Tetanus jab may curb multiple sclerosis risk

[Celebration]

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=healthNews&storyID=2006-08-01T155212Z_01_COL156920_RTRIDST_0_HEALTH-TETANUS-JAB-DC.XML&archived=False

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Vaccination against tetanus may offer protection against the development of multiple sclerosis (MS), according to a new study from Boston-based researchers.

Dr. Miguel A. Hernan and colleagues from Harvard School of Public Health pooled data from nine studies published between 1966 and 2005 that looked at the association between tetanus vaccination and MS risk. Analyses centered on a total of 963 MS cases and 3126 controls.

They found that a history of having been immunized against tetanus was associated with a 33 percent decrease in risk of MS.

The results of the current meta-analysis suggest that tetanus vaccination may prevent or delay the development of MS. The investigators call for further epidemiologic research to assess the role of timing of immunization and the number of doses associated with this protective effect.

[Redstone]

1. Christ, if I had known that, I'd have stuck more rusty nails into my

foot when I was a kid.

Redstone

[trotsky]

2. Maybe it's the mercury that does it?

:shrug:

[Celebration]

3. if you read the article

They think it is because it changes the immune response to stress from mostly Th1 cells to Th2. MS is a Th1 mediated disease. Now, you gotta wonder what this would do to asthma, though, which is connected to Th2 immune system responses.

[trotsky]

4. That's the problem with this forum.

No one has a sense of humor!

[beam me up scottie]

5. Oh, way to go, trotsky.

You've just started the next campaign against preventative medicine.

By tomorrow morning, this will be all over the internets, tetanus vaccinations contain mercury.

:spank:

[trotsky]

6. Have you had your USDA-recommended serving of mercury today?

[FlaGranny]

7. That I've got to wonder about

because almost 100% of kids in the US are immunized against tetanus. I believe the instance of MS is going up and not down. In fact, I have MS myself, a mild case, and I had a tetanus booster a year ago. It didn't act in any way like a treatment that I could tell. I actually am a bit worse since then. That's not to say there couldn't be some connection. A lot of time what works for some doesn't work for others.