In El Carmen de Bolivar, near the Caribbean port of Cartagena, dozens of teenage girls experienced the same symptoms: icy hands, blemish face and loss of consciousness.
«They were vaccinated in May and the first fainting began in August. My legs got heavy, I couldn't feel my hands anymore. When I woke up, I was in the hospital.», tells AFP Eva Mercado, 15, after seven loss of consciousness in a month.
Vaccine at issue
For most affected families in this city of 67,000, there is no doubt. This is the result of the national HPV vaccination campaign, one of the most common sexual infections, which can lead to uterine cancers.
The modest Notre Dame hospital is overwhelmed by the arrival of unconscious teenagers. It is not uncommon to see panicked fathers, coming to transport their inanimate daughter by motorcycle, on the dirt roads of Carmen de Bolivar.
