HEALTH: Flu vaccination linked to muscle-wasting disease

November 18, 2002

DRUG FIRMS TO ADD WARNING

Flu vaccination linked to muscle-wasting disease

Five people in Japan suffered Guillain-Barre syndrome -- a disorder of

progressive muscle weakness -- after receiving influenza vaccinations

between January 2000 and April 2002, health ministry officials said

Sunday. The officials said the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry

ordered the pharmaceutical companies that make the vaccines to state

clearly that the disease is a possible adverse effect of the products.

Guillain-Barre syndrome is named after the French physicians, Georges

Guillain and Jean Barre, who first described it. The disease can cause

immune system abnormalities, often inducing serious respiratory

paralysis resulting from muscle weakness.

The annual incidence of the disease worldwide is about one or two per 100,000.

According to the ministry, three cases of the disease were reported in

Japan in 1999, two in 2000 and two in 2001. Three were reported between

December 2001 and April this year. Three of the recent victims have been

children under the age of 10.

Before 1999, Japan had no reports of the disease developing following

flu vaccinations, the ministry said.

There is no established theory for the cause of the disease, but many

doctors assume it is brought on when the auto-antibody produced by a

virus or bacteria infection damages the peripheral nerve system.

A report in the United States indicates the incidence of the disease

goes up slightly after flu vaccinations.

***

The Japan Times: Nov. 18, 2002

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