This is a report regarding symptoms at the seventeenth month since the Fukushima nuclear accident.

August 30, 2012
Report of symptoms

The number of symptoms per person increased from 4.9 in January to 5.6.  (Refer to the FRCSR Original Database)https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Aq8f83tqq7QudDNMTWdaS0c3Qkd5QnBWOHZwSXJLOEE#gid=0)

Each category showed an average rate of increase of 1.1 to 1.2 times since the previous survey result.  Categories whose rates of increase exceeded the average rate of increase are: upper gastrointestinal system including vomiting and nausea at 1.3 times; tumors including pituitary adenoma and cystic tumor at 1.4 times, and endocrine system mainly related to thyroid gland at 1.6 times.

Reports of tumors have begun to come in.  There has been a rapid increase of endocrine symptoms, which might be a preliminary stage before tumors appear.  In addition, there have been multiple reports of pediatric thyroid cancer from the Kanto region and the Metropolitan area, 250 km away from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power station.  In other words, even before a diagnosis of thyroid cancer is established by physicians, it seems that cancer was germinating and growing within one year of the Fukushima nuclear accident.   In Chernobyl, pediatric cancer developed over a period of 5 to 10 years after the accident; but in the case of Fukushima, canceration took only one-third of the time.  The effects of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear accident on human body revealed an onset of cancer within one year to one and a half year; the speed of symptom progression is three to five times that of Chernobyl.

In the thyroid examination conducted on 38,114 Fukushima children, 13,460 which represented 35.8% of the total examined had thyroid nodules and/or cysts.  In Chernobyl, 5% of the population had some physical findings/symptoms one year after the accident:  In Fukushima the occurrence was seven times as many as Chernobyl in one year.  Consequently, in comparison with Chernobyl, it is estimated that the speed of onset of symptoms would be 3 to 5 times faster and the number of cases would be more than 7 times as many.

From the beginning of the survey up to this month, symptoms constantly increasing include fatigue, sleepiness, headaches, dizziness, eczema, urticaria, pruritis, epistaxis, canker sores, sore throat, chest pain, cough, sputum, and diarrhea.  In menstruating women, almost 100%  have reported symptoms such as irregular menstrual periods, hypomenorrhea, and amenorrhea.

In addition, from winter to spring, there were unusual increases in all types of infectious diseases, such as an explosive spread of influenza, food poisoning such as E. Coli O-157 in rainy season, rubella, mycoplasma pneumonia, chlamydial pneumonia. (Refer to the Infectious Disease Surveillance Center at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases. http://www.nih.go.jp/niid/en/)  It is possible to attribute an increase in infectious diseases to depressed resistance, but on the other hand, these symptoms could be attributable as early symptoms of leukemia.  It is a pathophysiological fact that Merkmal of leukemia includes fatigue, cold-like symptoms, and bleeding tendency such as easy bruisability and epistaxis.  If the recurrent cold-like symptoms since last year are due to changes in white blood cells, the number of future leukemia cases might be beyond our imagination.  Already there are many reports of abnormalities in white blood cell count and neutrophils.

Part of hematology-related reports (all reports are from a 250-km radius area).
*A relative has chronic myelomonocytic leukemia with a prevalence of 1 in 100,000.
*A fifty-year-old man from Higashimurayama had abnormal blood test at a health check-up in March, 2012, and was eventually was diagnosed with leukemia.
*Seven-year-old boy: WBC over 10,000 with 43% neutrophils in January 2012, but WBC was 6,300 with 25% neutrophils in June 2012.  Three-year-old boy: WBC over 10,000 with 28% neutrophils in October 2010 and WBC 7,300 with 28% neutrophils in June 2012.
*A six-year-old daughter with a slight decrease in WBC in blood test from last June.  She has not gained weight.
*A sixteen-year-old girl and her mother both had decreased WBC.  The daughter lost weight.  Blood test from November 2011 showed decreased WBC, platelets and RBC.  CK, GPT, ALP and lymphocytes were slightly high.

