Casamino acids, tetanus vaccines and dairy allergies

[PGTlatte]

Our older DS has a pretty severe dairy allergy. He is not anaphylactic to it, but it has shown up in both blood and skin allergy testing, and he has both digestive and mental reactions to even trace amounts of it that last for 3-4 days. Our younger son appears to have similar but less severe digestive reactions to even very small amounts of dairy, but he has not yet had any allergy testing.

DS1 was fully vaxed to age 2. DS2 is now 3.5 and has not had any vaxes. We had been planning to start selective vaxes around age four.

In looking at tetanus vaccines, I find that every single one of them, both pediatric and adult, infant and booster versions, alone and combined with other vaccines, all appear to have some ingredient derived from casein. Even the ones that don't specifically list it on the insert have it. The ones that don't list casein or casamino acids specifically but list some other media, ie Mueller-Miller, modified Stainer Schote, or Latham media....when I go digging into the details of these media, there is casein in them.

If a person has to avoid ingesting even trace amounts of dairy protein to avoid having a documented immune reaction to it, or very clear symptoms of a reaction, then it seems to me like it would not be a good idea to inject them with it. But.....I cannot find any references online at all, except for places like wikipedia or curezone, that discuss the idea that people who are allergic to dairy should not have tetanus vaxes.

The short version of this is.....I am in a state that basically only allows religious and medical exemptions, not philosophical, and the religious exemption is pretty much all or nothing. If we choose to have any vaxes for DS2, or any boosters for DS1, I think we probably can't claim a religious exemption. Yet if the dairy component of tetanus is a real concern....and to me it seems like it should be.....I would not want that vax. But I am not sure I would be able to get a medical exemption from this vax for them. Unless a doctor would believe a dairy allergy is a contraindiction for that vaccine. But I can't find anything like that online. Which totally puzzles me.

Has anyone come across this ? Either a doctor agreeing that a dairy allergy is a contraindiction for a dairy-containing vax, or a good reason why it's considered safe to inject dairy-allergic people with a vax that contains dairy ?

[Marnica]

I have not seen anything, but don't see any differance than when child has an egg allergy and is told not to get the Cp vax. If your child has a dairy allergy the he should absolutley not get any DTaP or tetnus vax. It's common sense. Any doctor that would not write a medical exemption for that should have a darn good reason. They can't sit and tell you that it is safe to inject milk proteins into a diary allergic child anymore than they can tell you t's safe to give the CP vax to a child with egg allergies.

[nicolebeth]

I didn't realize that the CP vaccine was grown in eggs, too; definitely the MMR is. And kids with anaphylactic egg allergies ARE given the MMR in the doctor's office (or the hospital), and are told to sit and wait for a reaction. The thinking is that the vaccine trumps the allergy. Anyway, while the flu shot is contraindicated for sure for egg-allergic people, the MMR, for whatever reason, is still given to those same kids. I know many kids with dairy and egg allergies--they've received all the shots except the egg-allergic kids don't get a flu shot. (Those kids also received the CP vaccine.)

It seems completely wrong and counter-intuitive. I suppose they feel that, in the office, they can save a kid who has an allergic reaction. There may be something different in the processing of let's say the MMR from the flu shot with respect to the use of the eggs. I don't think it's right, though. It makes no sense to give allergic children these shots.

In your state, can you do some shots, and hand in the exemption, without letting the school know you did the other shots?

[PGTlatte]

One aspect of this that really bugs me is that the only type of allergic reaction that is apparently considered a contraindication for the vaccine is anaphylaxis. No other reactions related to allergy are given much consideration. My line of thinking is this...what if getting the vaccine causes the allergy, which at this point is not life-threatening, to become worse so that his reactions become anaphylactic ? Or, makes his immune system go into overdrive and down the road he develops an autoimmune disease ?

DS1 is in a Little League that requires the tetanus vax within ten years of each season. When his ten years runs out (a few years away), I'm not sure they would accept a religious exemption. They are a private organization so they are not legally required to accept it. They would accept a medical one. But I'm not sure I would be able to get that. We also want DS2 to play in the same league in a few years, and he's so far unvaxed.

