Nigeria widens tests on infant drugs after 28 die

Reuters - Africa
Thursday, November 27, 2008
By Randy Fabi

ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigerian health officials on Thursday scrambled to test more children's drugs after the number of infants killed by tainted teething syrup rose to 28.

The National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) said it feared different brands of cough and teething medicine may be contaminated with diethylene glycol, blamed for causing kidney failure in the children who died.

Twenty-eight children who were given the "My Pikin" teething syrup have died this month in the commercial capital Lagos, the southwestern town of Ibadan and the northern town of Zaria.

"We're now testing all brands of paracetamol drugs from all over the country," NAFDAC Director-General Dora Akunyili told Reuters.

A laboratory director at the agency said mostly Nigerian-made paracetamol syrups for children were being sampled and that 15-20 brands had already been tested.

More than 40 children aged between four months and three years have been hospitalised since the first case was discovered on November 3 with symptoms including diarrhoea, vomiting, fever and convulsions as well as an inability to pass urine for days.

Health officials believe the number of cases could be higher as many parents in Africa's most populous country do not have access to basic health care for their children.

NAFDAC has shut down the manufacturer of "My Pikin", Lagos-based Barewa Pharmaceuticals, as well as a company called Tranxell Ltd, which is believed to have supplied chemicals to Barewa and possibly to other local drugs manufacturers.

No officials from either company have been available to comment on the case.

Akunyili said the authorities planned to arrest the owner of Tranxell Ltd, believed to have sold a tainted batch of chemicals to Barewa that were then processed into 3,000 bottles of teething syrup on August 10.

"He is not helping us much with the investigation. We intend to arrest him today," she said.

Health officials are trying to determine where Tranxell bought the contaminated chemicals from and if any other pharmaceutical companies received the products.

NAFDAC has not given permission to any company in Nigeria to import diethylene glycol and is investigating whether the substance was smuggled into the country.

Tainted, fake and counterfeit drugs have long been a problem in sub-Saharan Africa's second biggest economy, although NAFDAC has been spearheading a crackdown.

In 1990, 109 children in Ibadan and in the central city of Jos died after taking paracetamol syrup which contained ethylene glycol solvent, a compound related to diethylene glycol which is also normally used in engine coolant.

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