The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned of four cough and cold syrups from Indian laboratory Maiden Pharmaceuticals that could be linked to serious kidney damage and the death of 66 children in The Gambia.
The UN health agency also said it was conducting a further investigation with the company and regulators in India.
Credit: Tibor13/istockOMS investigates 4 syrups following the death of 66 children in The Gambia
The test products are Promethazine Oral Solution, Kofexmalin Baby Cough Syrup, Makoff Baby Cough Syrup, and Magrip N Cold Syrup.
“Although contaminated products have so far only been detected in The Gambia, they may have been distributed to other countries,” WHO DirectorGeneral Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a news conference on Wednesday.
In addition, the WHO fears that the manufacturer may have used the same contaminated ingredient in other products and distributed it locally or exported it. “So there is a global risk,” Tedros warned.
The Gambian government has been investigating cases since last month after noticing a spike in cases of acute kidney injury in children under five in late July.