12 dead, cough syrup link still unclear

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- Shruti Tomar, Rhythma Kaul and Sachin Saini

The death toll from the suspected drug poisoning doubled to 12 children across Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan on Friday, but there emerged a new mystery over what caused the fatalities after one set of officials said they found no trace of toxic contaminants in medicine samples they analysed.

‘The ministry of health and family welfare said laboratory tests detected neither diethylene glycol (DEG) nor ethylene glycol (EG) — industrial chemicals known to cause acute kidney injury — in cough syrup samples collected from Chhindwara district, where nine children have died since early September, up from six reported earlier this week.

Biopsy reports cited earlier this week by Chhindwara district collector Sheelendra Singh initially showed kidney tissue analysis suggested DEG contamination in cough syrup given to the children.

To be sure, analysis of wider batches of the cough syrup is still pending.

‘With the suspected cause now in question, a multidisciplinary expert team comprising representatives from the National Cen-tre for Disease Control (NCDC), National Institute of Virology (NIV), Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), AIMS Nagpur, Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) and state authorities is investigating alternative causes, including contaminated water, disease vectors and respiratory pathogens.

NIV Pune detected Leptospiro-sis—a bacterial infection that can cause mild flu-like illness to severe disease with organ damage — in one child's blood sample.

Samples of water, entomological vectors and respiratory speci-mensare under further investigation by the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, NIV Pune and other laboratories, the government statement added.