'Magic Bullets' Failing in Medicine, Warns Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons

TUCSON, Ariz., Sept. 3, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The antibiotic era began in the 1940s, and with these "miracle drugs" it appeared that mankind was winning what was perceived to be a  war on microbes. "But we overlooked or underestimated their ability to adapt rapidly under the selection pressure of antibiotics," writes Dr. Andrew Wakefield in the fall issue of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons. The growing threat of microbial resistance has caused senior public health officials in the UK and the U.S. to be concerned about the "post-antibiotic apocalypse" and the "end of modern medicine."

"Are vaccines destined for a similar fate?" asks Dr. Wakefield.

We are seeing the emergence of resistant strains of organisms that elude vaccine-conferred immunity, including pertussis, pneumococcus, human papilloma virus, and avian herpesvirus in chickens.

The much-discussed "herd immunity" from measles vaccine is turning out to be much different from natural herd immunity. With the latter, measles still occurs, but is mostly constrained to school-age children in whom the disease is milder. As measles vaccine failure occurs, more vulnerable persons, infants and adults, are affected.

The fatal flaw in our approach to infectious diseases, Dr. Wakefield states, is certainty. This has led to aggressive attempts to try to eradicate certain diseases "because we can"—or think we can—with little regard for safety.

The "return of measles" is not the fault of anti-vaccinationists, but results from vaccine failure and "escape mutants"—the predictable outcome of selection pressures in living things, he writes.

Meanwhile, a plague of neurodevelopment disorders is already here, in Dr. Wakefield's opinion, with an explosive rate of increase that cannot possibly be explained by a change in definition.

Certainty about vaccines is still the official position of U.S. public health authorities, but if something doesn't change, dire consequences will result, he concludes.

The Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons is published by the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS), a national organization representing physicians in all specialties since 1943.

SOURCE Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons