I have recently been introduced to several scientific studies linking vaccine damage to pancreatitis. I have to admit that this connection makes sense to me. We used to blame high fat foods for pancreatitis in our pets but we are seeing an alarming increase in pancreatitis in our patients even those eating a low fat prescription diet. These dogs don’t fit our “pancreatitis risk group”. What is going on? It seems the one common denominator is recent or repeated vaccination. The studies show that histamin release triggered during vaccination causes damage to the pancreas.
I can honestly say that I have never seen pancreatitis in a minimally vaccinated or non-vaccinated dog. I do believe that these study results hold water and should be addressed by the veterinary community.
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Could you please name some of the studies you refer to? I’d like to read more on this.
http://journals.lww.com/pancreasjournal/pages/articleviewer.aspx?year=1991&issue=07000&article=00018&type=abstract
Here is another http://www.infowars.com/cancer-vaccine-linked-to-pancreatitis/
One more: http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/reprint/176/3/339.pdf
I guess I should have been more specific. All those are vaccines for people. Do you have evidence concerning dogs? I’m already convinced but I know plenty who would point out this omission.
Pathology is pathology, the pathways are the same, If it is happening in humans you can bet it is happening in dogs and cats.
Oh, I believe you. However, the ones I’m trying to convince pointed out that dogs don’t use the particular vaccines in your links. They are inferring that the damage isn’t with all vaccines, just some of them.
I honestly don’t have a study siting animals. But I am not surprised that they are not looking in animals. Studies need to be funded (drug companies fund a large percentage of the studies) and who would fund a study that would prove vaccines are dangerous?
But I do think there is no reason not to extrapolate the human studies to animals. If it is okay to use human drugs in animals based in studies done on human beings, it should make sense to look at the damage caused by drugs and vaccines in humans and assume that it would happen in animals. Especially since the mechanism of damage seems to be histamin release after vaccination a pathway common to most mammalian species. The “evidence based community” can’t have it both ways either studies in humans extrapolate to animals or they don’t.
You can’t convince everyone, although everyone would be healthier if you could. Thanks for the efforts though, you may be having more impact than you know.
Dr. Marcia,
First of all, I respect your holistic approach to veterinary medicine when it is warranted. But there are limitations to this approach and sometimes proven medicine is necessary.
As a vet, I look to evidence based medicine as an important aspect of making medical decisions for my patients. Although I do feel that previous vaccination protocols were excessive, we still must make decisions based on medical evidence and not “gut feelings”…at least if we want to be viewed as medical experts. Separating out core-vaccines from non-core was a huge step that the veterinary organizations made…especially when we went to 3-year intervals for the Dist-Adeno-Parvo vaccine. I like the 3 year Rabies.
I have been practicing in Boca for over 15 years and every year I have seen cases of Parvo and Distemper in this area. As long as we do not have compliance with vaccinating for those diseases, we will continue to see them and lose pets to them. With the onset of dog parks and doggie daycares, the number of cases is constantly increasing. If you advocate not vaccinating for these deadly diseases, you will be contributing to the occurance of these diseases in your client’s pets and the death of some. The risk of illness following the vaccination is far less than the risk of the disease.
I truly hope, for your sake, that you don’t have to tell a client of yours that their dog has Parvo or Distemper…it may not live…it will cost thousands of dollars to treat…all because you didn’t recommend proper, evidence-based protection with a vaccine.
There is not documented evidence that vaccines cause pancreatitis in dogs or cats. None. It is speculative on your part. When you put your patients at risk from not vaccinating…be sure to tell them that it is your “gut feeling” and not based on veterinary research or evidence.
Good luck.
