According to a new study published in The Lancet’s eBioMedicine, COVID-19 vaccines resulted in an increase in a rare autoimmune disease in 2021.
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In Yorkshire, England, cases of a rare autoimmune disease increased dramatically between 2020 and 2022, reaching a high in 2021. A new study published in The Lancet’s eBioMedicine indicated that COVID-19 infection and its vaccinations may have contributed to the spike.
Anti-MDA5 dermatomyositis, also known as melanoma differentiation-associated protein-5 (anti-MDA5) positive dermatomyositis, is an inflammatory illness that causes muscular weakness, skin rashes, and lung disease that progresses quickly.
Rarely does anti-MDA5 dermatomyositis occur.
Two individuals in Yorkshire, a 3.6 million-person county, tested positive for the illness in 2019. There were nine in 2020. 35 new cases marked the peak of cases in 2021. Then, in 2022, there were only 16 new cases.
According to Dr. Dennis McGonagle, a clinical professor of medicine at the University of Leeds and the study’s principal author, interactions between vaccine RNA and the COVID-19 virus may have caused the new autoimmune instances, The Epoch Times said.
Several case investigations, in addition to the Lancet paper, have reported new instances of anti-MDA5 after COVID-19 infection or immunization.
What Is Anti-MDA5 Dermatomyositis
An autoimmune disease called anti-MDA5 dermatomyositis causes the body to attack itself. It frequently manifests with no apparent reason.
Typically, dermatomyositis affects the lungs, muscles, and skin. The lung illness associated with anti-MDA5 dermatomyositis progresses quickly, which makes the prognosis for the disorder poor.
MDA5 is a protein found outside of tissues and muscles that is particularly abundant in the lungs. Therefore, linked organs and tissues may degrade when the body produces anti-MDA5 antibodies in an attempt to target MDA5.
COVID-19 RNA is among the foreign RNA that MDA5 can recognize and bind to. It alerts other immune cells to combat the foreign invasion or vaccine after it is detected.
“We think that … [this happens] because MDA5 is the receptor or docking site for viral RNA, and that this in some way triggers the antibody against it,” Dr. McGonagle said.
High MDA5 gene activity was found in the lung fluids of COVID-19 patients, which supports the theory that the virus may have caused further MDA5 cases.
Fifteen other autoantibodies, besides anti-MDA5, may also play a role in comparable dermatomyositis conditions. The reason why only anti-MDA5 dermatomyositis cases increased during the pandemic but other dermatomyositis-related autoantibodies did not could be explained by the function of MDA5 in COVID-19 infection and vaccination.
Every one of Yorkshire’s sixty newly diagnosed cases of anti-MDA5 dermatomyositis was assessed between 2020 and 2022. Everybody started to experience symptoms.
The prognosis deteriorated for more than 40% of them as they developed interstitial lung disease. By the time the study was released, half had passed away.
Anti-MDA5 cases during the pandemic had a somewhat different presentation than instances before the epidemic, according to the authors.
Anti-MDA5 cases recorded during the pandemic had a reduced risk of lung disease and a lower death rate compared to pre-pandemic, according to Dr. Ghosh. In addition, white people were impacted by the sickness, not Asians, who had previously made up the majority.
Patients from the pandemic era typically describe skin-related issues including rashes, decreased finger blood flow, aches in the muscles, and so forth.
Coincidental Rise
The peak of anti-MDA5 infections occurred between April and July 2021, during a period of “higher community SARS-CoV-2 positivity during 2021,” according to the authors. This period also closely corresponded with Yorkshire’s adoption of COVID-19 vaccinations. In Yorkshire, vaccinations ceased in October 2021 after beginning in January.
In Yorkshire, about ninety percent of the population had received vaccinations, and 49 out of 60 cases showed proof of COVID-19 vaccination.
In contrast, only 15 out of 60 individuals had a COVID-19 infection that was verified.
The scientists pointed out that although a large number of individuals at the time tested positive for COVID-19, anti-MDA5 cases did not increase right away following a spike in COVID-19 cases.
Other Reports
Apart from the reports from Yorkshire, additional research has demonstrated a connection between COVID-19 and its vaccine and anti-MDA5 dermatomyositis.
A month after contracting COVID-19, an older, unvaccinated lady experienced anti-MDA5 dermatomyositis, according to an Italian case study published in Frontiers in Immunology. She experienced joint pain, and sores and rashes appeared on her hands, face, and chest.
The authors contended that exposure to SARS-CoV-2 may cause inflammatory reactions since MDA5 is implicated in the activation of several cytokines.
One week following COVID-19 vaccination, a case of anti-MDA5 dermatomyositis was documented in another publication published in SN Comprehensive Clinical Medicine. The scientists postulated that antibodies directed against the SARS-CoV-2 virus’ spike proteins would react with human proteins such as MDA5.
Even though spike protein has been linked to various autoimmune disorders, according to Dr. Ghosh, antibodies against MDA5, not spike, are the cause of anti-MDA5 illness.
“I believe that we have a lot of work to do before we can begin to understand why or how our body responds to this virus, its particles, its RNA/protein—even the RNA encoding its key components we use as a vaccine in the plethora of ways that it does,” she explained.
Recently in India, as reported by GreatGameIndia, a study conducted by researchers at Banaras Hindu University and published in Springer Nature found that adolescent girls are at risk of adverse events after receiving Covaxin.