14 DAY TRIAL // Officials with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report four confirmed cases of vitamin K deficiency bleeding (VKDB), a very rare disease that disrupts blood coagulation patterns, in children whose parents refused vitamin K vaccination.
All four cases were reported in Nashville, Tennessee, between February and September 2013. VKDB occurs in children who do not have access to sufficient amounts of vitamin K to support the production of blood clotting factors. As such, their blood cannot coagulate properly.
During infancy, the human body seldom gets the correct amount of vitamin K, primarily because the placenta cannot transfer it properly. This is why the vast majority of infants are born with vitamin K deficiency, and why vaccines need to be administered after birth.
However, some parents inexplicably fear these vaccines, either because they are the adepts of conspiracy theories, or because they shun vaccines of all types altogether. When infants do not get the vitamin K they need, chances are that they will go on to develop VKDB or similar conditions.
Human adults do not have this problem because vitamin K can be found in a variety of foods. Additionally, bacteria in the adult gut synthesize an important amount of this essential chemical. Since children's intestinal flora is not fully developed, their bacterial cultures cannot produce this vitamin.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommended that administration of intramuscular vitamin K vaccines after birth as far back as 1961. The procedure has since entered standard practice, because it averts potentially-dangerous diseases while producing no ill side-effects.
The infants diagnosed with VKDB all started showing symptoms including gastrointestinal bleeding and diffuse intracranial hemorrhage between the ages of 6 and 15 weeks. The Tennessee Department of Health requested CDC assistance on investigating these occurrences.
The parents of the four children were found to have declined vaccination. “Reasons included concern about an increased risk for leukemia when vitamin K is administered, an impression that the injection was unnecessary, and a desire to minimize the newborn's exposure to 'toxins',” CDC experts say in a statement.
“All four of the infants survived. The infant with gastrointestinal bleeding recovered fully. The three with intracranial hemorrhage are being followed by neurologists; one has an apparent gross motor deficit,” they add. This means that some of the children may experience brain problems later on in life.