Forensic team examines body of girl vaccinated with Dengvaxia

A team of forensic experts has started the forensic examination of a child believed to have died of severe dengue three months after being inoculated with the Dengvaxia vaccine.

The team of Dr. Erwin Erfe, forensic expert and director of the Public Attorneys’ Office (PAO) Forensic Laboratory, examined the body of 10 year old Anjielica Pestilos who died last Dec. 15, 2017. She received the Dengvaxia vaccine only last September.

Anjielica’s parents, Ramil and Liza, have allowed the exhumation of their daughter’s body to determine her true cause of death.

Her death certificate indicated that she died of systemic lupus erythematosus or an auto immune disease.

The forensic team initially has access to the clinical abstract which, according to Dr. Erfe, indicates that there is a manifestation that Anjielica died of severe hemorrhagic dengue.

The Quezon City Health Department as well as the Regional Office of the Department of Health (DOH) gave permission to exhume Anjielica’s body for the purpose of conducting a forensic examination.

A team of forensic experts examines a child believed to have died of severe dengue three months after being inoculated with the Dengvaxia vaccine. TETCH TORRES-TUPAS/INQUIRER.net

Initial examination showed that she has an enlarged liver weighing more than a kilo which, according to Dr. Erfe in an interview with Inquirer.net, is not normal for a 10 year old girl.

She also has enlarged kidneys and spleen. Examination is still ongoing as of posting time.

For now, Dr. Erfe said they are still at the first stage of examining the body.

He said even with the enlarged liver, spleen and kidneys, further examination is still needed on the sample parts that they have extracted.

“For now we still have no significant findings except her liver is too big,” Dr. Erfe said.

“Sa ngayon medyo marami rami pa itong [test] (For now, there are still many tests to be done). We will have to continue with our examination at the laboratory because we are documenting everything. This will still take several days before we can come up with our initial findings,” he said.

Her parents, as well as the parents of another 10 year old Christine De Guzman already met with Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre early this week. Christine died in October last year after being inoculated with Dengvaxia on April 2016. Her death certificate indicated that she died of severe dengue.

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is conducting an investigation into the Dengvaxia controversy. /je