SAM: Fake Colombian nurse 'vaccinates' 197 people
09 May 2009 6:23 AM
BOGOTA, May 8 AFP - After a row with her lover, a woman sought revenge by administering fake flu vaccines to 197 people at a Colombian institute before being caught, health officials said on Friday.
The 26-year-old woman donned nurse's attire and "vaccinated" 197 people using a single needle at the agriculture institute of Marsella.
City health chief German Gomez told AFP that at emergency talks on Friday it was determined the woman had injected a benign medication into some patients and given water to others, without causing any health risks.
Gomez said none of the "vaccine" recipients had been hospitalised at the centre, 360km west of Bogota, and all the victims remained under observation.
The incident happened after the woman had a row with her boyfriend, a professor at the institute.
A "sanitary emergency" was declared in Colombia on April 27 to help the country fight against a possible swine flu outbreak.
But Colombia has so far only confirmed one case of influenza A(H1N1) virus infection -- a 42-year-old man who had recently returned from Mexico and lives near Bogota.