At a hospital in west Tokyo, there have been more patients with multiple myeloma.  The hospital pharmacist reports an increased demand for Velcade (Bortezomib), a multiple myeloma medication, and the doctors cannot figure out why there are so many cases of esophageal cancer or findings of abnormalities in upper GI endoscopy.  Moreover, in terms of cancers, there have been reports of breast cancer and colon cancer.

Also, there have especially been more cases of a diagnosis of “Kawasaki Disease” in hospitals within a 300-km radius range.  Kawasaki Disease was discovered in 1961 by a Japan Red Cross Hospital pediatrician, Dr. Tomisaku Kawasaki.  The disease was named after him in 1967. (Refer to a Wikipedia entry of Kawasaki Disease and Japan Kawasaki Disease Association case images.)  Main symptoms include ocular conjunctival injection, enlarged cervical lymph nodes, rash and erythema.  The cause is supposedly unknown, but these symptoms are extremely similar to radiation exposure symptoms.

Regarding childbirth, a birth weight of less than 1,500 grams is defined as a very low birth weight baby.  There have been several reports of abortions for fetal weight never exceeding 1,000 grams.  Also there has been a baby born with a birth weight of 1,000 grams with a hole in the heart.  And there are other reports of premature births and miscarriages.  It seems that the number of abortions is increasing.  On August 29, 2012, it was announced that the National Center for Child Health and Development (Tokyo) and Showa University (Tokyo) decided a policy to begin testing blood of pregnant women for presence of Downs Syndrome with 99% accuracy.  Other medical institutions are also in consideration of introducing the same test.  Reports of an introduction of such tests, in anticipation of increased needs, and a new development of medical technology seem to be more common and even seem intentional in timing.

Within a 300-km radius, there are marked occurrences of dizziness and hearing loss.  Several days after the accident, there were reports of severe dizziness in a 20-km zone from ground zero.  These symptoms are spreading to people living in a 250-km radius area after one year since the accident.  In connection with this expansion of affected areas, effects on the central nervous system are also serious.

The central nervous system effects include such symptoms as lassitude with fatigue, memory decline/loss, forgetfulness, agraphia, loss of mental calculation, motor dysfunction such as falls, but it is difficult to collect data because they may not be aware of changes in their own characteristics other than what they can perceive themselves for self-reporting.  However, this issue is actually more serious than specific physical symptoms.  It is speculated the number of these cases might be as many as or even more than the cases with physical symptoms.  This constitute an extremely large social issue as Japan continues a process of restoration from now on.

Mental symptoms, just like physical symptoms, get worse in those who already had chronic conditions.  For instance, if someone already had depression, there will be worsening of depression.  In addition, there is an accentuation of basic personality or characteristics.  Someone who was already nervous will become even more nervous as if driven into a corner.  On the other hand, someone can gain overly positive attitudes, ignoring many symptoms including a chest pain.  These changes in personality and characteristics may be subtle at this point of time, but they will worsen with time.

In particular, those living in contaminated areas who have subjective symptoms such as lassitude with fatigue need to evacuate at an early stage.  Symptom progression is fast, and they won’t be able to make appropriate decisions.  In other words, they might lose a will to evacuate or become unable to act on it.

The person himself/herself is not aware of these extremely slow yet certain changes.  The entire society as a whole will slowly change.  For instance, Japan is known as a country that takes a long time to make a decision due to its vertically-structured society with an emphasis on relationship of “master and servant.”  On the other hand, Japan was strict with time and has maintained the world’s highest quality in the manufacturing industry.  There are already many occurrences of human errors at a work place and the error is unnoticed even after the product is eventually finished.

The second-generation and the third-generation descendants of Hiroshima/Nagasaki atomic bomb victims report miscarriages, stillbirths, pneumonia, cancer, thyroid diseases, epistaxis, Kawasaki Disease, joint pain, cystitis and hematuria.  It is speculated that sensitivity to radiation might be high when ancestors have been exposed to radiation.  It is truly unforgivable that these people are exposed to radiation again.

