MADIKERI: A four-and-a-half-month-old girl died following high fever in Kodagu district on Sunday, and her death is suspected to have been caused due to pentavalent vaccination. The cause of the death is yet to be confirmed after a thorough investigation.
Daughter of Nagaraju, a resident of Kudluru village near Kudige, was vaccinated with pentavalent vaccination alongside other children at Kudluru anganawadi centre. Following the vaccination, the girl’s body temperature increased; her parents presumed it to be normal for a child to get fever post vaccination.
When the fever continued on the second day post the vaccination, the parents took the child to Kushalnagar hospital. The doctors at a private hospital in Kushalnagar asked the parents to shift her to Mysuru. The child died on the way to Mysuru at Hunsuru.
Following this incident, Somwarpet taluk health officer, Srinivas and Kudige health officer, Ravichandra visited her parents.The health officers said that the other children who were vaccinated did not show any adverse symptoms.
However, the sample of the vaccination has been sent for testing and the incident has been recorded at Kushalnagar police station. Meanwhile, the vaccination at other anganawadis has been withheld and Srinivas said that the report of the sample vaccination is awaited. The reason for the death could be confirmed based on the report, the official said.