A PLASTERER became a paraplegic and eventually died after a millions-to-one reaction to a simple and common flu vaccination.

Coroner Barrie Williams, recording a verdict of "misadventure" on Thursday (May 8), on 60-year-old Harry Richardson, said doctors shouldn't be daunted by this particular case from giving flu injections.

He said there was no way in which to determine who could be affected by the drug - Flu Virin - and the odds against such a reaction were "very long".

Dr David Jones, consultant physician at Bury General Hospital said only five people had suffered similar fatal reactions from the 65 million doses of the drug which had been administered - three in the United States and two in this country.

However, Mr Richardson's common-law wife Mrs Sylvia Pilsworth is to take legal action against the manufacturers.

"While there have been only a few deaths there may well be other side effects to the drug. Harry suffered some horrendous symptoms," she said. The manufacturers "had a responsibility to make the risks known."

The inquest heard how a post mortem revealed that Mr Richardson, of Hilda Avenue, Tottington, died from septicaemia, bronchial pneumonia and an infected ulcer caused by his immobility which was in turn connected to the influenza vaccination in October 1992.

An asthmatic, the father of three was injected with the common drug at Tottington Health Centre as a precaution against flu. Two days later he began to lose the use of his legs and soon afterwards he was diagnosed as a paraplegic from the chest down.

Hospital tests revealed that the vaccination had cause the inflammation of the lower spine and that there was no cure. Spending most of the next four years in hospitals, Mr Richardson's condition slowly deteriorated and he died in July of last year.

The coroner said he had to accept that the influenza injection was at the origin of Mr Richardson's problems and that the unpredictable and unexpected side effects of the vaccination led to his death.

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