Hepatitis B1
The disease
Hepatitis is an inflammatory disease of the liver causing jaundice. We distinguish between Hepatitis A, B, C, D and E. There are only vaccines against types A and B.
In the Netherlands it was mainly an iatrogenic illness (an illness caused by medical intervention).
The virus is transmitted by exposure to infectious blood, non-sterile syringes, blood transfusions, pharmaceutical products made from contaminated blood derivatives, contamination during surgery, contaminated serum and vaccines. The largest epidemic ever occurred in 1942 and was caused by the vaccination of hundreds of thousands American soldiers against the Yellow Fever2. This incident was kept secret for 45 years. The incidence in the Netherlands is low and shows little variation during the past decades.
The disease can also be transmitted via unprotected sexual contact with a carrier and from mother to child during delivery. Thus today we find Hepatitis B among drug addicts, people with a lot of different sexual contacts, prostitutes and homosexuals. Immigrants from Third World countries are more often contaminated because the illness is more prevalent in their home countries. The measures taken by the medical authorities, preventive measures against AIDS and the vaccination of high risk people have decreased the incidence in the Western world.
The incubation period of the disease is 2 to 6 months. Usually the disease is benign. Only 30% of carriers have symptoms. Sometimes a chronic fatigue develops with a very slow recovery. Most patients have a full recovery; however in exceptional cases the illness can be fatal. Rarely the illness can give rise to a chronic liver infection leading to liver cirrhosis, this occurs mostly in combination with alcohol abuse. It can also eventually lead to liver cancer. However, on the total population this risk is very small.
5 to 10 % of the infected patients become carriers and can infect others through unprotected sexual contact or blood to blood contact. About 1% of the population carries the disease.
The most common symptoms are: slight fever, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, fatigue, loss of appetite, headache, swelling of joints and jaundice. The liver is enlarged and painful.
Despite the political pressure, Minister Borst wisely decided in 2001 not to introduce this vaccine into the vaccination program for infants. And to meet the objectives set by the WHO through the above mentioned measures.
World
In others countries there is an ongoing discussion about the safety of the Hep. B vaccine. After an enormous campaign run by the French pharmaceutical industry, people in France have become very wary of administering this vaccine because more and more cases of serious side effects have been reported.
The fact that in France the safety of this vaccine is being questioned is very exceptional because vaccination is compulsory and opponents are silenced. In the past parents have been divested of their parental rights or even imprisoned because of their refusal to have their children vaccinated.
As to date non-vaccinated children have been refused admittance to kindergarten/crèches, a trend that is also discernible in the Netherlands. However, there is no legal validity for this because in the Netherlands vaccination is not mandatory. In France a special organisation was set up in 1994 to register the side effects of this vaccine, the Revahb (Réseau pour l'évaluation du vaccin hépatite B). There are already 1800 documented cases and still new reports of side effects are coming in. The side effects mentioned are serious: MS and other neurological disorders, visual and auditory symptoms and various autoimmune complaints: diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis leading to paralysis and eventually death), vasculitis (inflammation of the blood vessels), purpura, glomerulonephritis (type of kidney disease) etc3. In the region of Paris where 450,000 children and adolescents were vaccinated against Hep. B, 578 cases of MS-like complaints were reported in this group over a two year period. This represents an increase of 80 times the normal rate among this age group. This finding led to the decision to postpone the Hep. B vaccination in this area. A possible explanation for these MS-like symptoms is the presence of aluminum hydroxide and thiomersal in the vaccine. An explanation of the action of these substances on the body is detailed in the next chapter. In this same young population group five brain tumors were diagnosed. The explanation for this may lie in the fact that the virus is cultivated on ovarian cancer cells from hamsters (Genhevac B) or on brewer's yeast (Engerix, HBVax DNA).
The vaccine
The Hep. B vaccine is prepared from a subunit of the virus which is cultivated on animal cells. The purity and impeccability of such a vaccine cannot be a 100% guaranteed. This can lead to a range of allergies, especially for animals, like we have seen with the MMR vaccine. The vaccine contains aluminum hydroxide. We know that aluminum penetrates the tissues and binds to ferritin instead of to iron causing anemia. Moreover, it is toxic to the cells causing the formation of vacuoles leading to cell death. In addition, the aluminum can pass the blood-brain barrier and accumulates in the hippocampus and frontal cortex. This could reduce the cognitive capabilities and lead to the development of dementia, Alzheimer’s, epilepsy, Parkinson’s, MS and ALS.
This vaccine also contains thiomersal, a mercury compound, which also passes the blood-brain barrier and has a similar effect as aluminum hydroxide.
Also in America authorities have become very cautious with regard to the Hep. B vaccination because they suspect that due to this vaccine a variety of viruses have started circulating among the population. Because of the probability of a too high a dose of thiomeral (3 times in the first four months) it is recommended not to vaccinate babies under six months of age.
Contamination
Like AIDS, Hepatitis B is contracted through contact with contaminated blood or sexual contact. Therefore the same measures as for the prevention of Aids, ought to be taken. So there is no need to vaccinate infants against this virus (90% of the infections occur after the age of 20) as their still immature immune system are already under pressure because of the many vaccines which are administered during the first year (DKTP/HIB 4x and MMR at 14 months )
Moreover, this illness is relatively harmless for children and young adolescents because in general they still have a strong defense against viral infections and the risk of becoming infected is low. Besides, this disease can also be treated successfully by homeopathy and naturopathy.
Side-effects
How often this vaccine generates side effects is difficult to assess. Considering the experience in France, we do know that serious side effects do occur.
