An activist health worker marks a child who has been given a polio vaccination in Aleppo May 4, 2014. REUTERS/Hosam Katan
An activist health worker marks a child who has been given a polio vaccination in Aleppo May 4, 2014. REUTERS/Hosam Katan

In a small Colombian town, due to a 'mysterious illness' called Carmen de Bolivar, more than two hundred girls were hospitalized since May. President of Colombia, President Juan Manuel Santos, said that it was probably just mass hysteria.

Hundreds of girls, from El Carmen in Colombia, were hospitalized after losing consciousness and complaints of severe abdominal pain, headaches and numbness in the hands. The complaints started after they were given a human papollomavirus vaccine, Gardasil, for prevention against cervical cancer, according to Colombia Reports .

President Santos said that they had made an investment of $100 million for the vaccination program and that they are leading among all other countries for vaccinating children. He believes that it contributes toward equality and public health.

The Ministry of Health has said that the vaccine is safe and protects the women from the disease that kills 3,300 Colombians every year. About three million girls were given the vaccination that is done to reduce the large number of new cases that are reported every year. It is feared that the number of cases will increase as 2,700 girls were injected with the HPV vaccine.

El Tiempo, a local newspaper in Colombia has reported that the cause of the illness is unknown but parents and teachers are witnessing the devastating effects of it. The principal of a local school, Cristina Trujillo Grove, said that some girls have lost up to 18 pounds and their academic performance has dropped as well.

Three daughters, out of four that was affected by the illness of Leanis Salcedo, had to be carried to the hospital as they lost consciousness. She said that they were not given proper treatment and that all she wants is to see her daughters healthy.

The United States Centres for Disease Control had published data in 2009 that showed it in a span of two years, many young girls and women between 9 and 26 years who were vaccinated with Gardasil had complaints of nausea, headaches and autoimmune disorders and 32 of them had even died.

Another article in the Journal of American Medical Association noted that the medical knowledge was incomplete and ambiguous as there was no information regarding the benefits of the vaccine versus its risks.