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Vaccines, Depression and Neurodegeneration After Age 50: Another Reason

to Avoid the Recommended Vaccines.

By L. Blaylock, M.D., CCN

<http://v.mercola.com/blogs/public_blog/How-Vaccines-Can-Damage-Your-Brain-49839\

..aspx>

It has been estimated that 14.8 million Americans suffer from major

depressive disorder and of this number 6 million are elderly. If we

include anxiety disorders, which commonly accompany depression, the

number jumps to 40 million adults. At a cost of $44 billon dollars a

year just for care of the seniors, this impacts the national budget as

well. Depression later in life tends to last longer and be more severe

than at younger ages. It is also associated with a high rate of

suicide.

Previously, it was thought that major depression was secondary to a

deficiency in certain neurotransmitters in the brain, particularly the

monoamines, which include serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine. While

alterations in these important mood-related neurotransmitters is found

with major depression, growing evidence indicates that the primary

culprit is low-grade, chronic brain inflammation. In addition, we now

know that inflammatory cytokines can lower serotonin significantly and

for long periods by a number of different mechanisms.

Researchers have also discovered that most people with major depressive

disease (MDD) have higher levels of the neurotransmitter glutamate in

their spinal fluid (CSF) and blood plasma. This is the same glutamate

found as a food additive-for example, MSG (monosodium glutamate),

hydrolyzed proteins, calcium or sodium casienate, soy protein isolate,

vegetable protein concentrate or isolate, etc. Much of the free

glutamate in the brain of depressed people comes from within, that is

it escapes from special cells within the brain itself (microglia and

astrocytes). Free glutamate, that is, existing outside the neurons, is

very toxic to brain connections and brain cells themselves -- mainly by

a process called excitotoxicity.

This connection between high brain glutamate levels and major

depression was discovered quite by accident, when researchers observed

that the anesthetic drug ketamine could relieve depression for a

prolonged period. Ketamine is a powerful blocking drug for a class of

glutamate receptors (NMDA receptors).

For quite some time it was known that depression could cause a loss of

neurons in the hippocampus of the brain-the area most important for

recent memory (declarative memory or working memory), the form of

memory most affected in Alzheimer's disease. This shrinkage of the

brain usually occurred with long-term depression, yet it was shown,

using sophisticated testing, that even without brain shrinkage, memory

could be adversely affected. Some antidepressants could not only

reverse the memory loss but could reverse the shrinkage as well.

The implication was that the elevated brain glutamate, via

excitotoxicity, was destroying brain connections and later killing

brain cells in the hippocampus and that the antidepressants were

lowering brain glutamate levels. Subsequent studies have confirmed that

drugs that block excitotoxicity also reduce depression and that some

antidepressants reduce brain glutamate levels.

The Link Between Elevated Brain Glutamate and Inflammation

A tremendous amount of research has now demonstrated the link between

chronic low-level brain inflammation, elevated brain glutamate levels

and major depression. We know that as we age, the level of inflammatory

immune cytokines increase (such as interleukin-

1ß (IL-1), IL-6 and

TNF-a). That is, the level of inflammation in our body increases, with

high levels being seen at the extremes of life -- the 80s and 90s.

This progressive elevation in the body's inflammation increases our

risk of a number of inflammation-linked diseases, such as cancer,

arthritis, muscle weakness, fatigue, sleep disturbances, memory loss

and confusion. People with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease have

even higher levels of these inflammatory cytokines -- much higher.

When inflammatory chemicals are elevated in the brain it makes brain

cells more vulnerable to a number of toxins, many of which are in the

environment. One study demonstrated, using a series of sophisticated

techniques, that if brain cells were exposed to low levels of a

pesticide there was little toxicity seen and that if you exposed these

same brain cells to an immune stimulant alone, little damage occurred.

But if you first exposed the brain cells to the immune stimulant, the

same low dose of pesticide could destroy a great number of brain cells.

