health

Officials set death toll from poisoned medicine at 115

That toll could go higher as more cases are brought to the attention of prosecutors investigating diethylene glycol poisoning.

Yesterday, protestors called for the government to take additional steps to prevent any more cases from happening.

GABRIEL RODRÍGUEZ/LA PRENSA

Bad Medicine:Protestors march to demand more government action to prevent diethylene glycol poisonings. The compound was used in some cough syrups.977236

A total of 115 people have died as a result of diethylene glycol poisoning, health officials said yesterday.

A government investigation determined that, out of 763 reported cases, 115 deaths were caused by the compound, which was used as an additive in cough syrup distributed by the government’s health services.

Of those cases, 174 tested positive for the compound. There were 59 people who survived being poisoned.

A total of 461 of those tested did not take contaminated medicine. The other cases were inconclusive.

The government has finished testing 95 percent of the cases submitted by a special prosecutor investigating the tainted medicine case. The government is seeking to prosecute foreign suppliers who used diethylene glycol as a preservative in products they sold to the government to make the medicine.

Meanwhile, the death toll could climb even higher. Salvador Broce died this week after a brief illness that health authorities think may have been related to diethylene glycol poisoning.

Members of the Comité de Familiares de Pacientes por el Derecho a la Salud y la Vida demonstrated yesterday to raise awareness of the problem. Members of the group said Broce is the third person to die from diethylene glycol since November.

"People came to ask for a medicine and wer given a poison," said group member Mitzila de Ciniglio. "How long will this inhumanity continue?"