Contaminated Vaccine from India Kills 3 in Cuba

Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit

Agence France-Presse - May 30, 2002

Three Cuban children die, 42 sick after using Indian vaccines 
    
HAVANA, May 30 (AFP) - Three children died and 42 fell ill after
being being vaccinated against measles with apparently contaminated
vaccines imported from India, the Cuban Health Ministry said
Thursday.

The ministry said in a brief statement that "a rare incident" had
occurred May 22 after a group of schoolchildren were vaccinated
against the childhood disease.

"Some of the vials appear to have been contaminated," the ministry
said of the vaccines purchased from India through the Pan American
Health Organization.

"This incident affected 42 children in varying degrees of severity,
and caused the death of three of them," the statement said.

The vaccines had been certified by the World Health Organization, it
added.

The government immediately called a halt to the national vaccination
campaign while launching an investigation into the cases.

Measles was eradicated from Cuba in 1993, but to avoid any resurgence
of the disease, national vaccination campaigns are held every eight
to nine years, as per the recommendation of international health
organizations.

So far, an additional 740,000 children between the ages of four and
nine have been vaccinated across the country "without any adverse
reaction," the statement said.  cd/smb/mdl

Copyright 2002 by AFP

source - JosePertierra@aol.com

 
=================================================================
  NY Transfer News Collective   *   A Service of Blythe Systems 
           Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us          
              339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012             
  http://www.blythe.org                  e-mail: nyt@blythe.org 
=================================================================
 
nytas-05.30.02-17:08:22-10379