Transverse myelitis (TM) & vaccination
Nervous system

[2016 July] Joshua Coleman Speaks Out on Son's Vaccine-Induced Paralysis (Transverse Myelitis) and SB277   "We asked why this had happened, and the doctor said it was most likely a reaction to either a vaccination or an airborne virus, the latter being rejected since he'd had no signs of illness.  The doctor then slammed the door shut on further discussion of how our healthy son went from walking to being paralyzed.  There was no investigation to specifically determine what had caused our child to go from walking and running into a wheelchair for the rest of his life.  At a later date, we took our son to Johns Hopkins for further testing.  There, doctors investigated every possible reason why our son might have become paralyzed from Transverse Myelitis, every possible reason except for vaccines.  This made no sense then, and it makes no sense now, as every doctor that Otto saw at four different hospitals mentioned that the vaccines he received in close proximity to his paralysis were the most likely culprit."

[2011 May] Polio and lemmings by Hilary Butler  All the kids who used to be on clumsy iron lungs, are now on high tech iron lungs and renamed under the autoimmune moniker called Transverse Myelitis and no doubt other creative titles to spread the decoys around. And here is your proof. Hidden away in the forward of a book, by a specialist doctor. Of course, paralysed cases of transverse myelitis on modern iron lungs isn't something either the media, or WHO will shout from the rooftops. So today, instead of kids with polio in callipers and iron lungs, we have lots of kids with autoimmunity, and .... widespread chronic diseases.

As a faculty neurologist and neuroscientist at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore Maryland, I have spent the last decade evaluating and treating patients with autoimmune disorders of the nervous system. I founded and continue to direct the Johns Hopkins Transverse Myelitis (TM) Center, the only center in the world dedicated to developing new therapies foe this paralyzing autoimmune disorder. Increasingly, I see that more and more patients are being felled by this devastating disorder. Infants as young as five months old can get TM and some are left permanently paralyzed and dependent upon a ventilator to breathe. But this is supposed to be a rare disorder, reportedly affecting only one in a million people. Prior to the 1950s, there were a grand total of four cases reported in the medical literature. Currently, my colleagues at the Johns Hopkins Hospital and I hear about or treat hundreds of new cases every year. In the multiple sclerosis clinic, where I also see patients, the number of cases likewise continues to climb.----Douglas Kerr, MD, PhD

[2011 Jan] Paramedic paralysed after having swine flu jab provided by ambulance service  Medics diagnosed transverse myelitis, a rare complication often associated with vaccines.....A year later, Mrs Hornsey, of Little Hampton, in West Sussex, is able to walk only with a stick and relies on a wheelchair....She had the jab in November 2009. Five months later, bosses at South East Coast Ambulance Service – where she worked for two years – sacked her instead of allowing her to take on an office role. ...‘By then my confidence was shattered and I felt too upset to return,’ added Mrs  Hornsey. ‘Life has been very hard. Doctors don’t know if I will ever get completely better.’

Akkad W, Salem B, Freeman JW, Huntington MK. Longitudinally Extensive Transverse Myelitis Following Vaccination With Nasal Attenuated Novel Influenza A(H1N1) Vaccine. Arch Neurol. 2010 Aug;67(8):1018-20.
Center for Family Medicine, 1115 E 20th St, Sioux Falls, SD 57105. mark.huntington@usd.edu.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Transverse myelitis has been reported in association with vaccination, including influenza vaccination. OBJECTIVE: To describe a case of longitudinally extensive transverse myelitis associated with vaccination with a nasal attenuated novel influenza A(H1N1) vaccine. DESIGN: Case report. SETTING: Sanford University of South Dakota Hospital. Patient A 27-year-old woman with longitudinally extensive transverse myelitis. RESULTS: Four days following novel influenza A(H1N1) vaccination, the patient developed longitudinally extensive transverse myelitis. Extensive diagnostic evaluation effectively ruled out causes other than vaccination-associated transverse myelitis. Following treatment with corticosteroids and plasmapheresis, the patient made a significant recovery. CONCLUSIONS: Transverse myelitis may be associated with vaccination against novel influenza A(H1N1). Additionally, we believe this to be the first report of longitudinally extensive transverse myelitis associated with any vaccine. PMID: 20697056

[2010 March] Teen Paralyzed After Getting H1N1 Vaccine

[Media July 2006] Legal aid victory for paralysed MMR boy

News:  Roadblocks frustrate Little Al (hep B reaction)

Dr. Derek Smith. A neurologist and assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, Smith had been retained to testify for people with transverse myelitis, a potentially paralyzing neurological disorder. Smith said he was "highly confident" that the tetanus vaccine could trigger the ailment in certain vulnerable individuals. Officials with the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program strongly disagreed.  Then Smith quit.  According to court papers and interviews, Smith decided to bail out  after complaints were lodged with his superiors by three other experts with a long history of testifying for the government in vaccine court.....Early in 2002, Smith was informed (that he)  "was ruining his reputation by his testimony  in the vaccine program," ...Wary of antagonizing people who could affect his career, Smith decided to drop out after testifying in one last case, .....Smith was told  in so many words that he was jeopardizing his access to research funding. [Media, 29 Nov 2004] Witnesses for Petitioners Are Often Tough to Find