Shino Yasutomo
Executive Director
FRCSR

Translation by Dr. Yuri Hiranuma
Medical Information Director
FRCSR

This is a document containing photographs of pathological specimens from Hiroshima atomic bomb victims.
The title page and the foreword have been translated into English and copied below.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B68f83tqq7QuU0lacWYtNVFTWTZ4bEdZanpVRlFLQQ/edit


Pathological specimens from victims of radiation sickness in Hiroshima
Dr. Nobuo Kusano

Produced by Kamon Creative Co., Ltd.
Published by Get And Go Company, Inc.

Foreword

This material, a collection of photographs of histological slides, was digitized in 1996 with private funds of late Dr. Nobuo Kusano, who worked at Tokyo University Infectious Disease Research Center (currently Tokyo University Medical Science Research Center).  Due to his advanced age, addition of data and confirmation of information did not progress quickly, and he passed away in the middle of it.  However, honoring his wishes, we have decided to make it public despite its incompleteness.

After the first atomic bomb ever was dropped on Hiroshima, a massive number of people were sick or dead from mysterious symptoms mimicking infectious illnesses.  Tokyo University Infectious Disease Research Center sent researchers to Hiroshima to conduct pathological autopsies, which revealed that the symptoms were not from infectious agents but from radiation sickness.

This is the first data of its kind which revealed damages on humans by the atomic bombs.

In the face of the enormous nuclear disaster in our country, much has been argued about how radiation exposure would affect human cells.  We hope this material will be helpful in understanding the situation.  However, supplementary material (location where radiation exposure occurred, the number of days since exposure, and types of cells) was created from dictation.  We are not medical experts, so if there are any discrepancies, please let us know.

The original data (slide films) were not preserved well, with some getting moldy, so it is difficult to reuse it.  However, if it’s necessary, we could rescan some of them.

Please feel free to use this material as you wish, but we prohibit its reuse in commercial publication.

Film scanner used:  Nikon LS-1000

Kamon Creative Co., Ltd.
Get And Go Company, Inc.

August 2011




Dr. Yuri Hiranuma
Medical Information Director
FRCSR

Check out our renewed site at http://www.frcsrus.org/.
Latest News from FRCSR:

1. A very important article about a man who is trying to recreate ABCC (Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission) in Fukushima.
http://fukushimavoice-eng.blogspot.com/2012/08/analysis-radiation-health-risk.html

2. A list of important references added.  Scroll down to below "Reports and Articles."  http://www.frcsrus.org/

3. FRCSR Newsletter back numbers available here:  http://frcsrnewsletter.blogspot.com/

4. Newest information distributed by Twitter at https://twitter.com/FRCSR.  Click on "Favorites" to see all the original tweets.

From tweets by @FRCSR:

1. Japan radiation cover-up: radiologist told ultrasound tech not to record incidental findings of thyroid mass.
 http://www.twitlonger.com/show/iv5d13

2. Plutonium detected in Miyagi, Tochigi and Ibaraki for the first time since #Fukushima nuclear accident. 
http://radioactivity.mext.go.jp/ja/contents/7000/6030/24/5600_0821.pdf (Japanese)

3. Tokyo University team had detected Np-239, a parent nuclide of Pu-239, in Fukushima on 4/10/2011.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0269749112000024

4. A German pediatrician says that scientists fear increased genetic defects in Fukushima and that 35% thyroid abnormalities in Fukushimachildren are not normal.http://www.dw.de/dw/article/0,,16170549,00.html

5. The Parathyroid as a Target for Radiation Damagehttp://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc1104982

In the last ten days, there were multiple reports of changes in white blood cell counts.  In Fukushima-city, 60 kilometers from ground zero, a five-year-old child is already hospitalized with leukemia.  At a Tokyo private medical clinic 250 kilometers from ground zero, it is reported that 700 children have had leukopenia since last April.  This constitutes 80% of children who were seen at this clinic.  There is no end to occurrences of infectious diseases, especially rubella, and reported cases are triple what was reported last year and previous years, according to a summary by Japan’s National Institute of Infectious Diseases.

