All issues > Volume 15(11); 1972

Review

J Korean Pediatr Soc. 1972;15(11):985-1002. Published online November 30, 1972.

8 Cases of Lethal Neurological Complications in Conjunction Triple D.P.T. Vaccinations in Korea

Hahn Woong Choe¹, Tae Woon Kim¹, S.W Kim¹, S.M Shin¹, Y Choi¹, H.J Lee¹, H.J Chang¹, K.G Park¹, H.S Ahn¹

¹Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, Seoul National University

Abstract

Single diphtheria or tetanus toxoids and pertussis vaccine have been innoculated under the specific needs since nineteen thirties in Korea. Although some minor local and systemic reactions such as induration, fever and irritability were reported but no serious neurological reaction was documented. The Minstry of Health has planned the mass immunization program of newborn babies and pruodction and delivery through 198 health centers throughout the nation of triple diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus vaccines has begun from the year of 1958 and, at present, the amount of production has almost filled in the needs of whole newborn babies, now estimated to be around 900, 000 or more per year (Table 1). The committee of infections and vaccinations of the Korean Pediatric Association has recommended the first standard immunization schedule in 1965 and the second revised immunization schedule in 1970. Following this schedules, every health nurses of the health centers and subcenters and pediatricians in well-baby clinics or in private practicing offices innoculated the babies with triple D.P.T. vaccines and killed polio vaccines (Sabin), in some metropolitan area with imported quadrupple D.P. T.P. vaccines. The availability of babies and parents to the health centers or baby-clinics were fairly improved through the health education in each grade of schools, colleges and universities and by msas communication media’s health education program recently and the rate of the successfulness of whole injection series of 3 primary and one or two booster injections has been remarkably increased. As a result, the incidences and case mortality rates of diphtheria and pertussis has been declined gradually in the government health statistics (Table 2) and we also interpret that this declining would have been contributed much to the decrease of nation’s morbidity rate of tuberculosis from 5.1% ( 송6.4, 우 3.8) in 1965 to 4.2% (송35.1, 우 3.1) in 1970. Seoul National University Hospital’s annual reports showed also some decrease in treated net numbers of childhood tuberculous diseases including tuberculous meningitis from 317 in 1966 to 249 in 1970. We thought that this decreasing tendency delivered reporting formula to all membership of the association, we got 8 reports of hazardous lethal complications of the vaccinations from the Seoul metropolitan vicinities during April, 1970 and July, 1972, two cases of them were autopsied. We now present brief summary of the case histories and autopsy records. A survey of the literature, largely fascilitated by Berg’s review and greatly by Strom’s review of the cases up-to 1964 in Sweden and some Japanese recent reviews are presented with the recommendations to the govern-ment’s health officials and the Korean Medical Association and to the members of the Korean Pediatric Association.

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