involved in the study, said “effective and accurate information and communication” could help maintain public confidence in vaccines.
Recent independent scientific research funded by the National CFIDS Foundation, Inc. (NCF) of Needham, MA provided preliminary confirmation of a new virus identified in patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. The Foundation’s medical research dovetails with that completed to date by Cryptic Afflictions, LLC *, a private company.
Dr. Steven J. Robbins, virologist and Chief Executive Officer of Cryptic Afflictions, LLC has discovered a major neuropathogen identified as an RNA virus designated as Cryptovirus. Substantial clinical and molecular evidence indicates that this virus is involved in the development of neurological disorders that include Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), also known as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (M.E.) by the World Health Organization, Multiple Sclerosis (M.S.) and Idiopathic Epilepsy of unknown cause.
According to the company, “This previously undetected virus appears to be of significant importance to researchers looking for a cure to Multiple Sclerosis and many other neurological illnesses. Antibodies to the newly discovered virus were found in the cerebrospinal fluid and blood of over 90% of the patients tested with Multiple Sclerosis. It is believed that this newly discovered virus may prove to be responsible for a host of neurological disorders. Tests are currently being prepared for tissue samples of lesions within the brains of patients with Multiple Sclerosis. This will be the final round of tests before approaching the FDA for approval of the diagnostic tests.”
Dr. Robbins’ evidence includes the presence of virus-specific antibodies in the serum and cerebrospinal fluid of patients suffering from these disorders, the ability of the virus to cause virtually identical disease in experimentally-infected animals, and nucleotide sequence data that indicates that the virus is pandemic and represents a single virus species much like measles.
A recently published medical journal article suggests that Cryptovirus is most similiar to Parainfluenza Virus-5, a rubulavirus in the paramyxovirus family. Another rubulavirus related to Cryptovirus and Parainfluenza Virus-5, that has gained national attention for its large outbreak, is the mumps virus. Rubulavirus infections have been associated with encephalitis, meningitis, orchitis, inflammation of the testicles or ovaries, spontaneous abortion, and deafness.
The NCF has conducted its own preliminary research into the potential role of Cryptovirus and Parainfluenza Virus-5 in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Professor Alan Cocchetto, Medical Director for the Foundation stated, “Our own funded research first confirmed the lack of a vital protein, known as Stat-1, in the blood of patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Stat-1 plays an indispensable role in immunity.
Without this protein, patients are unable to effectively fight viral and bacterial infections. Thus, the next logical question to be answered was ‘Could a virus be causing this Stat-1 depletion?’ Cocchetto continued, “Parainfluenza Virus-5 is a virus that had to be seriously considered as a possible piece of this medical puzzle because it directly targets and destroys the Stat-1 protein.” Gail Kansky, President of the NCF stated, “Once we determined the status of Stat-1 in patient blood samples, we knew that we had to look for possible evidence of Parainfluenza Virus-5 infection. It was during this phase of our own research that we actually learned of Dr. Steven Robbins’ discovery of Cryptovirus specific antibody reactivity in patients with CFS.”
Dr. Robbins had tested fifty-six serum specimens from patients who had been diagnosed with CFS along with eleven matching cerebrospinal fluid samples obtained from physicians in Brisbane and Southeast Queensland.
Dr. Robbins had determined that 96% of the blood samples and 91% of the spinal fluid samples tested positively for Cryptovirus specific antibodies in these CFS patients.
The National CFIDS Foundation’s own research began to dovetail with that of Dr. Robbins. Scientists funded by the Foundation performed numerous tests for Parainfluenza Virus-5 that included antibody as well as PCR specific probes. Antibody testing provided some initial hints, however a PCR specific probe picked up the infection in a former patient of David S. Bell, M.D. and Paul R. Cheney, Ph.D., M.D., both considered well known specialists in the field of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Kansky commented, “Though our funded research continues in diagnostic testing, our findings have served to highlight the important work of Dr. Robbins and the role of Cryptovirus and Parainfluenza Virus-5 infection in CFS.”
NCF scientists utilized the NIH Genbank database to find the nucleotide sequence for a specific viral protein of Cryptovirus that matched 100% to the porcine (swine) strain of Parainfluenza Virus-5 known as the SER strain. In 1994, scientists at Bayer AG in Germany first isolated the SER strain from swine with Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome.
“This may represent a zoonotic process since zoonotic viruses are those that can be transmitted between animals and people” stated Cocchetto. Kansky commented, “Here we have what appears to be the same viral strain of Parainfluenza Virus-5 on two continents and in two different populations, swine and humans. Given that the NCF found Parainfluenza Virus-5 in one CFS patient in the United States certainly raises the bar.” The Foundation is currently funding further research.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has several ongoing grants in the Parainfluenza Virus-5 field. Currently, however, there is only one U.S. scientist specifically funded for research on the SER strain of Parainfluenza Virus-5 by the NIH.
Founded in 1997, the National CFIDS Foundation has grown to become the largest, all-volunteer patient organization of its type in the United States. The Foundation has no paid employees and is funded solely by individual donations for the primary purpose to fund medical research into the cause and treatment and/or cure of Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome (CFIDS/CFS).
* “Limina Biotechnologies, Inc. is a recently formed subsidiary of Global Medical Technologies, Inc. that was established for the purpose of merging Cryptic Afflictions LLC and Global Medical Technologies, Inc. It is the intent of management to spin off this newly formed corporation once the merger is completed so Limina can raise capital through its own IPO,” according to the company’s website, www.globalmedicaltech.com.
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