CHITRAL: Rotavirus is said to have caused the excessive dehydration and subsequent death of the seven months old twin brothers here a few days ago.

Earlier, father of the twins from Gahtak Denin village of Chitral had alleged that his children had suffered dehydration after taking the oral polio vaccine (OPV). The Chitral Lower DC had constituted a committee for looking into causes of dehydration of the infants.

In a meeting of the committee presided over by AC Saqlain Saleem, district child specialist Dr Gulzar Ahmed said infants were highly exposed to rotavirus which caused diarrhoea and vomiting.

He said OPV had no contra indication and had no relation with dehydration.

Mr Ahmed contended that doses for 20 children were prepared from a single bottle, and if OPV was the cause, then it should also have affected the rest of 18 children.

He said he examined the twins a day after they suffered dehydration and they had started convalescing after getting medicine through infusion, but their condition deteriorated when they were shifted to their home.

Published in Dawn, November 28th, 2021