Between June and November last year, approximately 80 kids in The Gambia were evidenced to have AKI. Seventy of them ended up dead.
AIK spread last year
A report published Friday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said highly toxic syrup shipped to The Gambia caused an array of AKI and mortalities in children, weeks after a review panel of The Gambia National Assembly arrived at the conclusion that the cases of 70 kids due to acute kidney injury (AKI) had been strongly associated to the consumption of four tainted syrups manufactured by India’s Maiden Pharmaceuticals.
The study concluded that the cluster of AKI among young kids in The Gambia was caused by the importation of medicines adulterated with DEG (diethylene glycol) or EG (ethylene glycol). The health department in The Gambia requested that the CDC conduct an inquiry into the situation.
The assessment is constructed around interviews with care workers and analysis of medical information of kids who passed away from AKI. Previous testing of the medications through the WHO, according to the fact sheet, also confirmed the root of the cluster of AKI situations.
“More evidence for a poisonous cause comes from the fact that the cases are prevalent throughout the nation (six of the seven health areas), that many patients took the same brand of medicine, and that the disease didn’t spread much within households.
The CDC study said that this poisoning seems to have only impacted children. This is highly probable because most medicines for kids in The Gambia come in syrup form. Last year, between June and November, it was known that 80 children in The Gambia had AKI. Seventy of them did die.
The CDC document suggests that the syrups brought about the deaths because they talked to 26 primary caregivers whom all claimed that the kids had consumed a minimum of one syrup-based medicine. In actuality, 12 children had taken multiple medications before being taken to the hospital.
Just 14 of the 26 caretakers could remember the medicines’ names, and eight of them said that Maiden syrup had been used. In accordance with the report which was printed in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the CDC engaged in September of the previous year when a paediatric nephrologist from The Gambia’s only medical centre expressed concern about a rise in AKI cases.
By September, 78 occurrences had been found after healthcare facilities actively looked for them. Among them, 66 or 85% ended up dead. 75% of the cases were in kids younger than the age of 2, and 80% were boys.
Last October, the WHO issued a medical product warning for four syrups made by Haryana-based Maiden Pharma, saying that they were linked to AKI and mortalities.
Subsequently, a report from The Gambia National Assembly stated that The Select Committee is absolutely positive that Maiden Pharmaceuticals Ltd is to blame and ought to be called to account for trying to export the poisoned medications that were interconnected to the deaths of at least 70 kids.
Not enough substantiation, says India
Maiden said that the claims were false. The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation shut down its factory in Sonepat. India said that neither The Gambia nor WHO had given sufficient proof that the deaths were caused by the syrups from India. The Indian drug authority found that the samples were of optimum quality.
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