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A global alert has been issued over four cough syrups after the World Health Organization (WHO) warned they could be linked to the deaths of 66 children in The Gambia.<\/p>\n The syrups have been \u201cpotentially linked with acute kidney injuries and 66 deaths among children\u201d, it said.<\/p>\n The products were manufactured by an Indian company, Maiden Pharmaceuticals, which had failed to provide guarantees about their safety, the WHO added.<\/p>\n The firm has not yet commented.<\/p>\n The BBC has contacted Maiden Pharmaceuticals for comment.<\/p>\n Indian officials say they have asked the WHO to share evidence of the link between the syrups and the deaths.<\/p>\n The WHO identified the medicines as Promethazine Oral Solution, Kofexmalin Baby Cough Syrup, Makoff Baby Cough Syrup and Magrip N Cold Syrup.<\/p>\n The four products had been identified in The Gambia, but \u201cmay have been distributed, through informal markets, to other countries or regions\u201d, the WHO added,\u00a0in the alert published on its website.<\/p>\n It warned that their use may result in serious injury or death, especially among children.<\/p>\n The WHO\u2019s intervention came after medical authorities in The Gambia \u2013 a popular tourist destination \u2013 detected an increase in cases of acute kidney injury among children under the age of five in late July.<\/p>\n The Gambia\u2019s government has since suspended the use of all paracetamol syrups and has urged people to use tablets instead.<\/p>\n The WHO said that laboratory analysis of samples of the products \u201cconfirms that they contain unacceptable amounts of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol as contaminants\u201d.<\/p>\n The substances were toxic, and their effects \u201ccan include abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhoea, inability to pass urine, headache, altered mental state and acute kidney injury which may lead to death,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n The Gambia\u2019s health officials said last month that dozens of children had died, without giving an exact number.<\/p>\n Speaking in Geneva on Wednesday, WHO chief Tedros Ghebreyesus said: \u201cThe loss of these young lives is beyond heart-breaking for their families.\u201d<\/p>\n The WHO said that India\u2019s Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation indicated that the manufacturer may have only supplied the contaminated medications to The Gambia, AFP news agency reports, quoting an email from the UN health agency.<\/p>\n But the WHO said that \u201cglobal exposure\u201d was possible as the \u201cmanufacturer may have used the same contaminated material in other products and distributed them locally or exported\u201d them, the agency reports.<\/p>\n
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