Paul Jaffe, DVM
Hey Paul,
Good to hear from you!! I do puppy vaccines for parvo and distemper
and then no more… been doing that for the last 10 years even in
Houston where both diseases are rampant, never seen a case in any of
my patients that were vaccinated after 16 weeks. Never. There is
plenty of evidence that A. Parvo is a disease of puppies only and that
B. distemper lasts at least 7 years..I base my vaccine decisions on
the science presented by Schultz. What I have seen is an increase in
chronic autoimmune disease in the vaccinated population; cushings,
pancreatitis, glomerulonephritis, cancer (immune disregulation),
addisons, allergies. Things we rarely saw 20 years ago.. I remember
seeing a cushings horse in vet school and was told to take a good look
cause they were rare and we may not see another.. and now I see them
on a daily basis…
There are studies in the human literature showing a clear link between
pancreatitis and vaccines. Several documented case reports.. I just
find that interesting that one of the common side effects of vaccines
is vomiting.. could this be inflammation of the pancreas? I also know
for a fact pancreatitis is on the rise and that the old risk factors
of eating a high fat meal no longer really apply.. so could it be
autoimmune reactions triggered by vaccines?.. perhaps. Also high carb
kibbled meals play a role in pancreatitis in my opinion.
Have you seen the study linking FVRCP to glomerulonephritis in cats?..
would be happy to send you a copy.
Of course vaccines are not the root of all evil, but over vaccination
can and does cause problems and science.. your evidence based science
has shown that annual revaccination is unnecessary and that probably 3
year revaccination is unnecessary. so why are you not listening to the
data.
I use three year rabies vaccines but I never vaccinate animals
suffering from chronic disease.. the labels on the vaccines say
clearly in bold letters for use in healthy dogs and cats.. so, is a
dog suffering from cancer healthy? I don’t think so. But I see it
every day.. clients coming to me saying their dog was just diagnosed
with cancer and they got their annual vaccines the same day!!!
This was Dr. Jaffe’s answer:
Marcia,
Good to hear from you too…my concerns with your blog is that I am seeing a
lot of patients that are stopping all vaccines (some even Rabies) because
they are reading stuff…and one even quoted your blog…that “vaccines
cause pancreatitis”, or cancer. Vaccines may cause cancer, or pancreatitis
or any other illness…but what can happen to these dogs that don’t get
vaccinated? We see more illnesses now than 20 years ago but there are many
variables such as diet, breeding, environment exposure with dog parks and
doggie day cares, etc…so how can it be directly related to vaccines.
Vaccines have been proven to prevent illness…some may get sick, but as a
percentage of those that don’t….there is no perfect drug that has no side
effects. Would you not recommend steroids to the Addisonian because of risk
of the side effects?
I think it is a huge leap to say if it happens in people it happens in dogs.
It may…but when you assert that it does, the general population believe
you…I don’t have a problem if you say it, but please inform everyone that
it is “your opinion and not proven in the veterinary literature”. Proper
disclosure.
I do not vaccinate annually, unless the client wants the 1 year Rabies
instead of the 3 year. That is the law..not mine. I am leaning away from the
Bordetella vaccine just because we can’t clinically determine if it is Bord.
Or Canine Influenza and the treatment is the same anyway…so why vaccinate?
I do not like it when vets recommend titers instead of vaccinating. There is
no titer available for Bordetella since it is a bacterin. Leptospirosis
titers may be negative even in vaccinated animals since many animals do not
generate much if any antibodies to some of the lepto serovars. Only the lab
at Cornell University has challenge studies to support their “protective”
antibody levels for Canine Distemper, Canine Parvovirus and Canine
Adenovirus, so the vets that are sending the titers to their regular
reference lab is getting results that are not correlated and therefore mean
nothing. The “protective” antibody levels from Cornell only tells us how
much antibody is needed if the animal has only antibodies to protect it…no
actively generated immunity from vaccination or exposure…therefore, “low”
titers are generally inaccurate in actively immunized animals. So the vets
are only doing titers to supplement their income from lost vaccine revenue.
I just hope that any vet (including you) that isn’t recommended vaccines
that are considered “core” by the general veterinary community do not have
to stand before a judge in court trying to defend their position when a
client’s dog dies from a disease that we have a vaccine for but was
recommended against it. Also, many pet insurances will not pay out for
treatment of diseases such as Parvo, for which we have a vaccine but is not
being given on an approved schedule. Three years between vaccines…won’t
have a problem since it is common throughout the veterinary community.
Beyond 3 years….may have problems.
Good chats…I love good conversation and not “soap-box” speeches.
Dr. Marcia’s answer
My blog is to get people thinking.. that is all .. the pancreatitis
was simply as ‘what if”.. should we consider this?… the problem with
vaccines and science is that no one will fund anti-vaccine research..
