Concerns have been raised in Longhui county, Hunan province after some children were diagnosed with tuberculosis after being vaccinated against the disease. Parents say that the child is at risk if the skin at the site of the shot becomes black and purulent.
At the end of last year, some parents, concerned about their children’s conditions and suspicious of the diagnoses in Hunan, brought eight children to Guangzhou hospitals for examination. The hospitals confirmed that the children had contracted TB, most likely from the actual injections designed to prevent the disease.
The authorities in Hunan province are understandably nervous. In mid August over 2000 elementary and middle school students were subjected to a chest examination and a further 600 hundred students were subsequently X-rayed. Since there was only one X-ray machine, the students had to wait in line for up to 12 hours before being examined.
Some doctors in Longhui county said that the BCG vaccine (Bacillus Calmette-Guerin) is supplied by the epidemic prevention station, not by the hospital and they do not know if the vaccine had exceeded its expiration date. The health department has already made arrangements for more students to have X-rays. Doctors in the People’s Hospital said that the outbreak appears to be concentrated in Gaoping town in Huilong county with about 15 to 27 percent of those vaccinated being infected. Doctors cannot explain the high incidence of infections.
During 2001 and 2002, the Longhui county epidemic prevention station administered immunization shots to more than 2000 students in 15 villages. In 2003, Grade One students in Sanxing Village Elementary School, Gaoping county displayed abnormal symptoms and were later diagnosed with tuberculosis. Afterwards, the county’s epidemic station gave 3500 yuan to the student’s parents.
This year, students in Dashi village, HuiXiao village, Fengxing village in Gaoping town have also been diagnosed with tuberculosis. The message spread amongst the parents and many worried people went to hospitals for diagnosis and treatment. The Longhui county sanitation department believes the phenomenon is probably caused by inappropriate administration of the injection, but do not believe that the scar will cause tuberculosis.
However, many parents of Longhui county said that the reaction after receiving the immunization shots was abnormal. The injection site on the arm initially began to itch, turn red and then form a scar. If the site is then squeezed, pus normally flows out and in some children the arm had already turned black from the infection. Other symptoms include tiredness, thick veins and faintness.
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