Baby Joseph - Page 2

[heathergirl67]

I also thought I'd read somewhere that there's not a huge statistical difference in birth defects with children of parents who are first cousins. I'll have to check and see if my recollection is correct...

Originally Posted by Marnica 

 Interesting....only 2-3 generations ago first cousins getting married and having children was fairly commonplace. Totally irrelevant but interesting imo!

[no5no5]

Originally Posted by heathergirl67 

I also thought I'd read somewhere that there's not a huge statistical difference in birth defects with children of parents who are first cousins. I'll have to check and see if my recollection is correct...

Keep in mind, too, that consanguinity can have a greater effect if it is practiced for multiple generations.

[savithny]

Since we got a neuro referral when my son was 3, to rule out some of these progressive neurological disorders, I did a lot of reading on them.

I'm actually offended that someone would take this family's tragedy and try to turn it into anti-vaccine propaganda.  While it's fun to try to pin everything that goes wrong on your favorite whipping post, there are dozens -- hundreds -- of genetic degenerative syndromes.   They existed before vaccines and they will continue to exist when civilization collapses and we're all free to contract whatever diseases we want to contract.  Many of them are still not well understood, as far as what genes actually cause the problem.

And yes, while first cousin marriages don't have a significantly higher risk of fetal anomalies, they do raise risks of babies having recessive genetic disorders, which is what this would be.  If you carry a lethal recessive gene, your first cousin is far, far more likely to also carry that gene than some random person off the street.  It's a fact.  And once both halves of a couple are carriers, then you have a one in four chance of your babies getting two copies of the bad one.

Choosing your family's spouses from the same pool of closely related people over and over again is how the Founder Effect works, and why Ashkenazi Jews and French Canadians have much higher rates of Tay-Sachs disease, and the Amish are dealing with a growing number of lethal recessive disorders as well.

[Marnica]

Originally Posted by savithny 

Since we got a neuro referral when my son was 3, to rule out some of these progressive neurological disorders, I did a lot of reading on them.

I'm actually offended that someone would take this family's tragedy and try to turn it into anti-vaccine propaganda.  While it's fun to try to pin everything that goes wrong on your favorite whipping post, there are dozens -- hundreds -- of genetic degenerative syndromes.   They existed before vaccines and they will continue to exist when civilization collapses and we're all free to contract whatever diseases we want to contract.  Many of them are still not well understood, as far as what genes actually cause the problem.

And yes, while first cousin marriages don't have a significantly higher risk of fetal anomalies, they do raise risks of babies having recessive genetic disorders, which is what this would be.  If you carry a lethal recessive gene, your first cousin is far, far more likely to also carry that gene than some random person off the street.  It's a fact.  And once both halves of a couple are carriers, then you have a one in four chance of your babies getting two copies of the bad one.

Choosing your family's spouses from the same pool of closely related people over and over again is how the Founder Effect works, and why Ashkenazi Jews and French Canadians have much higher rates of Tay-Sachs disease, and the Amish are dealing with a growing number of lethal recessive disorders as well.

I don't think that is what the OP was doing at all by wondering aloud if vaccines had anything to do with this case. You are correct in that there are dozens upon dozens of genetic syndromes that can cause all kinds of problems. I'm sure some if not most have absolutely nothing to do with vaccines, but to categorically dismiss any possibilty that vaccines can have any effect on some sort of underlying genetic issue/anomoly (since as you say yourself many are not well understood) is just as short sighted as someone "trying to pin everything on their favorite whipping post".

The bottom line is is that there has been precious little research into genomics and vaccines
This statement recently appearred on the CDC website

 There is increasing appreciation for how human genetic variation may affect the risk for medication-related and vaccine-related adverse events. While substantial research has been done on the genetic basis of medication safety, relatively little research has been done on the genetic basis of vaccine safety.

[no5no5]

Just to put this issue to rest, recent news reports have stated that he has Leigh's Disease, a rare genetic neurometabolic disorder.  If anyone still wants to argue that this poor child's medical condition could have been caused or aggravated by vaccines, well, I just have to say that I agree with savithny that I think it is in poor taste. 

[Marnica]

wow - I really don't think anyone was arguing that at all and the point has been totally missed here but that certainly is neither here nor there.

The lesson of this entire thread should be that without important information (ie his diagnosis) it is really impossible to speculate about what things may have come into play. Now that info has come to light - terrific... No more speculation about this sad case, but I don't think that puts the larger issue at hand to rest at all. That being that genetic conditions may play a role in vaccine adverse events. How big a role has yet to be determined.

[newmum35]

Thanks Marnica.. you understand me well. I have stopped discussing on the thread because I could see that it is upsetting some people and there's really not much more to say.  It is enough to know that at least one other person may look at things similar to me..  Since most news stories do not provide many details about individual cases, sometimes I just wonder about the "unknowns" which are usually greater than the "knowns." especially when things (like seizures) start to happen right around the time of WBV appts.  I was simply thinking out loud and probably should have taken the time to look into the case more and word my thoughts a little better. This is definitely not my favorite whipping post though, I'm not positive now what would be, now there's some food for thought  :)