Indonesia discovers medicines containing ingredients linked to fatal kidney injury in children

Some medicinal syrups available in Indonesia contained ingredients linked to fatal acute kidney injury (AKI) in children, according to the country’s health minister, as the country investigates an increase in cases and 99 child deaths this year.

Indonesia has temporarily banned the sale of all syrup-based medications and is closely scrutinising paracetamol syrups used locally to treat childhood fevers that contain diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol.

The government of Gambia is also investigating child AKI deaths linked to paracetamol syrups following 70 deaths there. Maiden Pharmaceuticals Ltd, based in New Delhi, manufactured the syrups, which India said it is investigating.

According to Indonesia’s food and drug agency, those specific products are not available locally.

Ethylene glycol and diethylene glycol were found in products found at the homes of some of the patients, according to health minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin, who did not specify how many.

“Some syrups that were used by AKI child patients under five were proven to contain ethylene glycol and diethylene glycol that were not supposed to be there, or of very little amount,” he said.

As of Thursday, Indonesia had identified 206 AKI child cases, 99 of which were fatal. Budi believes the true number of cases is higher than what has been reported. A spokesperson for the health ministry declined to say how many child AKI patients had the ingredients detected, citing the ongoing investigation