Sri Lankan student dies after vaccination

COLOMBO, March 20 (Xinhua) -- A 12-year-old female student of a leading school in the Southern Province of Sri Lanka died on Friday morning after some 27 students were hospitalized following vaccination against rubella on Thursday.

Students of St. Thomas' Girls School in Matara, about 160 km south of the capital Colombo were admitted immediately after they were given rubella vaccine.

H. B. Wanninayake, a health Ministry official in Colombo said one of the girls died Friday morning.

Health officials in Matara had given vaccine to about 300 students after which some students had fallen ill and were admitted to the hospital.

The hospitalized students were given artificial respiration while their blood samples were taken to Medical Research Institute for tests.

Palitha Maheepala of the health Ministry said further investigations would be conducted by the health officials about the incident following a directive by health Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva.

Also

Three more school girls in Sri Lanka admitted to hospital after rubella vaccination
Monday, March 23, 2009, 15:25 GMT, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.

Mar 23, Colombo: Another three School girls in Matara, who received rubella vaccination last week, were hospitalized today after they fell ill.

The students were admitted to the Matara Hospital and said to be out of danger, but receiving treatments, a hospital spokesman said.

More than 30 students were hospitalized and one girl died after administering rubella vaccination last week to the girls of St. Thomas College in Matara. Following the mishap a special team from World health Organization arrived here to conduct an in-depth investigation into the matter.

Source: XinhuaNet.Com and ColomboPage