In today's pediatric practice, we try hard to delay a possible allergen contact of the baby in order to avoid hyper-allergic reactions later on (e.g. neurodermatitis, hay fever, allergic asthma, recently also hyperkinetic syndrome). A study of more than 2000 children showed that feeding them with cow's milk during the first nine months resulted in seven times more frequent complaints of eczema afterwards [62]. For this reason there are a large number of hypoallergic nutritional products on the market, used by many parents, even though the study could not confirm a connection between ingestion of milk protein and occurrence of eczema.

On the other hand, the children are already at a very early age aggressively exposed to foreign proteins (allergens) in the form of immunizations: diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, poliomyelitis, hemophilus influenza, measles, mumps, rubella, and all the corresponding booster shots. In addition, the vaccines (with the exception of polio) come in direct contact with the blood circulation and hence are not subject to antigen modification by, e.g., the gastro-intestinal tract.

Seeking to avoid contact with allergens on one hand, while massively promoting it on the other hand by means of vaccinations seems inconsistent. At least there ought to be studies aimed at investigating the connection between immunizations and subsequent atopies. (Atopy is a congenital disease that produces an immediate allergic response to certain environmental substances. Common atopies include hayfever, allergic asthma, and skin contact allergies.)

The Meaning of Childhood Diseases

What role the so-called childhood diseases play in the development of children has been the subject of many discussions. Reports of developmental leaps are frequent, yet usually very subjective. There are, however, some observations that childhood diseases do not just harbor risks but can be quite useful.

In Annals of Tropical Paediatrics, [53] the following case is reported:

1984 a 5 year-old girl presented with a bad case of psoriasis. She showed large affected areas on her body and extremities, also involving to a significant degree her scalp. During the following year she was treated by Pediatricians and Dermatologists with coal tar preparations, local steroids, UV light, and dithranol wraps. Despite these therapies and two hospitalizations, the psoriasis was refractory and remained essentially unchanged until she came down with measles. As the measles rash began to spread over her skin, the psoriasis disappeared. Since then she has been free of psoriasis.

Another startling effect is described in Am. J. Med. Hyg.: "The prevalence of parasites and average density of malaria parasites is significantly lower in children who have had measles or influenza before the age of 9 than in the asymptomatic control group." [54]

An article taken from the Lancet, 1985 [55], may be of decisive importance:

Persons who have never had any visible indication of measles, i.e., never developed the skin rash of measles, suffer more frequently from non measles associated diseases." "The data show a highly significant correlation between lack of measles exanthema and auto-immune diseases, seborrhoeic skin diseases, degenerative diseases of the bones and certain tumors . . . We think that the rash is caused by a cell mitigated immune reaction, which destroys the cells infected with the measles virus. If this is correct, the missing exanthema may indicate that intracellular virus components have escaped neutralization during the acute infection. This may later lead to the aforementioned diseases... The presence of specific antibodies at the time of infection interferes with the normal immune response against the measles virus, in particular with the development of the specific cell mitigated immunity (and/or cyto-toxic reactions). The intracellular measles virus can then survive the acute infection and cause diseases manifesting in the adult age.

If the infection with measles happens at a time when there are already antibodies against the measles virus present, i.e., within the first few months after birth, or after administration of measles immune serum because of contact with measles, or after antibody production following vaccination, the immune system cannot react fully to the infection, leaving the virus the chance to become persistent.

If vaccinated children contract measles from the wild strain, the possibility exists that the infection will be overlooked in them, since they do not exhibit the typical signs of measles anymore. It is impossible to say how common these latent measles infections are; finding the connection between latent measles and a disease at adult age is impossible. If this suspicion proves to be true, the merit of the measles vaccination has to be re-evaluated carefully.

Level of Protection

A last word to the level of protection: parents who have their children immunized assume that they will not contract the diseases covered by the vaccine. Unfortunately this is not true to the degree that most parents assume. Some examples:

A population in the Gaza strip which was vaccinated to a density of 90% suffered two outbreaks of poliomyelitis, 1974 and 1976. In these epidemics 34% and 50%, respectively, of all sick children had received 3 to 4 doses of the vaccine. The incidence of diseases was 18 per 100,000 [35].

Hungary had a vaccination program which reached a 93% vaccination density in the target population. A measles epidemic occurred in 1981. In contrast to earlier epidemics, the majority of the sick were vaccinated persons, i.e., about 60%.

During another epidemic between September 1988 and December 1989, there were 17,938 cases of measles recorded (attack rate of 169 per 100,000), with the majority of cases reported in the vaccinated population (attack rates for the populations vaccinated in 1971 and 1972 were 1332 and 1632 per 100,000, respectively). The status of immunization was known of 12,890 (76%) cases of measles. Of these, 8006 (62%) had been vaccinated. [29]

A measles epidemic broke out in an entirely vaccinated population of about 4200 students of three schools in the USA [38]. Further cases from the U.S. have been reported [46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51]

Despite a vaccination density of 96%, Fife, Scotland, was afflicted by a measles epidemic in 1991 and 1992. This was followed shortly thereafter by outbreaks of measles in other parts of the country, notwithstanding the high MMR vaccination density [45].

In Nashville, Tennessee (USA),a large-scale mumps outbreak occurred in the vaccinated population [43]. It has been shown that the immunization against mumps provides in many cases only a 75% protection [39, 40, 43]. Mumps is nowadays regarded to be a mild disease [41, 42].