Grieving family say vaccine could have saved little Laila
FIRST ON 7: There are warnings more children could die if authorities do not import a vaccine which stops the killer virus EV71.
A grieving Blue Mountains family, who lost a little girl, says officials must act 'now'.
Aged 11 months, little Laila Spedding was laughing and joking with her mum, but just a few days later she was gasping for breath.
"I was holding her and she was jerking backwards and forwards, and her eyes weren't focused at all," mother Danielle said.
Just two days after becoming sick Laila died.
Doctors say she is another victim of enterovirus 71 that may have killed as many as five Australian children in a year.
"The best case scenario they gave me once we did get her to Westmead was that she would lose all her limbs, and end up on dialysis," Danielle said.
Adding to this family's pain the coroner has kept Laila's brain, trying to confirm her cause of death, and learn more about EV71.
The virus has killed hundreds in China, where researchers say they have developed the first safe drug.
The vaccine still has not been approved for use in China let alone Australia, even if it is it will prove costly.
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Grieving family say vaccine could have saved little Laila