The importance of this observation was that the vaccine made the brain

cells hypersensitive to the toxin so that even in concentrations that

normally would do not cause harm, could wiped out most of the neurons.

One of the strongest connections between an environmental toxin

(pesticides) and a neurological disorder is with Parkinson's disease.

The reason it is more common in the elderly is that they have the

highest levels of inflammatory cytokines. This also explains the high

incidence of Alzheimer's disease, which reaches incidences of 50% after

age 80.

The link depression was also by accident. Doctors using immune

cytokines to treat patients with cancer or hepatitis found that one

third of the patients developed major depressive illness within days of

the treatment and that it resolved only when the treatment was

terminated. Other studies, in which inflammatory cytokine levels were

measured in people with major depressive illness, also found most had

high levels of these inflammatory chemicals.

To their surprise, they found that many of the antidepressant

medications commonly used lowered inflammatory cytokines levels and

that patients who failed to respond had the highest level of the

cytokines.

So, how is this linked to excitotoxicity? Neuroscientists have known

for some time that inflammatory cytokines cause the brain to release

higher levels of glutamate -- the more intense the inflammation, the

higher the brain glutamate level. The highest levels are found in the

prefrontal lobes and limbic system, the areas most related to mood

control. MSG also increases brain inflammation.

Vaccination and Brain Inflammation

A great number of studies have shown that when you vaccinate an animal,

the body's inflammatory cytokines not only increase dramatically, but

so do the brain's inflammatory chemicals. The brain has its own immune

system that is intimately connected to the body's immune system. The

main immune cell in the brain is called a microglia. Normally, these

brain cells are lying throughout the brain in a resting state (called

ramified). Once activated, they can move around, traveling between

brain cells like amoeba (called amoeboid microglia).

In the resting state, they release chemicals that support the growth

and protection of brain cells and their connections (dendrites and

synapses). But when activated, they secrete a number of very harmful

chemicals, including inflammatory cytokines, chemokines, complement,

free radicals, lipid peroxidation products, and two excitotoxins --

glutamate and quinolinic acid.

In essence, these brain immune cells are out to kill invaders, since

the body's immune system sent an emergency message that an invasion had

occurred. With most infections, this phase of activation last no more

than a few days to two weeks, during which time the immune system

successfully kills off the invaders. Once that is accomplished, the

immune system shuts down to allow things to cool off and the brain to

repair what damage was done by its own immune system.

What researchers knew was that during this period of activation, people

generally feel bad and that what they experience closely resembles

depression -- a condition called " sickness behavior " . Most of us have

experience this when suffering from a viral illness -- such things as

restlessness, irritability, a need to get away from people, trouble

sleeping, fatigue and difficulty thinking.

Studies have shown that there are two phases to this " sickness

behavior " ; one in which we have the flu-like symptoms and a later onset

of depression-like symptoms that can last awhile. They have also shown

that all of these symptoms are due to high levels of inflammatory

cytokines in the brain, which come from activated microglia.

A number of studies have also shown that after age 50, people have

exaggerated and prolonged " sickness behavior " , much more so than

younger people. This is one of the reasons why many elderly hang onto

flu symptoms for months after exposure.

There is also another immune phenomenon that plays a major role in

vaccine-related brain injury. Researchers discovered that when you

vaccinate an animal, the brain microglia immune cells turn on partially

(called priming), that is, they are in a state of high readiness. If

the immune system is activated again soon after (days, weeks to

months), these microglia explode into action secreting levels of their

destructive chemicals far higher than normal. This overreaction can be

very destructive and make you feel very depressed.

Stimulating the immune system with a vaccine is far different than

contracting an infectious illness naturally. Vaccines are made of two

components -- the agent you wish to vaccinate against -- for example,

the measles virus; and an immune system booster called an immune

adjuvant. These adjuvants are composed of such things as aluminum

compounds, MSG, lipid compounds and even mercury. Their job is to make

the immune system react as intensely as possible and for as long as

possible.