Reports from members of the general public

My legs are badly swollen, so I thought I was taking in too much water, but I don’t feel it so much even though the heat is intense.  I have more moles.  I had thyroid cyst aspiration done.  My uterine fibroid is a little worse and anemia is a little worse.  When I begin to list these issues, I feel that I am slowly being done in.  My doctors tell me these are due to aging and menopause.  I had tests done at a fairly large public hospital, but they hardly gave me any data from my tests and told me I was “okay.”  I went to a trustworthy private practitioner in Kodaira for re-examination and follow-up.  I am considering a move to an area less contaminated.

I found out yesterday that a five-year-old son of my acquaintance is already hospitalized with leukemia.  He and his divorced mother lived in Fukushima and now live in Ibaraki.  They began his treatment with one cycle being 2 years.  The acquaintance said, “I never imagined this would happen to my own child!”

My children (ages 7 and 3) had blood tests at the end of June, and their white blood cell counts are slightly low.  In addition, it was pointed out that their neutrophils are low.  My elder child has lower white blood cell and neutrophil counts.  Seven-year-old boy: WBC over 10,000 with 43% neutrophils in January 2012, but WBC was 6,300 with 25% neutrophils in June 2012.  Three-year-old boy: WBC over 10,000 with 28% neutrophils in October 2010 and WBC 7,300 with 28% neutrophils in June 2012.  I heard at the hospital that children living in places which are not hot spots in the Kanto region have shown the same tendency since March 2012.  The results for both of my children were frightening to me.  We are getting ready to move soon.

I am a counselor.  Four women from central Tokyo who came for counseling last month had abortions and another woman had a baby who weighed less than 1,000 grams: this baby was later found to have a hole in heart.

My high school age daughter and I both have decreased white blood cell counts.  She is 16.  She is thin to begin with, but she lost over 2 kg in the last 18 months.  Blood tests from November 2011 showed decreased WBC, platelets and RBC, and high CK, GPT, ALP and lymphocytes.  She had urinary frequency in the fall of 2011.  She also had proteinuria and diffuse goiter, but she already had enlarged thyroid before 311.  We are taking maximum precautionary measures with food, but I extremely regret that she was outside on March 15, 2012.  She has irregular menstrual periods with hypomenorrhea and shortened cycles.  Ambient radiation level is 0.07 to 0.10 μSv/h inside and outside the house.  We are considering a move, including our daughter withdrawing from school, but we are having difficulty making a decision.

I was asked by a cashier how much my purchase was, and I thought, “Okay, so it’s so-and-so yen,” but at the instant I was trying to get the money from my purse I forgot how much it was.  I had no idea if a 1,000 yen bill was sufficient or a 10,000 bill was sufficient.  My head was totally blank.  After a few moments, I remembered the total amount, and I was able to pay.

Since this spring, I have hardly been able to do complicated paper work from government offices and my children’s schools.  As soon as I read documents or hear explanations from clerks, I forget what I just read or heard.  I have to take notes on the spot so I can maintain my daily routine.  I can’t remember nouns.  I was in a western city in Tokyo until the end of last year.  It wasn’t contaminated that much there.  I was giving safe food to my child.  I was being careful with food.  I don’t have any decrease in motor ability.  Another symptom that bothers me is menstrual irregularity.  By the way, my 6-year-old daughter had decreased WBC when she had blood tests done in June 2011.  She had no weight gain from April 2011 to August 2011 and from September 2011 to December 2011.

