Pertussis vaccine immunizations each year in the United States), and the risk of death from the disease was high (pertussis killed thousands of Americans each year before the vaccine was introduced). No studies showed a causal connection, and later studies showed no connection of any type between the DPT vaccine and permanent brain injury. The alleged vaccine-induced brain damage proved to be an unrelated condition, infantile epilepsy. In 1990, the "Journal of the American Medical Association" called the connection a "myth" and "nonsense". However, negative publicity and fear-mongering caused the immunization rate to fall in several countries, including the UK, Sweden, and
Gunther disease Gunther disease Gunther disease, also known as congenital erythropoietic porphyria (CEP), uroporphyrinogen III synthase deficiency and UROS deficiency, is a congenital form of erythropoietic porphyria. The word porphyria originated from the Greek word porphura. Porphura actually means "purple pigment", which, in suggestion, the color that the body fluid changes when a person has Gunther's disease. It is a rare, autosomal recessive metabolic disorder affecting heme, caused by deficiency of the enzyme uroporphyrinogen cosynthetase. It is extremely rare, with a prevalence estimated at 1 in 1,000,000 or less. There have been times that prior to birth of a fetus, Gunther's disease