Vaccinations...Too Many, Too Often?

Vaccinations, vaccinations, vaccinations. Dog and cat owners have been told by veterinarians and pet health care providers for years that annual vaccinations for Rabies, Distemper, Parvovirus, Feline Leukemia and on and on...are required yearly. Annual vaccinations, also called annual boosters, have certainly played a major role in disease prevention in dogs and cats. Nevertheless, the question recently on the minds of dog and cat owners has been... Do these vaccines have to be given every year? And a second and equally important questions is... are we vaccinating dogs and cats too much? Are we actually causing harm by over-vaccinating our pets?

It’s important to work in conjunction with your veterinarian and discuss the benefits and risks of the various vaccines. Vaccinations are not risk free, and you don’t want to over-vaccinate, but they are still the most effective and reliable way to protect your pet from disease.

Canine Distemper....is a viral disease that usually begins like an upper respiratory infection but soon progresses to seizures and often death. It is transmitted by foxes, coyotes, raccoons, and other dogs.

Infectious Canine Hepatitis....is also a serious viral disease. The virus is passed in the urine and causes liver and kidney infections.

Parainfluenza....is a viral disease that contributes to Kennel Cough. It is spread by airborne nasal secretions and inhaled by other dogs, causing upper respiratory infection and coughing.

Bordetella (Kennel Cough)....is an infection of the upper respiratory tract, which causes a persistent hacking cough and runny nose. It is highly contagious. If your dog is often exposed to other dogs, such as a show dog, he may need the vaccination more than once a year.

Canine Parvovirus....is a viral disease that causes severe vomiting and diarrhea. The virus is passed in the feces and can remain infectious in soil up to two years. Untreated infections are serious and can lead to death.

Borrelia Burgdorferi (Lyme Disease)....is a bacterial disease transmitted by ticks. The infection causes fever and lameness in dogs. It cannot be transmitted to humans, but the ticks that carry the disease can be brought into your home via the dog.

Rabies....is a viral disease that affects the central nervous system and is fatal (there is no cure). The infection is passed in the saliva usually by way of a bite from an infected animal. It is commonly transmitted by skunks, foxes, raccoons, and bats. Because humans are also at risk for rabies, the vaccine is always required. There is a one-year and a three-year vaccine.

Leptospirosis....is a bacterial disease that is usually spread when infected urine contaminates water or soil and the bacteria is then ingested or inhaled. It can cause severe and possibly terminal liver or kidney infections. This disease can also be transmitted to humans. The vaccine is controversial, because many animals have adverse reactions to the vaccine, and it may not always protect against the most common leptospira bacteria.

Typical Vaccination Schedule for Puppies:

Distemper/Hepatitis/Parvovirus/Bordetellosis/Parainfluenza:

• 1st shot at 6 weeks old
• 2nd shot at 9 weeks old
• 3rd shot at 12 weeks old
• 4th shot at 16 weeks old
• Booster every 1-3 years

Rabies:

• 1st shot at 16 weeks old
• 2nd shot at 64 weeks old
• Every 1-3 years thereafter

Lyme Disease:

• 16-18 weeks old
• Every 6 months in high-risk areas

Leptospirosis:

• 1st shot at 10-12 weeks old
• 2nd shot at 14-16 weeks old
• Every year thereafter

Vaccinations: Too Many, Too Often?

There are two major questions that beg for exact answers:

1.) Are multiple agent (multivalent ) vaccines "overloading" the pets immune system?

2.) Are "annual vaccinations" really necessary annually?

Not only are dog and cat owners beginning to ask about the safety and necessity of annual, multivalent vaccines for their pets but the entire veterinary profession is in a state of critical self-examination. From the highly technical research and development laboratories in the giant pharmaceutical corporations right on down to the solo practitioner operating a mobile clinic, the veterinary health care providers are asking if the current suggested vaccine protocols are safe and effective.

In an attempt to gather research for this article and to help clear the waters of variable directives on the vaccination topic, my consensus is that nobody really knows how many or how often! So if the trained professionals disagree whether or not "Laddie" should get a seven-in-one vaccination, plus a Rabies inoculation, and this schedule should be repeated yearly, how are you as "Laddie's" owner to know what to do? Let’s take a swim through these turbulent waters and try to make some sense of what is fact and what is conjecture. Discussing the first question of multivalent vaccines and whether or not they are "stressing The Immune System we need to know a little about how an individual (human, dog, cat, mouse ... mammals are quite similar in their defense mechanisms against disease) responds to a pathogen. A pathogen is any agent such as a virus or bacteria or poison that harms the individual. Every minute of every day all individuals are being silently attacked by pathogens from the air, food, water, and contents of our own intestinal tracts. The true miracle is that any of us survive at all!

