Apr 222012
More children are suffering from arthritis than
ever before. Unpublished data released June, 2007 from a study conducted
jointly by the American College of Rheumatology and the American
Academy of Pediatrics states nearly 300,000 children in the United
States have significant arthritis. Dr. Brian Feldman, chief of the
arthritis program at the Bloorview MacMillan Children’s Center in
Toronto states that this number is “probably an underestimate.” The
study did not include thousands of children who suffer with painful
joints but have not yet been diagnosed. An Australian study confirms
that the rate of childhood arthritis is four to six times higher than
rates typically quoted.1
Physicians are taught about 20 percent of children who are diagnosed
with arthritis go on to develop chronic disease. However, new research
suggests that the percentage is much greater than previously thought.
Even when the acute painful episode subsides or goes into remission,
relapses often occur. In a study of children who had arthritis isolated
to one joint, called oligoarticular arthritis, 60 percent went into
remission. Of those, nearly 40 percent had reoccurrences.Despite assurances by the Institute of Medicine and the FDA that vaccines are safe and have no association with arthritis,
a review of medical literature suggests a different conclusion.2
Arthritis and the Hepatitis B Vaccine