Daily Times

MANILA: A Philippine government agency on Thursday exhumed the bodies of two children whose parents suspect they died of dengue after receiving a new vaccine against the disease, although its maker said it was not known to have caused any deaths in the country.

More than 800,000 Filipino children aged nine or more received Dengvaxia last year in a government immunisation drive against the mosquito-borne tropical disease that kills about 20,000 people a year.

The Department of Health (DOH) stopped using Dengvaxia last month after its maker, Sanofi Pasteur, said the vaccine itself may in some cases increase the risk of severe dengue in recipients not previously infected.

One of the two exhumed bodies showed signs of excessive bleeding, said officials of the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO), which provides free legal assistance to the poor.

PAO forensic expert Erwin Erfe said bleeding was observed on the scalp of the second body.

“Bleeding is a prominent symptom of dengue,” Erfe told Reuters by telephone.

PAO is also investigating the deaths of five other children who received Dengvaxia and initial findings reveal a pattern in how they died, PAO chief Persida Acosta said.

Published in Daily Times, January 12^th 2018.