Trend in abnormal thyroid function test for an eight-year-old boy from Shinagawa-ward, Tokyo.
7/22/2011
TSH  7.00 (↑), FT3  3.94, FT4  1.29
8/29/2011 (After spending a week in western Japan.)
TSH 4.48, FT3  4.03, FT4  1.26
8/03/2012
TSH  5.98 (↑), FT3  4.32(↑), FT4  1.37

Information from Canada:
My friend has just been diagnosed with breast cancer - a huge lump just appeared and has already spread to the lymph node. She is being treated at the B.C. Cancer Agency. Her comment last week was that they are saying at the agency that there is a cancer epidemic - they have so many new patients that they are having to empty out the upstairs offices and use them to put more patients in. Purely anecdotal and nothing scientific but an interesting observation.



Shino Yasutomo
Executive Director
FRCSR

Translation by Dr. Yuri Hiranuma
Medical Information Director
FRCSR

A new article in Fukushima Voice:
Crititcal Alliances: Japan's Yamashita and USA's Yanagisawa--convincing the world of radiophobia lies

http://fukushimavoice-eng.

blogspot.com/2012/08/critical-
alliances-japans-yamashita-and.html

From tweets by @FRCSR:

1. Shizuoka hospital has an unsually high demand for upper GI endoscopy:  referral after barium swallow is 1.8 times normal, and patients can't get appointments.

2. Leukopenia or ↓white blood cells in adults reported in Fukushima, Gunma, Ibaraki, Tochigi and Saitama prefectures in Japan.

3. Radiologist told ultrasound technicians not to record incidental findings of thyroid mass on carotid ultrasound.

Tweeted by @giovanni78 on April 23, 2012:

At a symposium for medical management of radiation exposure, a teaching radiologist said, "You can see thyroid when performing a ultrasound examination of carotid artery for assessment of carotid artery stenosis due to carotid atherosclerosis. I have told the ultrasound technicians not to maintain any record or images of thyroid findings in cases of incidental findings of thyroid abnormalities such as nodules. I told them that they would be fully responsible for consequences if they maintain such records. Even if the findings might not be pathological, patients would worry and cause problems." 

I have never heard of such an order: Do not record the findings. 

This is how far they have come (in order to cover-up facts).

4. In Fukushima, lessons of Chernobyl are ignored.

An interview of Dr. Michel Fernex, a professor at University of Basel in Switzerland who visited Fukushima.

I met with four physicians from Fukushima Medical University in cardiology, urology, internal medicine and ophthalmology. They all seemed unaware of conditions related to radiation contamination. They were very surprised to see young patients with myocardial infarction, diabetes and eye diseases. I told them about the work of Professor Bandazhevsky which highlighted the links between contamination, particularly by Cesium 137, and these diseases.

Directive was given at Fukushima Medical University not to mention radiation. One young professor of ecology tried to study effects of nuclear disaster on children, but he has received threats. The majority of the faculty follow orders and they close their eyes to save their careers: this is very serious. A country such as Japan with strong research abilities should further investigate the genetic alterations induced by radiation contamination and develop anti-mutagenics to reduce genetic abnormalities that will be passed on from generation to generation.

Thyroid diseases are already apparent, but cancers have latency: brain cancer will be seen in children in four years and later in adults. The number of babies with low birth weight increases. The number of female births down 5% because the female embryo is more vulnerable. Appearance of diseases of the newborn and Down's syndrome is still kept secret.

Original French article:
http://independentwho.org/fr/
2012/08/02/lecons-ignorees/


Dr. Yuri Hiranuma
Medical Information Director
FRCSR

Spread of Influenza: This February there was an extremely fast spread of Influenza in the northern parts of Japan such as the Tohoku region, mostly Fukushima, and the Kanto region, mainly Tokyo.  There was an unusual decrease in immunity and resistance of the Japanese residents as a whole.  Currently, influenza is spreading at an accelerated pace in the southern parts of Japan.