Studies have shown that these adjuvants, from a single vaccine, can

cause immune overactivation for as long as two years. This means that

the brain microglia remain active as well, continuously pouring out

destructive chemicals. In fact, one study found that a single injection

of an immune activating substance could cause brain immune

overactivation for over a year. This is very destructive.

Flu Vaccines and An Expanding Vaccine Schedule for the Elderly

Public health authorities and physician societies are in an all out

campaign to have every elderly person vaccinated every year with the

flu vaccine as well as a growing number of newer vaccines. When I was

practicing neurosurgery, the hospitals had an automatic written order

on all older patients' charts mandating a flu vaccine, unless it was

countermanded by the physician, which I always did. Now, they are

giving the shots in malls, tents and every available site they can

muster. And worse still, using lies and scare tactics to frighten the

elderly onto getting the shots (such as the bold lie of 36,000 elderly

dying of the flu every year).

As you age your immune system, including that special immune system in

your brain, releases significantly more inflammatory immune cytokines

than when you were younger. This serves to prime the microglia, as

discussed. So, when you get your first flu shot your microglia

overreact and does so for a very long period -- perhaps years. Many

elderly report that the flu shot gave them the flu. Proponents of

vaccines, retort with a condescending laugh, that it is impossible

because the flu vaccine contains killed flu viruses. In truth, what

these people are reporting is a prolonged, intense " sickness behavior "

response to the vaccine. To the body, it is worse than getting the flu.

Remember, no one is recording the number of elderly who die after

getting the flu shot, especially if they die months later, which can

happen with sickness behavior, especially if they have a preexisting

chronic illness or are infirm.

Here is the shocking truth. With the elderly already having increased

inflammatory cytokine levels both systemically and in their brain,

stimulating these primed microglia so that a chronic overstimulation of

the brain's immune system is triggered, will not only increase their

risk of developing one of the neurodegenerative diseases, but will also

substantially increase their risk of developing major depression.

Remember, this also increases their risk of suicide and even homicide

dramatically.

Anxiety is a major problem with depression, and vaccinations will

greatly worsen the condition. In fact, vaccination, especially multiple

vaccinations, will maintain the brain in a state of inflammation that

will be self-perpetuating, because the excess release of glutamate in

the brain, as well as glutamate in the diet, will further enhance

microglial activation and excitotoxicity.

Those who are prone to developing one of the neurodegenerative

diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease or Parkinson's disease will be at

a drastically increased risk as we have seen experimentally when even

animals exposed to subtoxic concentrations of environmental toxins and

vaccinated develop neurologic worsening.

Most people use pesticides in their home and studies have shown that

the concentrations in homes are sufficient to trigger Parkinson's

disease in susceptible people. Vaccinations, as these studies have

shown, will greatly increase risk. Most doctors are completely unaware

of this important research.

You must keep in mind that " health authorities " urge the elderly to get

the flu vaccine each and every year. This will keep the microglia in a

primed and even activated state continuously. Recently, neurologists

announced that the incidence of neurodegenerative disease had been

grossly underestimated and that neurological diseases of aging were

increasing at a frightening rate. They have no explanation. Over the

last three decades the number of elderly receiving yearly flu vaccines

has risen from 20% before 1980 to over 60% today.

If this were not depressing enough, now the public health authorities

and medical specialty societies are adding a whole new set of vaccines

for those above 50 years of age, including the pneumococcal and

meningiococcal vaccines. What is being completely ignored by the

promoters of these vaccines is the effect of multiple doses of immune

adjuvant that accompany each of these vaccines.

Lets, say you see your doctor and he talks you into getting the flu

vaccine, the pneumococcal and meningiococcal vaccine all during the

same office visit. That way, he can save you extra office visits. What

your doctor ignores is that he is giving you three doses of powerful

immune adjuvant all in one sitting, which means that your body and

brain are assaulted by a massive dose of powerful immune activators,

which have been proven to activate the brain's immune system to

dangerous levels, even when given as a single dose. Proof of this

mechanism exists not only in animal studies, but in humans as well.

