*cough*
News source
5 arrested in case of contaminated medicine that killed 26 in Panama
The Associated Press
Published: October 18, 2006
PANAMA CITY, Panama Panamanian authorities have detained five people who allegedly sold contaminated raw material to a factory that produced medications blamed in the deaths of 26 people.
Attorney General Ana Gomez said the five suspects bought the material from a supplier in Spain in 2003. She declined to name the company or say if the product was diethylene glycol, a toxic chemical first detected last week in sugarless cough syrup.
Also Wednesday, Health Minister Camilo Alleyne said four more people died after drinking tainted medicine, raising to 26 the number of people killed since July after taking the tainted cough syrup.
Alleyne didn't give the gender or age of the latest victims or say when they had taken the contaminated medicine.
The government has ordered the cough syrup and cold remedies removed from store shelves, but authorities say at least another 44 people are still sick after taking the medication, with 40 in critical condition.
The deaths had baffled authorities until last week, when U.S. health officials found traces of diethylene glycol, an industrial chemical related to antifreeze, in a red, sugarless cough syrup made by a government-run pharmaceutical factory.
Panama sought assistance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention after victims suffered mysterious kidney failure, paralysis and sagging of the facial muscles and other symptoms.
Most of those affected were patients over 60 with a history of diabetes or high blood pressure. The victims also experienced symptoms including nausea and diarrhea.
