An urgent alert has been issued by the World Health Organisation (WHO) over cold and cough syrups produced by Maiden Pharmaceuticals in India, as they could be linked to the deaths of 66 children in the Gambia.
The United Nations health agency have also warned that the contaminated medications could have been distributed outwith the West African country, so global exposure may well be possible.
The Guardian reports that WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated that the cough medicines in question "have been potentially linked with acute kidney injuries and 66 deaths among children.”
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He added: "The loss of these young lives is beyond heart-breaking for their families." Tedros noted that WHO was "conducting further investigation with the company and regulatory authorities in India.”
According to the medication alert issued by WHO on Wednesday, the four products are:
- Promethazine Oral Solution
- Kofexmalin Baby Cough Syrup
- Makoff Baby Cough Syrup
- Magrip N Cold Syrup
On Thursday, Gambian authorities began to collect paracetamol and promethazine syrup from rural households in the West Coast Region and Upper River Region. A Gambian health ministry investigation, which began in July and is ongoing, have cited the E.coli bacteria as a possible cause of the acute kidney failure outbreak in youngsters.
Abubacarr Jagne, the nephrologist leading the health ministry’s investigation, told AFP: "The preliminary results from the ongoing investigation indicate that it is most probably the paracetamol and promethazine syrups that caused the acute kidney injury cases in this outbreak."
Health authorities had ordered a recall of all medicines containing paracetamol or promethazine syrup by September 23. The health alert read: "To date, the stated manufacturer has not provided guarantees to WHO on the safety and quality of these products."
The laboratory analysis of samples of all four products "confirms that they contain unacceptable amounts of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol as contaminants.” These substances are toxic to any human, and can be fatal, WHO added.
They also added that the toxic effect "can include abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhoea, inability to pass urine, headache, altered mental state and acute kidney injury which may lead to death”.
Tedros urged caution, calling on all countries to work to “detect and remove these products from circulation to prevent further harm to patients.”
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