The pediatric service at Morón Hospital raised the alarm. At least four children from Avilanian have developed anaphylactic reactions after taking an age-contraindicated drug brought from abroad.
It’s called nimesulide, and it began to gain traction after the easing of drug imports into the country, introduced to alleviate the depression in Cuba’s pharmaceutical industry, with production a little over half of the base list of drugs.
From there, to starting shopping to “putting down a fever,” not much happened amidst the excitement of COVID-19, colds, and even dengue.
“The people who sell it – explains pediatrician Arisney Jiménez Herrera – advertise it as Dipyrone, Metamizole or Duralgin, and parents buy it out of ignorance and give it to children to bring down fever; especially now that there is an increase in diseases that cause high fevers, such as arboviruses, mouth-hand-foot syndrome, herpangina, and acute diarrhea caused by rotaviruses, which also cause fevers.
Having a child at home with a fever makes everyone desperate, and Nimesulida has reached out in these cases, unaware of the dangers that specialists at the Roberto Rodríguez Hospital Children’s Service have been warning about for days.
A quick search that could be conducted by any buyer of the drug outside of Cuba, or whoever would be using it here, is alarming just by reading the headlines.
It has been withdrawn from the market in Venezuela, Colombia, Spain, Finland, Mexico… The National Center for Documentation and Information on Medicines of Peru warns: “Severe hepatotoxicity associated with the use of nimesulide. Sufficient evidence to recommend withdrawal from the Latin American market”. In 2019, the Mexican government asked its doctors to stop prescribing it, a decision also made by Avilan pediatricians.
“In less than 15 days, we had three pediatric patients with anaphylactic reactions after taking this drug; Reactions that may threaten his life,” Arisney commented. It produces more than liver disease.
By the way, doctors recommend consulting before taking medicines that are not made in Cuba, since the formulation, indication or dosage may be different, even if the names are the usual ones. There is even a possibility that part of the medicines entering the country from abroad are part of the developed counterfeit medicines industry in the region or the world, so it pays to be doubly vigilant.
Expect an upcoming invader approach to the subject.