According to the CDC, they were contacted by Gambia’s Ministry of Health (MoH) in August last year to assist in characterizing the illness (multiple cases of Acute Kidney Injury and deaths in children)
There is a strong link between the death of several children in Gambia and cough syrups made in India that are allegedly contaminated, according to a recent report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the United States and the Gambian health authorities.
In October last year, the World Health Organization (WHO) had issued an alert stating that the four cough syrups supplied by India-based Maiden Pharmaceuticals Ltd to Gambia were of substandard quality and alleged that they were linked to the death of many children in Gambia.
A CDC released a report on Friday stating that, “This investigation strongly suggests that medications contaminated with Diethylene Glycol [DEG] or Ethylene Glycol [EG] imported into the Gambia led to this Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) cluster among children.”
The report also said, “Patients with DEG poisoning can experience a range of signs and symptoms, including altered mental status, headache, and gastrointestinal symptoms; however, the most consistent manifestation is AKI, characterized by oliguria (low urine output) or anuria, progressing over 1-3 days to renal failure (indicated by elevated serum creatinine and blood urea nitrogen).”
According to the CDC, they were contacted by Gambia’s Ministry of Health (MoH) in August last year to assist in characterizing the illness (multiple cases of Acute Kidney Injury and deaths in children), describing the epidemiology, and identifying potential causal factors and their sources.
The report also said that in past DEG outbreaks, manufacturers have been suspected of substituting DEG in place of more expensive, pharmaceutical-grade solvents.
“Low-resource countries might not have the human and financial resources to monitor and test imported drugs,” it stated.
India Dismisses Claims
Union Minister of State for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar in a reply to the Lok Sabha on February 3 had said that after testing, the samples of the cough syrups have been declared to be of standard quality.
Source: News18