DPT and Tetanus Vaccine linked to Allergies and Asthma

Also in the February 2000 Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics (JMPT) appears a study linking asthma and allergies to the DPT vaccine. The data for this study came from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics.

Interest in this subject has been fueled by the drastic increases in these problems. According to the study, the prevalence of allergic disorders increased between 50% and 100% among adults and more than doubled in children over the past 20 years. In the United States alone, it is estimated that between 30 and 50 million people are affected. Asthma constitutes one of the primary reasons for hospital visits with an estimated 900,000 visits per year. The cost of asthma alone in the US is approximately $6.21 billion yearly.

The JMPT article relates the incidence of certain vaccinations with asthma and allergies. The researchers summed up their findings with the following; "The odds of having a lifetime history of physician-diagnosed asthma was twice as great among vaccinated subjects than among unvaccinated subjects. Vaccinated children had more than 1.8 times greater odds of having sinusitis or sinus problems in the past 12 months and more than twice the odds of having episodes of stuffy, itchy, or runny nose and watery, itchy eyes than did unvaccinated children."