BBC reporter became psychotic after yellow fever vaccination

Updated
BBC reporter became psychotic after yellow fever vaccination
BBC reporter became psychotic after yellow fever vaccination

PA


Respected BBC reporter Malcolm Brabant is still recovering from a serious illness which he believes was caused by a yellow fever inoculation.

Within hours of receiving the injection his temperature shot up and he became psychotic. He sobbed and saluted at television pictures of military uniforms during the Royal Wedding and believed he was Jesus.

He and his family now believe that the Stamaril inoculation he received was contaminated.

Mr Brabant, 55, is currently in hospital in Copenhagen, the home town of his wife, Danish writer Trine Villemann.

He had the inoculation in April at the East Attica Vaccination Centre in Athens in preparation for a working trip to the Ivory Coast in West Africa.

Within hours his temperature rose to 104F.

He developed insomnia and became irritable and anxious. After seven days he was admitted to a private hospital in Athens, where he began to suffer delusions.

His wife said: "He became psychotic. It began when doctors couldn't knock the fever down. He slid into a place where he didn't connect with reality. We were watching the Royal Wedding in hospital on April 29 and he started sobbing and saluting whenever he saw a military uniform."

The next evening she received a call from her husband who was crying and convinced he was Jesus.

Mr Brabant, who has no history of mental illness, has had two further psychotic episodes since April. He recovered and returned to work but had a relapse in July and was flown to a psychiatric hospital in Britain.

He and his family recently relocated to Copenhagen and he was taken to hospital again on November 8. In the past two months he has also had several blood clots on his lungs.

His case is worrying for the tens of thousands of people who have the yellow fever jab every year.

Ms Villeman has now started an internet petition to draw attention to her husband's plight and persuade Sanofi Pasteur, the French pharmaceutical company that makes Stamaril, to share details of its internal investigation.

The company issued a statement last month saying: "Carefully investigating all the medical information that was disclosed to us up to July 2011, we have been unable to establish evidence for a causal relationship between the administration of the yellow fever vaccine Stamaril and the reported medical conditions."

However, Mr Brabant's doctor in Athens is certain that his condition was a result of the vaccine.

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