Finally, two examples from my own practice, of patients with vaccine-damage caused by the Hep B vaccine, follow below.
Both incidences were not reported to the authorities.
Case HB1: A 33 year old woman, mother of two children, was before she received the Hep.B vacicnation at the age of 21 (1987), in top condition. She was very active and did a lot of sports. In connection with her work as laboratory assistant in a hospital she received the Hep. B vaccination. After the first shot she became inexplicably tired. Three months later, after the second, the fatigue increases, her concentration diminishes, she is listless, cannot bear fatty food any longer, and gradually loses 20 kg. She develops an occipital headache and becomes susceptible to infections e.g. pharyngitides. She is on sickness benefits for three and a half years after which she tries to resume her work on therapeutic basis. She does not succeed due to her continuing poor health. Eventually she becomes totally discouraged because she feels trapped in her own world and cannot see a way out. She is treated in day-care with psychotherapy but the psychiatrist does not understand what is going on and concludes that the condition is not psychological. She is discharged from the day-care. Six months after dismissal she is depressed and starts taking Prozac. A year later, in this already very weakened condition, she contracts Pfeiffer. It is like a blow with a sledgehammer. She recovers after a year. In this manner she continues another 5 years.
When I saw her at the end 1999 she was still extremely tired and she had lost all confidence in her body. She didn’t do any sports anymore and has had to make great adjustments in her activities.
The treatment was obvious. For me as homeopathic doctor, who is used to looking for the cause of the complaints, it is not difficult to make the connection between the complaints and the Hep. B vaccination and thus I give her the potentised vaccine in the manner described above. Although there is no doubt about the correlation between her complaints and the vaccination, the actual proof of it becomes clear when the patient recovers fully, or near enough, after taking the course of the homeopathic potencies of this vaccine. Five months later after taking the homeopathic detoxification course for the Hep. B vaccine three times, she is more or less the person she used to be. She has energy to undertake things. This winter she didn't contract any infections. Her headache is less. She attends fitness classes; she has regained confidence in her body, she does not have to rest in the afternoon. She says: I now can stay at a party till late at night and function well in the morning. She has regained her self-confidence. Life is not as heavy as it was.
And, as we used to write at school under a solved mathematical problem QED ( quod erat demonstradum = what has been proved) the same goes for this case by curing the complaints of this patient with the potentised Hep. B vaccine I have demonstrated that the cause of her complaints was the Hepatitis B vaccination.
Case HB2: This woman of 44 years of age, received because of her nursing profession the Hep.B vaccination. The week after the vaccination she develops many complaints: wheezing, coughing, nose obstruction and itching of the eyes. The complaints do not diminish but they gradually increase. She becomes allergic to animals, chlorinated water and all kinds of cleaning products.
It this case the relation with the vaccination is not as obvious as in the former case because why wouldn't she have developed these complaints even without being vaccinated? However through the homeopathic detoxification of the Hep. B vaccination the complaints more or less vanished.
She was able to go swimming in chlorinated water without developing an allergic reaction.
After five years her symptoms were cured having used a simple and straightforward method.
Treatment
An infection with Hepatistis B cannot be treated conventionally. Rest, healthy light food, no fat or alcohol are beneficial for recovery. Naturopathy and homeopathy can definitely help these patients.
What is wise?
Hepatitis B is definitely not a childhood disease and not as dangerous as it is made out to be.
Once a vaccine for an illness has been developed the seriousness of the illness in question is often exaggerated, like what happened with the measles.
There is certainly no good reason to expose young children to this vaccine which has been poorly studied and of which the long term effects are not known yet. For this age group this vaccine is an unnecessary burden and an unnecessary risk. Moreover the protection of this vaccine only lasts for 5-10 years and this group would have to be vaccinated again at the age of 18 when they do run the risk of contracting the illness.
On the date of writing this paper the Netherlands had not introduced this vaccination for infants.
On the date of translating this paper (2012) the Netherlands has introduced this vaccination for infants. It is given at the same time as the DKTP at the age of 2 months.
The group of people appropriate for this vaccination are the drug addicts, dyalisis-patients, haemophiliacs and other patients who regularly need bloodtransfusions or bloodderivates and babies of mothers who are carriers of the virus. For professionals who come in contact with blood, homosexuals, and people with varying sexual partners, the benefits of vaccination is debatable. Voluntary vaccination could be offered. In the past we have seen that mass vaccination does not always lead to better results in confining the illness than more targeted measures to curb the disease. For example; the incidence of tuberculosis in the Netherlands is the lowest in the world although vaccinations against TB have never been used. In France, however, where infants are already vaccinated against TB shortly after birth, the incidence and prevalence are much higher.
So, the detection and treatment method that has been applied in the Netherlands for years seems to be greatly successful.
Tropical
Even though Hepatitis B is more prevalent in Third World countries, there is no need to have yourself vaccinated against this disease. Yet, more and more often tourists are advised to have the vaccination. Taking in consideration the way of contamination, the risk of contracting the disease is not higher than in the Western world. At a higher risk are the sex tourists and development workers in the health care sector. They ought to consider having the vaccination. If you are involved in an accident than there is a definite risk of contracting the disease in hospital but that risk is negligible spread out across all tourists. Some tourists bring their own syringes but they run the chance of being suspected of drug tourism and be searched.
Literature
- Dr. François Choffat, Le droit de choisir; Jouvence Editions, ISBN 2-88353-222-2
- The New England Journal of Medecine, April 1987
- Alternative Santé, HS No. 20 - Avril 2000