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American Morning
House Call: Report Shows no Link between Childhood Vaccinations, SIDS
Aired March 13, 2003 - 07:52 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Time to make a "House Call" to look at some of this morning's top health stories.
Good morning, Dr. Sanjay Gupta. How are you this morning?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula. Yes, a couple of interesting stories, first of all a reassuring one for parents.
There was some concern back about 20 years ago that there might be a link between common childhood vaccines and SIDS -- that's Sudden Infant Death Syndrome -- which affects about 2,500 children a year in the United States. The Institute of Medicine released a report that says that there is no connection between these vaccines and SIDS. They reviewed a lot of previous studies, and that was their conclusion.
Now, one of the concerns was that by the age of 2, most children are actually receiving between 20 and 22 shots, protecting them against a whole variety of things such as diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, influenza, hepatitis B, polio and pneumococcal bacteria. They're getting a lot of different shots, but there appears to be no connection between SIDS and the vaccines.
The timing does seem to coincide, the time that SIDS most dramatically is presented is at the same time that these kids are getting a lot of shots, but again, no connection.
Also an interesting story, Paula, about Alzheimer's disease and anti-inflammatories. We've reported in the past that aspirin if taken early enough may actually decrease the number of people actually getting Alzheimer's disease. That has been something shown in previous studies. But now, anti-inflammatory medications as well, people thought they might work. And it appears now, according to some, at least, early research, that it does seem to work.
Alzheimer's disease actually is caused by plaques in the brain. It appears these anti-inflammatory medications, again if taken two years before symptoms start, may actually break up those plaques, and thus preventing the symptoms that cause Alzheimer's -- Paula.
ZAHN: I've taken so much anti-inflammatory medications over the last four months, I should probably be protected for the next 200 years, Sanjay.
GUPTA: You're never going to get demented, that's right. ZAHN: Thank you very much. See you a little bit later on this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Vaccinations, SIDS>
Aired March 13, 2003 - 07:52 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Time to make a "House Call" to look at some of this morning's top health stories.
Good morning, Dr. Sanjay Gupta. How are you this morning?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula. Yes, a couple of interesting stories, first of all a reassuring one for parents.
There was some concern back about 20 years ago that there might be a link between common childhood vaccines and SIDS -- that's Sudden Infant Death Syndrome -- which affects about 2,500 children a year in the United States. The Institute of Medicine released a report that says that there is no connection between these vaccines and SIDS. They reviewed a lot of previous studies, and that was their conclusion.
Now, one of the concerns was that by the age of 2, most children are actually receiving between 20 and 22 shots, protecting them against a whole variety of things such as diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, influenza, hepatitis B, polio and pneumococcal bacteria. They're getting a lot of different shots, but there appears to be no connection between SIDS and the vaccines.
The timing does seem to coincide, the time that SIDS most dramatically is presented is at the same time that these kids are getting a lot of shots, but again, no connection.
Also an interesting story, Paula, about Alzheimer's disease and anti-inflammatories. We've reported in the past that aspirin if taken early enough may actually decrease the number of people actually getting Alzheimer's disease. That has been something shown in previous studies. But now, anti-inflammatory medications as well, people thought they might work. And it appears now, according to some, at least, early research, that it does seem to work.
Alzheimer's disease actually is caused by plaques in the brain. It appears these anti-inflammatory medications, again if taken two years before symptoms start, may actually break up those plaques, and thus preventing the symptoms that cause Alzheimer's -- Paula.
ZAHN: I've taken so much anti-inflammatory medications over the last four months, I should probably be protected for the next 200 years, Sanjay.
GUPTA: You're never going to get demented, that's right. ZAHN: Thank you very much. See you a little bit later on this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Vaccinations, SIDS>
