Swine flu vaccine Death Hungary
New treatment in flu vaccine controversy
20 October 2009
http://www.budapesttimes.hu/content/view/13267/219/
A 64-year-old woman died last week just two days after receiving an
inoculation against the new A(H1N1) influenza virus dubbed swine flu. The state
medical service ÁNTSZ ordered an autopsy to establish whether there was any link
between the vaccine and the death of the patient, who suffered from chronic, but
mild, heart disease.
New fatality
Last week also saw Hungary’s fourth fatality attributed to A(H1N1) infection. A
47-year-old man who died in hospital was found to have been infected with the
virus, health minister Tamás Székely told reporters last Thursday. The patient
was being treated for pneumonia.
Hungary’s chief medical officer Ferenc Falus addressed a parliamentary Health
Committee last Wednesday and urged Hungarians to get themselves vaccinated as
quickly as possible. Falus had himself inoculated in front of reporters in a bid
to quell public fears over the safety of the vaccine. The previous week, the
manufacturer of Hungary’s A(H1N1) vaccine, Omninvest, had threatened to sue
media for “scaremongering” by suggesting the vaccine could be ineffective or
dangerous.
Winter epidemic possible
Meanwhile, the ÁNTSZ warned that infection could reach epidemic proportions by
early next year following the onset of winter weather. Fewer than 300 cases of
A(H1N1) infection have been confirmed in Hungary since the virus was first
detected in humans. However, the week before last, some 16,000 cases of
influenza were registered nationwide, and it is likely that a good deal, if not
most, of these are down to the new variant virus.