1976 – Nov-Jan 77, Guillain-Barré syndrome outbreak, some blamed on swine flu vaccine– 58

–58 Garrett, Laurie. The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases… 1994, p. 181.

Narrative Information

Garrett: “The first case of Guillain-Barré syndrome appeared in Minnesota, during the third week of November. Days after he got his flu shot, a man’s arms and legs grew increasingly weak; his reflexes worsened, eventually ceasing altogether; he lost feeling in his hands and feet. For all intents and purposes, he was paralyzed. His physician correctly diagnosed the ailment as Guillain-Barré syndrome and, suspecting an association with the flu vaccine, reported the ailment to officials at the CDC.

“First identified in the 1920’s by French neurologist Jean Alexander Barré and Georges Guillain, the syndrome was rare, usually reversible, occasionally lethal, and normally occurred in the absence of any other associated illness. No cause or treatment for Guillain-Barré was known, nor could anybody explain why some individuals recovered completely after about a month of paralysis, a few were permanently paralyzed, and still fewer died of respiratory distress when neurological symptoms affected their lungs, hears, or diaphragms.

“The first Guillain-Barré report was quickly followed by others, and the CDC ordered nationwide active surveillance for syndrome cases in all fifty states.

“On December 14 the CDC issued a press release announcing that thirty people had developed the syndrome within a month after their Swine Flu vaccinations; an additional twenty-four Guillain-Barré cases had occurred in people following a lapse of more than thirty days after immunization.

“Two days later Sencer [CDC Director David Judson Sencer] called a halt to the Swine Flu campaign, pending further investigation of the Guillain-Barré cases.

“On Christmas Eve the CDC revealed that 172 Guillain-Barré cases had turned up in twenty-four states. Ninety-nine cases involved flu vaccines – six of whom had died. The cases spanned all age groups, genders, and races, and no geographic clustering of cases could be seen. Something was going on.

“By New Year’s Eve the reported number of cases had soared to 526; of these, 257 had received flu shots.

“Though CDC officials tried to argue that, like the three Pittsburgh cardiac arrest cases [after vaccinations], these Guillain-Barré episodes might represent a normal background rate of the syndrome, the American people – and their politicians – were appalled. Ralph Nader and his consumer action group called for Sencer’s immediate resignation. In congressional hearings during December, Senator Edward Kennedy declared the Swine Flu campaign dead.

“The CDC continued to downplay the association between the vaccine and the syndrome, though agency insiders had already concluded that the Guillain-Barré rate among those vaccinated against Swine Flu was at least four times that in the unvaccinated population. As further syndrome reports poured in during the early weeks of 1977, some agency representatives suggested that the publicity had created hysteria, prompting cases nationwide of psychologically induced paralysis and limb weakness. But studies in various communities showed no such panic, and found that most cases had been diagnosed by qualified neurologists.

“By the time Jimmy Carter had been inaugurated [Jan 20, 1977] and named Joseph Califano as his nominee for Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, the CDC’s Guillain-Barré total had topped 1,100, half of whom had received Swine Flu shots, with cases reported in all fifty states. Fifty-eight deaths had occurred. Agency analysis showed a clear clustering of cases around the months of November and December, coming on the heels of the Swine Flu campaign’s peak. The average lag time between vaccination and developing the syndrome was six weeks. Over 5 percent of cases were lethal, and nearly a quarter of the Guillain-Barré sufferers had to be placed on respirators.

“The researchers concluded that America’s normal, inexplicable Guillain-Barré rate was about one case in every million people per year, for an expected 1976 total of some 215 cases. But among Swine Flu vaccine recipients, the attack rate was about ten times greater, at one case in every 100,000 Americans.”

Sources

Garrett, Laurie. The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases In A World Out Of Balance. NY: Penguin Books, 1994.