The World Health Organization reported on Wednesday that contaminated cough and cold syrups produced by an Indian medication manufacturer may be responsible for the kidney damage that caused the deaths of scores of children in the Gambia.
The WHO, Indian regulators, and medication producer Maiden Pharmaceuticals of New Delhi are all conducting an investigation, according to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Maiden declined to comment on the alert, and the Drugs Controller General of India did not return calls or emails from Reuter. A request for comment was also not promptly answered by the health ministry of India.
The WHO requested that authorities take Maiden Pharmaceuticals’ products off the market in a medical product alert. The WHO stated in its advisory that although the goods had only been discovered in the Gambia, they may have been sold in other places through informal marketplaces. The four products covered by the alert are Promethazine Oral Solution, Magrip N Cold Syrup, Kofexmalin Baby Cough Syrup, and Makoff Baby Cough Syrup. According to the WHO, lab testing revealed unsafe levels of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol, which can be hazardous when swallowed.
As an increase in cases of acute renal damage among children under the age of five was discovered in late July, the government of the Gambia revealed last month that it had also been looking into the deaths. Three to five days after ingesting a paracetamol syrup that was available locally, several Gambia children started developing kidney difficulties. 28 people had passed away as of August, but health officials predicted the number would climb. 66 individuals are currently dead, according to the WHO. The deaths have shocked the little country of West Africa, which is currently coping with several medical crises, such as measles and malaria. The company’s website states that Maiden Pharmaceuticals manufactures medicines at facilities in India, sells them domestically, and distributes them to countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
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