Since the rotavirus genome consists of separate segments, when two different strains of the virus infect the same cell, they can exchange segments and create a new strain. This is the same reassortment, which happens on its own.
A case of gastroenteritis in a 7-year-old girl is reported here. A rotavirus strain was isolated from her stool sample. The strain was reassortant of two other human-bovine strains from the RotaTeq vaccine. However, the girl has not been vaccinated against rotavirus. Moreover, she has not been in contact with anyone who has been vaccinated. Her two brothers also had similar gastroenteritis symptoms, and they also have not been vaccinated or in contact with anyone who has been.
The isolated reassortant strain of the virus turned out to be stable and very contagious. The authors believe that this new virus is most likely circulating in the population. Reassortant viruses have previously been isolated, but only in those recently vaccinated with RotaTeq: [1], [2], [3].
Cases of detecting new virus strains from reassortment of wild virus with Rotarix vaccine strain are reported here.
It is reported here, that 17% of children secreted the virus after vaccination, and 37% of them secreted a double reassortant virus. Some children secreted the virus for a long time after the vaccination, form 9 to 84 days after the last dose.
Attending daycare is associated with a 5-fold increase in the risk of Hib. Previous hospitalizations – with 90% increase in the risk. Breastfeeding for over 6 months decreases the risk by 53%.
There were no increases in Hib incidence after the switch to acellular pertussis vaccine in Sweden and Finland. The authors believe that it is due to the fact that longer breastfeeding periods are common in these countries.
Analysis of data from a Hib vaccine clinical trial in Finland (116,000 children). Hib vaccine increases the risk of juvenile diabetes by 26%. Diabetes occurred 38 months after vaccination.
The vaccine was also tested on mice prone to diabetes. Vaccinated mice developed diabetes significantly more often.
Other studies found a similar increased risk of diabetes, but since these studies were small, the results were statistically insignificant.
Young men with low level of vitamin D (<40 nmol/L) had acute respiratory tract infections 63% more often than young men with level of vitamin D >40 nmol/L.
Smokers had lower vitamin D than non-smokers. Young men who did physical exercise more than 5 hours per week had a higher vitamin D level.
In the 90s, due to the opening of borders, a flood of tourists poured from Finland to Russia and from Russia to Finland. 400 thousand Finns visited Russia every year, and 200 thousand Russians visited Finland. 10 million trips were made. Despite the epidemic in Russia, only 10 Finns contracted diphtheria in Russia. Almost all of them were middle-aged men; only three of them had a severe form (described below), five had a mild form, and two were only carriers.
1) A 43-year-old resident of Finland visited St. Petersburg in 1993. There he kissed his local girlfriend, and when he returned to Finland, he was diagnosed with diphtheria. He was vaccinated against diphtheria 20 years ago, and was considered as unvaccinated (antibodies level was 0.01 IU/ml). His Russian girlfriend did not get sick. Another bacterium carrier was identified, who traveled in same group with the first one. He also had intimate relations with the same “girlfriend” in St. Petersburg. It was the first case of diphtheria in Finland in 30 years.
2) 57-year-old male visited Vyborg for one day in 1993 and came back infected with diphtheria. He denied having had close contact with the locals, but his friends said that he visited prostitutes. It is unknown whether he has been vaccinated (antibodies level was 0.06 IU/ml).
3) 45-year-old male visited Vyborg for 22 hours and came back infected with diphtheria. His friends said that he also visited a prostitute. He has been vaccinated and even received a booster shot one year before the trip (antibodies level was 0.08 IU/ml). He was the only one fully vaccinated, and also the only one who died.
All three of them consumed large amounts of alcohol during the trip, and two of them were chronic alcoholics.
В 1985 году в Финляндии прошла кампания вакцинации OPV для тех, кто уже были привиты IPV. У семилетней девочки через месяц после прививки нашли в спинномозговой жидкости вакцинный штамм полиомиелита (серотип 3). Это демонстрирует, что вакцинный вирус может вторгаться в центральную нервную систему даже после полного курса IPV, если она была недостаточно эффективной.
Between 1992 and 1994, the incidence of pneumococcus in Finland increased by 2 fold among children under two years old, and 3 times among children under 16 years old. The authors attribute this to the disappearance of Hib.
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