The death of dozens of young children in the West African country of Gambia from acute kidney injury may be linked to contaminated cough syrup and cold syrup produced by Indian drugmakers

According to Reuters reported on October 5, the World Health Organization said on the 5th that the death of dozens of young children in the West African country Gambia from acute kidney injury may be related
to contaminated cough syrup and cold syrup produced by Indian drugmakers.

WHO logo Source: Reuters

The discovery was announced after testing several medicinal syrups, which are suspected of killing
66 children in the Gambia, after testing the report.

The 4 "contaminated" syrups are all produced by Indian Maiden Pharmaceutical Co.
, Ltd.
, which is headquartered in New Delhi
.

Tedros said U.
N.
agencies were investigating
with Indian regulators and Maiden Pharmaceuticals Ltd.
Maiden Pharmaceuticals Ltd.
did not respond to requests for comment from the media
.

The WHO issued a medical product warning on Wednesday, requiring regulators to pull
products from Maiden Pharmaceuticals Ltd from the market.

In its product warning, WHO said laboratory analysis showed that the syrup contained two "contaminants", diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol, and that the content was "unacceptable", and that these toxic ingredients can lead to acute kidney injury
.
The group also warned that the products may have been distributed elsewhere through the informal market, but so far only in the Gambia have had problems
.

After dozens of children began to develop kidney problems, medical staff in the Gambia sounded the alarm
in July.
At that time, dozens of patients under the age of five fell ill three to five days after taking locally marketed paracetamol syrup, leaving medical staff confused
.

Mustafa Bitaye, head of health services in the Gambia, said similar problems had been found in other syrups, but the Ministry of Health was waiting for confirmation
of the results.
He said the death toll had gradually decreased in recent weeks and that the sale of products from Maiden Pharmaceuticals Ltd was
banned.
Until recently, however, some syrups were still sold
in private clinics and hospitals.

Founded in the early 1990s, Maiden's website shows that the company manufactures, exports and supplies pharmaceuticals, including a variety of capsules, ointments, syrups and tablets
.
The company's plant in India manufactures medicines that were previously sold domestically and exported to countries
in Asia, Africa and Latin America.