Mercury and Aluminum

There are other ways that vaccines can cause havoc in the brain. Most

vaccines contain aluminum compounds. A multitude of studies have shown

that aluminum, especially if combined with fluoride, is a powerful

brain toxin and that it accumulates in the brain. With each vaccine

injection, a dose of aluminum is given. These yearly aluminum

inoculations accumulate not only at the site of the injection, but

travel to the brain, where it enters neurons and glial cells

(astrocytes and microglia). A number of studies have shown that

aluminum can activate microglia and do so for long periods. This means

that the aluminum in your vaccination is priming your microglia to

overreact. The next vaccine acts to trigger the enhanced inflammatory

reaction and release of the excitotoxins, glutamate and quinolinic

acid.

You must also appreciate that any infection, stroke, head injury or

other toxin exposure will also magnify this inflammatory brain reaction

initially triggered by your vaccines. Studies have now indicated that

the more one's immune system is activated the more like he or she will

suffer from one of the neurodegenerative diseases.

Mercury is also a powerful activator of brain microglia and can do so

in extremely low concentrations-in nanomolar amounts. Because of its

numerous reactions with sulfhydral compounds in the body (which are

ubiquitous), mercury can poison a number of enzymes both systemically

and in the brain. Of special concern is the ability of mercury,

especially ethylmercury (the kind found in vaccines called thimerosal)

to inhibit the regulation of brain glutamate levels. (It does this by

inhibiting the glutamate transfer proteins that control the removal of

glutamate from outside the neuron, where it does its harm.)

In essence, mercury, in the concentrations being injected with

vaccines, triggers excitotoxicity, increases brain free radicals and

lipid peroxidation products, inhibits critical brain enzymes, inhibits

antioxidant enzymes and impairs DNA repair ability. The flu vaccine

contains enough mercury to do all of these things. You must keep in

mind that each flu vaccine adds to the mercury supplied by your last

vaccine, that is, it is progressively accumulating in your brain.

In addition, the aluminum in the vaccines also primes microglia and

when combined with mercury is infinitively more toxic to the brain.

Now, if this is not enough, we also have to consider the contamination

of vaccines with foreign viruses and viral components. Studies have

shown that this is not a rare occurrence, with up to 60% of vaccines

being contaminated in one study of several major manufactured vaccines.

When confronted with this fact, vaccine proponents just shrug their

shoulders and say -- " We don't think these things are harmful. "

Yet, the studies say otherwise. It has been found that insertion of

viral fragments, not even the whole virus, is sufficient to trigger the

brain's microglial system and subsequent excitotoxicity, leading to

progressive brain degeneration. This is accepted to be the mechanism by

which the HIV virus causes dementia in a great number of AIDS victims.

Fragments of the virus (gp140 and Tat) are engulfed by the microglia

and this triggers chronic brain inflammation and excitotoxicity. The

herpes virus and measles virus can do the same thing.

Danger of Live Virus Vaccines

A number of studies have shown that live viruses used in vaccines can

enter the brain and reside there for a lifetime. One such study, in

which autopsied elderly were examined for the presence of the measles

virus, found that 20% of the brains had live measles viruses and 45% of

other organs were infected. These viruses were highly mutated, meaning

that they could be just as potent as other measles viruses, but could

be even more virulent. Worse, is that in most cases they cause a

smoldering destruction of tissues without the obvious symptoms of

infection, which has been shown in a number of studies.

Live virus vaccines are made using a process to attenuate the

pathogenic or disease-causing virus by passing it through a series of

cultures. The problem is that the reverse can also happen within the

body. A number of studies have shown that when we produce free radicals

in our body (and we produce tons of such radicals over a lifetime), it

mutates the viruses residing in our tissues. This is what was found in

the autopsy study I referred to above.

