THE unexplained deaths of three infants over the weekend have many parents in the North terrified that an unknown fatal disease could be on the loose, or that the deaths might be linked to toxic vaccines.

The past weekend saw the tragic death of three babies, all under a year old and all reported to have died in their sleep.
On Saturday, January 31, two babies’ deaths were reported.
The Ondangwa police said a two-week-old baby boy was found dead in his mother’s room at Oshigambo.
The newborn, Ocean Erastus, is believed to have stopped breathing at around 02h30.
The cause of death is still unknown, but Police in the Oshana region expect post mortem results to answer all burning questions by the end of the week. 
Two and a half hours after the sudden death of Erastus, at 05h00, another baby boy mysteriously died in his sleep at Uupindi location in Oshakati.
Antonio Mwasheka, three months of age, was allegedly found dead on Saturday morning in his bed.
The infant’s mother told police that Mwasheka appeared fine up until his death, and that there were no clear signs to map out the fatal incident. 
The following day, one-year-old Elao Natangwe was also found dead in his parent’s room at the Elombo village in Ongwediva.
The cause of death is still unknown and police investigations into the inquest docket continue.
Recently the NBC radio stations were flooded with phone calls from concerned community members questioning the alleged dangers of the polio 1 + DTP 1 (diphtheria tetanus pertussis) vaccine.
Those that aired their grievances claim their suspicions arose from an article published in a weekly newspaper last week that a one-month-old baby girl from Okahao died shortly after receiving polio drops and was injected with the DTP 1 vaccine in her thigh.
The paper reported that baby Martha Shinene died an hour after she received her second round of immunisation last week Monday – a situation that led the infant’s mother to draw the conclusion that the vaccine was responsible for her daughter’s death.
Although Northern Regional Health Director, Dr Naftali Hamata has called for calm, warning that it is premature to diagnose the death as being related to the vaccination before the results of the autopsy are made public, which provides little comfort to worried parents.
The revelation of  the recent mysterious infant deaths in the North are likely to add to the already existing fear imprinted on parents with young children, although there has been no indication that the babies who died over the weekend had recently received their polio vaccinations.
Oshana Police Chief, Deputy Commissioner Ndahangwapo Kashihakumwa said police were also concerned about the number of infant deaths.
“We are also wondering what happened. I mean, all these babies died while in their sleep. It is definitely a matter that needs to be looked into,” said Kashihakumwa.
Later on Wednesday afternoon, Kashihakumwa said the results of the post mortems conducted on the three infants In Oshakati could not establish the cause of death.
“Samples from the bodies were taken and sent to laboratories in Windhoek. It’s only once those tests are conducted that we will know the cause of death in the three cases,” said Kashihakumwa.