[2006] Paralysed children's legal fight over MMR  Shane Lambert and Fadi Khawaja both developed transverse myelitis - an incurable disease of the spine - after being given the injection.   Shane, now 11, received the MMR jab at 13 months old, and is now doubly incontinent and wheelchair bound.  Fadi, now 22, was given the vaccine when he was 10. He can now only walk small distances using crutches and suffers a range of debilitating health problems. "Fadi was perfectly healthy and running around until he had the vaccine," his mother said.....Mario Arturo Rodriguez, from Washington, developed transverse myelitis after he had the jab at one year old. Now seven, he was given the money from the American government's National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program to pay for a lifetime of round-the-clock-care.
   James Merow, the senior judge in Mario's case, echoed these views when he concluded: "There is a wealth of persuasive support....for the proposition that the MMR vaccine can cause transverse myelitis.." But the Department of Health said there is "no established link" between the MMR vaccine and transverse myelitis

Abdennebi A, Dumas JL, Salama J, Benromdhane H, Belin C, Goldlust D. [Postvaccination myelitis. Aspect and course followed by MRI]J Radiol. 1996 May;77(5):363-6. French.PMID: 8762935 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Fescharek R, et al (1995) Transverse myelitis unlikely to be due to measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine. BMJ. 1995 Dec 16;311(7020):1642. No abstract available. PMID: 8555831; UI: 96111884.

Granata F, et al. [Case of transverse myelitis induced by anticholera vaccination]. Acta Neurol (Napoli). 1974 Sep-Oct;29(5):511-5. Italian. No abstract available.PMID: 4451167; UI: 75106160

Joyce KA, et al.    Transverse myelitis after measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine. BMJ. 1995 Aug 12;311(7002):422. No abstract available.PMID: 7640590; UI: 95367940.

Karaali-Savrun F, Altintas A, Saip S, Siva A.  Hepatitis B vaccine related-myelitis?Eur J Neurol. 2001 Nov;8(6):711-5.PMID: 11784358 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Larner AJ, Farmer SF. Myelopathy following influenza vaccination in inflammatory CNS disorder treated with chronic immunosuppression. Eur J Neurol. 2000 Nov;7(6):731-3. PMID: 11136365 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
We report a patient who developed a transverse myelitis with Brown-Sequard syndrome following a prophylactic influenza vaccination, despite being chronically immunosuppressed for a steroid-responsive optic neuropathy. Although influenza vaccination is recommended in patients receiving chronic immunosuppression, its use may on occasion be associated with neurological complications previously reported in immunocompetent individuals.
Renard JL, Guillamo JS, Ramirez JM, Taillia H, Felten D, Buisson Y. Presse Med 1999 Jul 3-10;28(24):1290-2 [No title available].[Article in French] Clinique de neurologie, HIA Val-de-Grace, Paris. [Medline record in process]
BACKGROUND: The cause and effect relationship between anti-HBV immunization using recombinant vaccine and the development of a neurological event, including flare-ups of multiple sclerosis, is a widely debated issue.
CASE REPORT: A previously asymptomatic 16-year-old girl was a hyper-responder to anti-HBV vaccine. Subsequent to a booster shot of anti-HBV recombinant vaccine, she developed regressive acute cervical transverse myelitis with intrathecal oligochonal IgG secretion and a hypersignal on the MRI T2 sequences of the cord.
DISCUSSION: The distinction between a first episode of multiple sclerosis or post-vaccinal acute myelitis in this case will depend upon subsequent course, but this observation points out the very high level of persistent post-vaccinal immunization which can be acquired by a hyper-responder. PMID: 10442059, UI: 99370647

Tezzon F, Tomelleri P, Ferrari G, Sergi A.  Acute radiculomyelitis after antitetanus vaccination.Ital J Neurol Sci. 1994 May;15(4):191-3. Review.PMID: 7960672 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
We report the assessment by MRI of a case of radiculomyelitis after vaccination against tetanus-poliomyelitis. In the acute stage the appearance was an isolated myelitis of the conus medullaris with contrast enhancement. The upper thoracic cord presented central areas of high signal intensity on T2 weighted images. Rapid clinical recovery was correlated with resolution of abnormal enhancement. Follow-up MR at 5 months showed persistence of slight T2 prolongation in the conus medullaris and syringohydromyela of the thoracic cord. A single lesion of the spinal cord is a rare presentation of acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, the course of such lesions, to date not previously displayed by MR, is unknown. Proper diagnosis should help prevent administration of further vaccine doses.