I am confident that I will never see an adult dog that has been
vaccinated over the age of 1 year die from parvo.. and distemper would
be pretty rare.. Once again risk assessment.. is the purse dog in boca
with really at risk for contracting distemper.. doubtful. Is the
backyard dog in houston or Mobile likely to contact distemper.. more
likely..so, we may vaccinate or we may titer just to screen or if the
dog suffers from a serious illness.. not vaccinate and educate the
client to keep the dog out of the dog park and boarding facilities.
My blog has good info on vaccines and risk assessment and the dangers
of puppyhood vaccines..
How can it not be related to vaccines? When there is evidence showing
the effect of vaccines on the body is negative.. since the inception
of vaccines, human doctors have fought over vaccination..
there is no titer for bordetella .. not an important disease.. won’t
kill your dog…. there was a study I believe showing a link between
intranasal bordetella and nasal tumors… you got to think about that
one a bit?
Lepto.. terrible vaccine.. doesn’t prevent disease, doesn’t keep the
dog from shedding organism in the environment. so all the arguments
for giving it.. to protect the dog and the family doesn’t hold water.
So, why give it? I have seen lepto and i have treated my share of
it..and in dogs that were already vaccinated.. I don’t know any
holistic vet doing titers for lepto.. most of us just don’t give the
vaccine and test the dog if there is reason to suspect that it has
lepto.. most of us that do titers only do it for the core vaccines..
Speaking of supplementing incomes.. that is what I feel most vets are
doing with the annual vaccines.. it is an income generator and nothing
more.. google Dr. bob rogers and texas lawsuit.. he actually sued the
state of texas and the veterinarians for commiting fraud against the
public for giving annual vaccines and corona vaccines (this was many
years ago)the public was outraged and the most of the vets in Houston
slowly changed what they were doing and started doing 3 year rabies
vaccines. I was really skeptical at the time as I practiced in the
lower income area of houston and saw parvo and distemper coming out my
ears.. and you know.. changing my vaccine protocol didn’t change the
rate in adult dogs at all.. we still had lots of parvo in pups and
distempter too..so I continued to vaccinate but not with dhalpc..
changed to dap or just parvo and distemper.. So, I am not one of these
Ivory tower docs who doesn’t know the real world.. I know it all to
well.
I think there are far too many vets out there forcing vaccines on
their patients.. do you know how many come to me and say their vet
won’t give the 3 year rabies vaccine because it is stronger than the
one year and causes more reactions.. there is no truth to this
statement.. so what is the reason to say it.. to sell a 25 dollar
vaccine… are we as a profession that desperate for $25 that we would
lie to our clients? What i am trying to do is empower people with
sick dogs to say no to vaccines at least until the dog has
recovered….
What is the rational for vaccinating indoor cats? where are they going
to be exposed? and what is the risk for a sarcoma?.. so why are so
many of the vets out there insisting on annual revaccination of indoor
cats..assuming that the owner isn’t rescuing strays…
So, I will try and get on soon and update this conversation and make
it more clear that it was food for thought …
I think there needs to be an official position from the AVMA.. the
vaccine insert says for use in healthy animals.. what constitutes a
healthy animal?.. is a dog with active seizure disorder healthy enough
to vaccinate? Is a cancer dog healthy enough to vaccinate… etc
And.. in case you are wondering… I don’t vaccinate my kids… at all.
Hi
I looked to see if anyone had reported a link between Panceatitis and vaccine as I found it strange that my fit dog went down with this disease shortly after her booster vaccine. I do not have my old dogs vaccinated as I believe they have enough immunity whereas the younger ones work and are kennelled so I keep up their vaccinations. My bitch now 12yrs was very fit and well then after her booster vaccine got panceatitis and is now very ill. It would be interesting to know if this happens to other dogs.
Vaccine is Canigen Lepto2
I don’t know of any studies that support this but many dogs do vomit and have Gi upset following vaccination, so, I can’t help but wonder. Could the rise in autoimmune diseases like diabetes and thryoid disease be linked to autoantibodies stimulated by the vaccines? The purdue study clearly shows that vaccinated dogs create autoantibodies.