Likewise, these viruses can trigger brain inflammation and

degeneration, which has been shown in a number of studies-that is,

there exist a chronic degeneration of the brain over years or decades.

Because it is so far separated from the time of the original vaccine,

physicians just attribute it to old age or heredity, anything but the

vaccines.

Virologists are also concerned that such mutated live viruses can also

infect other people, leading to outbreaks of disease totally

unsuspected by health authorities.

Conclusion

Current recommendations by the CDC for adult vaccinations include a

total of 14 separate inoculations with infectious agents and powerful

immune adjuvants. To be fair, some of these are for special medical

risks and conditions, such as high-risk behaviors, illegal drug use and

HIV infected individuals. If we eliminate these, women will be exposed

to 10 inoculations and men 7, should they follow CDC guidelines, which

doctors follow.

According to CDC recommendations, multiple vaccinations for a single

disease are separated by no more than 4 weeks, which is close enough

together to produce priming and subsequent hyperactivation of brain

microglia. We have seen that this can trigger a smoldering process of

brain inflammation and excitotoxicity that can not only result in

depression, anxiety and high suicide rates, but can increase one's risk

of developing one of the neurodegenerative diseases as well.

We have also seen that in many cases a person will be injected with

several vaccines during a single office visit and that this means their

body is exposed to a very large dose of immune adjuvant. Compelling

studies, using many animal species as well as humans, have shown that

this overactivates brain inflammatory mechanism that can last for

years.

In addition, several additives to vaccines, such as mercury and

aluminum, are powerful brain toxins that are known to accumulate in the

brain over years and can trigger brain inflammatory/excitotoxic

mechanisms. Vaccine contaminants, such as bacteria, mycoplasma and

viral fragments can also produce prolonged brain inflammation and

neurodegeneration.

Because the elderly already have high levels of inflammatory cytokines,

they are at a special risk. The very young (babies and small children)

are at a high risk because their brains are undergoing the most rapid

development at the very time they receive the greatest number of

vaccinations -- the first two years of life. In fact, they receive 22

vaccines during the first year of life, one of which contains a full

pediatric dose of mercury. Like adults, they receive many inoculations

(up to 9 inoculations) in one office visit. This is insane and in my

estimation, criminal.

Nasal flu vaccines are even worse, because they introduce a live virus

into the nasal passages, which can then travel along the olfactory

nerves, which leads to the very part of the brain first and most

severely affected by Alzheimer's disease. A number of studies have

shown that viruses and bacteria can pass along this route to the brain.

In fact, in one study scientists sprayed a bacterium into the nose of

mice and observed a rapid development of Alzheimer's type plaques in

the mouse's brain.

So, what should older people do? First, studies have shown that the

primary cause of immune deficiency in the elderly is purely dietary.

The carotenoids, such as beta-carotene, alpha-carotene, canthaxanthin,

lutein and lycopene significantly enhance the immunity of the elderly.

Zinc, magnesium and selenium are also essential. One should also avoid

omega-6 oils (the vegetable oils-corn, safflower, sunflower, canola,

soybean and peanut oils), since they greatly enhance inflammation and

depress immunity. The EPA component of fish oils (omega-3 oils) is also

a powerful immune suppressant. DHA is not. A healthy immune system

means that you can fight infections efficiently and rapidly.

Regular exercise, such as brisk walking or weight exercises three to

five times a week also boost immunity, while extreme exercise

suppresses immunity. Sugar and refined carbohydrates also suppress

immunity and inflame the brain. Exercise protects the brain from aging

effects and from degeneration.

Adequate sleep is also vital to both brain health and good immune

function. Pubic health officials and spokesmen for the major medical

societies are lying to the public concerning vaccine safety. We now

possess sufficient information from a great number of studies to halt

this disastrous vaccine policy. We are facing a medial disaster in this

country, which is already well on its way.

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