Through eons of evolutionary trial and error, those species who best defended against pathogens were able to produce similar offspring who were also immune competent, that is, able to fend off those harmful invaders. So we can safely state that, in general, those individuals alive today have healthy Immune Systems, otherwise all those nasty pathogens would have their way with us in short order! But some experts believe the overall state of health in many of the earth's creatures is declining, and that vaccinations are actually contributing to the demise of our immune systems.

The Immune System ... everybody throws this term around with reckless abandon and often the term is totally misunderstood. Here is what you really need to know about The Immune System if you are to have any calm water to swim through in this sea of controversy surrounding vaccination protocols:

The Immune System is really a general term for all of the body's pathogen defense mechanisms. The Immune System is not a single, discrete system, after all. There are a multitude of biochemical and anatomical factors that make up The Immune System but only three aspects that we will refer to in this article. These three active barriers to disease that play a major role in vaccination-induced immunity are the following:

1.) MUCOSAL IMMUNITY ... takes place in the thin mucous lining of the mammary, respiratory, urinary, and digestive tracts. This important barrier to disease often is the first line of defense against viruses and bacteria and the ammunition used against invaders is called "secretary IgA" antibody. This complex protein molecule binds up invaders and prevents their entrance into the body. Vaccine technology has taken advantage of this line of defense through the implementation of intranasal and oral vaccines. Much more emphasis will be placed on MUCOSAL IMMUNITY in the future since there is increasing evidence that human and animal populations are experiencing a measurable decline in IgA immune proteins. Just what is triggering the decline in IgA levels and what role vaccinations may play in this scheme is as yet unknown.

Natural exposure as well as vaccine products which "look like" a natural pathogen but don't present a threat to the cell can induce the cell to remember what the foreign invaders look like. A healthy cell is then prepared to fend off future attacks.

There are lots of body cells whose main job is to fight off disease. Plus, every cell in the body that has a special function... let's say a liver cell that has to store glycogen, make cholesterol, convert protein into building material, plus regulate numerous other chemical reactions...still has the ability to recognize an invader and fight for its life! For the most part, specialized white blood cells play a major role in CELL-MEDIATED IMMUNITY.

"A BOOSTER SHOT"...what does that mean? When an animal or human is vaccinated they generally will develop a response to the vaccine by increasing their level of protective defense immunity. This level may be high, low, or none. Usually there is a measurable response indicating some protection. If a second vaccine for the same disease is given at a later time...this second vaccine will BOOST the protective levels of immunity that were induced by the first vaccine. So, whether the vaccine is for Rabies or Parvovirus or Feline Leukemia, it might be called a "BOOSTER SHOT" if it is given sometime after an original vaccination.

3.) HUMORAL IMMUNITY ... works from the body's fluid sources, the blood and lymph. This is where we test for a dog or cat's immune levels (called antibody titers) so that we can get an estimate of how well the body can recognize an invader. If the body has had a previous encounter with a pathogen, just like with CELL-MEDIATED IMMUNITY), the body makes "Opposite Invaders" to circulate in body fluids. The "Opposite Invaders" are called antibodies. These molecules attach to or otherwise disable invaders and prevent them from doing harm to the body. And just like with CELL-MEDIATED IMMUNITY, it is safer for the body to learn to recognize an invader from a crippled or fake invader than to risk learning from an actual natural attack. There are many other ways a "home-body" wards off disease, but these three major Immune System divisions working together carry the brunt of responsibility for defense against pathogens. Remember that there are no simple blood tests for CELL-MEDIATED IMMUNITY, it can be assessed but it is difficult and expensive to measure.

And each individual is unique as to how tough this line of defense is. HUMORAL IMMUNITY, however, can be measured by checking the levels of circulating "Opposite Invaders" that we call antibodies. Our ability to say that a dog or cat is protected from a disease based solely upon checking for high antibody titers is precarious ... but, from a practical standpoint, it's all we've got! It is very important to keep in mind that we can only assume what titer levels are protective and what levels are not. Antibody titer tests are not absolutely predictive of the individual's ability to fend off disease but rather simply indicate the strength of the immune system's memory of previous exposure to a specific pathogen. So if your dog has a high titer to the Rabies virus...does that mean that if exposed to the virus the dog will absolutely not get the disease? No one can say absolutely not...we can only sat probably not.

