Special team in Matara

Nadira GUNATILLEKE

A special team from the Epidemiology Unit is now in Matara conducting the investigation.

Healthcare and Nutrition Ministry Secretary Dr. Athula Kahandaliyanage has instructed the Deputy Director General, Public Health, Dr. Palitha Maheepala to obtain a special report on this incident, said a Healthcare and Nutrition Ministry spokesman. He said that the vaccine has been giving to schoolchildren in Sri Lanka since a long time and this is the first time in the history such complications have been reported.

No complications have been reported from any persons who received the vaccine in the past.

Meanwhile, Healthcare and Nutrition Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva said in Parliament yesterday that a full scale probe into the death of the female student and 26 students falling sick after being given the Rubella Vaccine. When a woman is infected with the rubella virus early in pregnancy, she has a 90% chance of passing the virus on to her foetus.

This can cause the death of the foetus, or it may cause CRS. Eventhough it is a mild childhood illness CRS causes many birth defects.

Deafness is the most common, but CRS can also cause defects in the eyes, heart, and brain.