[Marnica]

Originally Posted by nicolebeth

I didn't realize that the CP vaccine was grown in eggs, too; definitely the MMR is. And kids with anaphylactic egg allergies ARE given the MMR in the doctor's office (or the hospital), and are told to sit and wait for a reaction. The thinking is that the vaccine trumps the allergy. Anyway, while the flu shot is contraindicated for sure for egg-allergic people, the MMR, for whatever reason, is still given to those same kids. I know many kids with dairy and egg allergies--they've received all the shots except the egg-allergic kids don't get a flu shot. (Those kids also received the CP vaccine.)

It seems completely wrong and counter-intuitive. I suppose they feel that, in the office, they can save a kid who has an allergic reaction. There may be something different in the processing of let's say the MMR from the flu shot with respect to the use of the eggs. I don't think it's right, though. It makes no sense to give allergic children these shots.

In your state, can you do some shots, and hand in the exemption, without letting the school know you did the other shots?

My apologies...the CP vax is not grown in eggs. I had CP on the brain when I wrote this post last night having just had a long conversation about it with DH. In my head I was thinking the MMR and what I typed was CP! The CP vax is grown on guinea pig embryos, human embryinic lung cells and WI-38 (derived from aborted fetus cell line)

[PGTlatte]

Originally Posted by Marnica

The CP vax is grown on guinea pig embryos, human embryinic lung cells and WI-38 (derived from aborted fetus cell line)

Yuck.

[k9sarchik]

I wouldn't vax for DTaP if your kiddo as a dairy allergy.

One of the first important things to note on the DTaP package insert is that portions of the vaccine are cultivated with casein, or milk protein. Cow milk protein is a common infant and child allergen. Any child suspected of having or diagnosed with a dairy allergy should NOT receive this vaccine.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/art...g2.html?cat=71

[PGTlatte]

I agree with the article. But I'm not sure anything from this source would convince a doctor. Has anyone had an experience of a doctor agreeing with this idea (that it's not wise to inject someone with something they are allergic to...in combination with other things that are meant to stimulate the immune system) and writing a medical exemption based on this (to me, common sense) idea ?

Originally Posted by k9sarchik

I wouldn't vax for DTaP if your kiddo as a dairy allergy.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/art...g2.html?cat=71

[k9sarchik]

Originally Posted by llp34

I agree with the article. But I'm not sure anything from this source would convince a doctor. Has anyone had an experience of a doctor agreeing with this idea (that it's not wise to inject someone with something they are allergic to...in combination with other things that are meant to stimulate the immune system) and writing a medical exemption based on this (to me, common sense) idea ?

Well yes my Dr. agrees with this and recommends not vaxing just based on a history of severe allergies in my family alone.
However, he can't write a medical exemption based on this. A medical exemption can only be written when there was a severe adverse reaction from a previous vaccine or some immune system problem that the gov't would recognize as a reason for not vaxing.

[PGTlatte]

And there is a huge conflict. A doctor wouldn't recommend the vaccine, but doesn't feel professionally free enough to write a medical exemption for it. And there is a situation in which only a medical exemption would suffice.

Originally Posted by k9sarchik

Well yes my Dr. agrees with this and recommends not vaxing just based on a history of severe allergies in my family alone.
However, he can't write a medical exemption based on this. A medical exemption can only be written when there was a severe adverse reaction from a previous vaccine or some immune system problem that the gov't would recognize as a reason for not vaxing.

[k9sarchik]

I feel your pain. If your state had philosophical exemptions you wouldn't be in this situation.

[PGTlatte]

Originally Posted by k9sarchik

I feel your pain. If your state had philosophical exemptions you wouldn't be in this situation.

Is this true ? (not being snarky, just wondering.) In states with philosophical exemptions, can you pick and choose, or do some of them make it be an all or none thing ? And do private organizations that are not legally required to accept religious exemptions readily accept parent's philosophical exemptions ? Or might parents still run into trouble when it's not schools they are dealing with....ie private sports clubs, private day camps, etc ? (if we were in Wisconsin and the Little League required a tetanus vax, would it be a big deal to just say "we are philosophically opposed" ?)