Australia
LOUISE HALL, HEALTH REPORTER
17/08/2008 1:00:01 AM
THE cervical cancer vaccine is under fresh scrutiny after three women were struck down with pancreatitis soon after receiving the injection.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) is investigating whether the shot of Gardasil caused the sudden inflammation of the pancreas in the three patients, or whether it was just a coincidence.
A 26-year-old woman went to Bankstown Hospital four days after receiving her first dose of the quadrivalent vaccine, which protects young women from the strains of human papillomavirus (HPV) that cause 70percent of cervical cancers.
Writing in the Medical Journal Of Australia , surgery fellow Amitabha Das said the woman developed a fever, rash, severe pain and vomiting and was diagnosed with pancreatitis. After 10 days the symptoms settled and she was discharged from hospital and remains well.
Dr Das and his colleagues said an extensive investigation could find no other cause for the pancreatitis and while a coincidental illness could not be ruled out, “neither can HPV vaccination be excluded as a potential cause”.
“We suggest that pancreatitis be considered in cases of abdominal pain following HPV vaccination,” they wrote.
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