Vaccine mix-up leaves woman fighting for her life—could it happen to you?
- Replies 3
Vaccine mix-ups are rare, but when they happen, the consequences can be devastating.
A routine immunisation meant to protect against common infections instead led to a severe and unexpected health crisis for one unsuspecting patient.
What unfolded next was a months-long ordeal that highlighted the critical importance of precision in medical procedures.
A medical mishap left a healthy 30-year-old woman battling a serious infection after she was mistakenly given the wrong vaccine.
She had visited a clinic expecting to receive the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine, but an error led to her being injected with the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine, which is used to prevent tuberculosis (TB).
Unlike MMR, which contains weakened viruses and is administered into the muscle, the BCG vaccine contains live bacteria and should be injected just beneath the skin to prevent it from spreading.
Because the vaccine was injected incorrectly, the bacteria spread unchecked, resulting in a severe infection in her deltoid muscle.
The woman developed an oozing abscess at the injection site, which puzzled doctors for weeks as they initially suspected a skin-related inflammatory condition.
Further testing revealed the presence of TB-causing bacteria, specifically a strain derived from cattle that is used in a weakened form for the vaccine.
TB is the world’s deadliest infection, causing an estimated 1.2 million deaths per year, but severe complications from the BCG vaccine are considered rare.
Medical literature suggests that serious reactions occur in only one to 10 per cent of recipients, with most cases involving infants or immunocompromised individuals.
Potential side effects range from mild blistering and swelling at the injection site to more dangerous complications, such as organ lesions, inflamed bones, and widespread infection.
Doctors who documented the case stated: ‘Administration of the BCG vaccine intramuscularly is commonly the result of an error and can lead to rare and preventable complications, even in immunocompetent patients.’
They suggested that the mistake likely occurred because the healthcare worker confused the BCG vaccine with the MMR vaccine, administering it in the same way.
The mix-up resulted in the woman’s immune system failing to contain the bacteria, which led to a whole-body infection.
She was placed on a lengthy course of anti-TB medications, and her condition gradually improved over six months.
After three months, her abscess had significantly reduced in size, and by the end of her treatment, she had made a full recovery.
Her case was considered highly unusual, as most reported complications from the BCG vaccine occur in young children, particularly those with weakened immune systems.
‘A reasonable explanation for the error in this case is that the healthcare professional administering the vaccine confused the [the TB vaccine] for the MMR vaccine,’ the doctors stated.
The report on her case was published in the American Journal of Case Reports.
Errors in vaccine administration remain the leading cause of such severe reactions, though they are rare.
A similar case was documented by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), in which an eight-month-old girl developed a growing mass in her thigh after receiving the BCG vaccine at birth.
Doctors drained the swelling and confirmed it contained Mycobacterium bovis, the same TB-causing bacteria found in the Irish patient.
While localised abscesses are not always life-threatening, if left untreated, they can spread throughout the body, with fatality rates reaching up to 80 per cent.
Understanding how vaccines function can help explain why this medical error had such severe consequences.
Watch the video below to learn more about how vaccines work.
Source: Youtube/TED-Ed
Vaccine errors are rare, but when they happen, the consequences can be life-changing. Have you ever experienced or heard of a medical mix-up like this?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
A routine immunisation meant to protect against common infections instead led to a severe and unexpected health crisis for one unsuspecting patient.
What unfolded next was a months-long ordeal that highlighted the critical importance of precision in medical procedures.
A medical mishap left a healthy 30-year-old woman battling a serious infection after she was mistakenly given the wrong vaccine.
She had visited a clinic expecting to receive the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine, but an error led to her being injected with the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine, which is used to prevent tuberculosis (TB).
Unlike MMR, which contains weakened viruses and is administered into the muscle, the BCG vaccine contains live bacteria and should be injected just beneath the skin to prevent it from spreading.
Because the vaccine was injected incorrectly, the bacteria spread unchecked, resulting in a severe infection in her deltoid muscle.
The woman developed an oozing abscess at the injection site, which puzzled doctors for weeks as they initially suspected a skin-related inflammatory condition.
Further testing revealed the presence of TB-causing bacteria, specifically a strain derived from cattle that is used in a weakened form for the vaccine.
TB is the world’s deadliest infection, causing an estimated 1.2 million deaths per year, but severe complications from the BCG vaccine are considered rare.
Medical literature suggests that serious reactions occur in only one to 10 per cent of recipients, with most cases involving infants or immunocompromised individuals.
Potential side effects range from mild blistering and swelling at the injection site to more dangerous complications, such as organ lesions, inflamed bones, and widespread infection.
Doctors who documented the case stated: ‘Administration of the BCG vaccine intramuscularly is commonly the result of an error and can lead to rare and preventable complications, even in immunocompetent patients.’
They suggested that the mistake likely occurred because the healthcare worker confused the BCG vaccine with the MMR vaccine, administering it in the same way.
The mix-up resulted in the woman’s immune system failing to contain the bacteria, which led to a whole-body infection.
She was placed on a lengthy course of anti-TB medications, and her condition gradually improved over six months.
After three months, her abscess had significantly reduced in size, and by the end of her treatment, she had made a full recovery.
Her case was considered highly unusual, as most reported complications from the BCG vaccine occur in young children, particularly those with weakened immune systems.
‘A reasonable explanation for the error in this case is that the healthcare professional administering the vaccine confused the [the TB vaccine] for the MMR vaccine,’ the doctors stated.
The report on her case was published in the American Journal of Case Reports.
Errors in vaccine administration remain the leading cause of such severe reactions, though they are rare.
A similar case was documented by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), in which an eight-month-old girl developed a growing mass in her thigh after receiving the BCG vaccine at birth.
Doctors drained the swelling and confirmed it contained Mycobacterium bovis, the same TB-causing bacteria found in the Irish patient.
While localised abscesses are not always life-threatening, if left untreated, they can spread throughout the body, with fatality rates reaching up to 80 per cent.
Understanding how vaccines function can help explain why this medical error had such severe consequences.
Watch the video below to learn more about how vaccines work.
Source: Youtube/TED-Ed
Vaccine errors are rare, but when they happen, the consequences can be life-changing. Have you ever experienced or heard of a medical mix-up like this?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
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