According to the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, the current influenza outbreak is different from the previous outbreaks in the proportion of age groups in reported cases: 18.1% over age 60, 15.3% in ages 30-39, 12.3% in ages 20-29, and 12.2% in ages 5-9.  The fact the over 60 group has the most number of patients and the adults over age 20 make up over 60% of the cases is widely different from the age distribution of the usual, seasonal influenza.

http://www.nih.go.jp/niid/ja/

flu-m/flu-idwrc/2488-idwrc-
1229.html


Rubella outbreak: According to the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, the total number of rubella cases reported from all over the nation from the beginning of the year to July 22 is 776.  This is three times as many as the reported cases from the previous year for the same time period.  Of all prefectures, Tokyo had the most cases at 167, followed by 166 in Hyogo Prefecture and 160 in Osaka Prefecture, which means the outbreak is mostly in cities.  About 80% of the cases are males ages 20 to 40.

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/
hl?a=20120805-00000073-san-soci


Personal reports to FRCSR:

Someone I consider as my second mother had bloody stool for about a week at the end of last month.  She had a detailed examination at a national hospital, but they couldn’t find anything.  Bloody stool subsided naturally.  She was told she was “bleeding from places where the intestinal wall was thinned.”  I was relieved they did not find signs of cancer in her.  She lives in Tokaimura, Ibaraki Prefecture.  It’s a little over 100 km from Fukushima nuclear power plant and a little under 4 km from Tokai Daini nuclear power plant.

My closest colleague and friend at work (a male in his mid 30’s) collapsed from a light case of stroke.  He collapsed last Friday and was taken to a hospital by an ambulance.  He was discharged home today.  I am frightened this happened so close to me, but I have nobody to share the feeling with.  Let me at least report it to you.  I can’t handle it on my own.  I am sorry about that.  I am afraid the situation might be progressing at a much faster speed than ever imagined.  His case was too light to show any lesions on CT or MRI, but the doctors admitted there was some brain dysfunction, judging from his incoherent speech and reactions during the ambulance ride.  He is a salesperson who never had anything like that before, so the change was drastic.  I was the one who called an ambulance, so this is a true story.  I have been planning to move out of Tokyo, and I think I will go ahead and do it as soon as possible.

I experienced this once last August in Takasaki, Gunma Prefecture,  and another time in this May in Shinagawa-ward, Tokyo.  It wasn’t like I passed out but I was conscious.  The second time I felt like the scene around me was moving from side to side as if I was in water, while I was having tea with my friend at a cafe.  I told her I might pass out, but it stopped after a while.  Both times I was clearly conscious although I felt like my head was moving side to side.  I didn’t pass out.  I didn’t have palpitations during these episodes.  Doctors didn’t know what caused it.

I am a hospital pharmacist in charge of chemotherapy.  I have a question.  Are you getting reports of esophageal cancer?  We have a sudden increase in the cases at our institution.  I was just talking to a GI specialist since there is such an abnormal increase in esophageal cancer.  I think ENT cancers are also on the increase.  I haven’t seen too much in terms of blood disorders.  I asked the wholesaler in western part of Tama, Tokyo, but there is no unusual demand for blood disorder meds.  Is this the quiet before the storm?  The other thing that bothers me is that we have a hospital preparation for prevention of premature delivery called Ulinastatin (urinary trypsin inhibitor) vaginal suppositories, and there is a huge demand for them!  There seem to be a lot of cases of rash of unknown origin, high fever of unknown origin, and sore throat.  Polaramine (chlorpheniramine maleate), Restamine cream (diphenhydramine), and Calonal (acetaminophen) are prescribed a lot when I am on call.

I heard this from an acquaintance.  Their son and his wife who moved to Sendai, Miyagi, last December had a baby this April.  The baby has an abnormal heart and also has multiple deformities.  They lived in Hokkaido until last December.  Their older child isn’t doing well.  I recommended evacuation, but they weren’t sure if it was needed.



Shino Yasutomo
Executive Director
FRCSR

Translation by Dr. Yuri Hiranuma
Medical Information Director
FRCSR