Now that we have a better understanding of what The Immune System refers to and with the knowledge that we can test part of it, we can ask certain questions. The first one is... "Are multiple agent vaccines overloading The Immune System?" With your knowledge that every individual is continuously being challenged by invaders, it seems unlikely that "ganging up" on The Immune System is even possible. In fact there is overwhelming scientific evidence that a healthy body can respond with immune defenses to multiple challenges and can make protective levels of antibodies to a number of pathogens at the same time! Remember ... we're talking about normal and healthy cats that may have had an adverse reaction to a vaccination were outwardly healthy, but in truth were suffering from a pre-existing, undetected disorder? With twenty-seven years of experience in immunology, Robert Snyder, a Public Health Advisor at the Centers For Disease Control, has stated that there is "evidence that the more you stimulate The Immune System the better it works." This statement may very well be true, unless there is an overwhelming number and virulence of pathogens.

On the other hand there are knowledgeable individuals who would strongly disagree. Veterinarian Christina Chambreau, an holistic practitioner from Sparks, Maryland states that there are "all kinds of problems with vaccinations and they are probably the worst thing that we do for our animals". Her belief is that by injecting vaccine into an animal we are effectively by-passing the body's normal lines of defenses and presenting to the animal foreign material in an unnatural manner. Repetitive vaccinations, she contends, rather than providing extra assurance that an animal will mount high levels of antibodies, actually has an adverse effect on the animal's overall ability to achieve a healthy balance within its disease fighting talents.

If I, as a small animal practitioner with twenty-eight years of experience, have a hard time reconciling these widely different viewpoints, how is the pet owner to make sense of the present state of affairs? And just to underscore the lack of uniformity of opinion regarding multivalent vaccines, I sent questionnaires to over twenty veterinarians including Dr. Carvel Tiekert, Executive Director of the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association, seeking evidence that "too many" vaccines were causing harm to our pets. Not a single person I queried would offer any irrefutable evidence that the multivalent vaccines actually harmed pets. There are stories, there are opinions, there are theories, there is conjecture ... even suggestions that veterinarians are knowingly using all those vaccines to further their financial gains! (On this point, you should know that giving a pet a single dose of a single vaccine, then giving subsequent single dose vaccines for different diseases spread out over a period of time could be more expensive for the pet owner and more revenue for the veterinarian than giving a multivalent vaccine.)

A typical multivalent vaccine is the DHLPPCv vaccine for dogs. Instead of giving six different injections, all these "vaccines" or antigens can be given in a single small volume injection. Certainly this is easier on the dog than getting six separate injections. DHLPPCv stands for:

D... Canine Distemper Virus...a dangerous viral infection. "Distemper" is an odd name for a viral infection and this disease has no relationship to nor connection with a dog's temperament.

H... Hepatitis...a viral infection caused by two related viruses that mainly affects the liver.

L... Leptospirosis...a bacterial infection affecting the kidneys. This class of bacteria can infect humans, cows, dogs, pigs and other mammals.

P... Parainfluenza...a virus that along with the Hepatitis virus can cause upper respiratory infections.

P... Parvovirus...a severe and often fatal virus affecting the lining of the intestinal tract.

Cv... Coronavirus...is very similar to the Parvovirus, can be very severe, but has a somewhat different effect on the intestinal tract and generally is not fatal.

Balance this, though, with the belief of some holistic practitioners that harmful effects of vaccinating may not be recognizable for several generations and that an individual may not show any signs of vaccine derived diseases in its lifetime. But future generations (offspring of the vaccinated animal) would not have optimum immune fitness because of the previously given vaccines.

The question of whether or not "annual vaccinations" really should be given yearly is a good one. How often is Too Often? The answer is somewhat elusive, too, because the only way we would know if an individual should be vaccinated right now would be to know that the individual is at high risk of getting the disease. In other words, if there was a nice test that would say "Yes, vaccinate immediately! This blood sample indicates that the immune system's mucosal, cellular and humoral immunity is low and needs reeducating!," then the choice to vaccinate would be simpler. (That is if you believed in vaccinating to begin with!) Some types of in-office blood tests are available at this time. However it may be a while before a wide range of simple and inexpensive tests for immunity-status-indicators for a multitude of pet diseases are available. A complicating factor in duration of immunity after a vaccine is given is the unique character of each individual's Immune System.