In a report released by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) on Friday, the ingestion of reportedly contaminated cough syrup produced by India-based Maiden Pharmaceuticals was strongly linked to the deaths of children in The Gambia from renal injury.

Earlier, the Gambian Ministry of Health had revealed that between July and September of last year, 78 kids experienced abrupt kidney failure, and up to 66 (85%) of them passed away. The Gambia had asked the CDC to send experts to help with the investigation.

According to the report, the CDC claimed that their investigation strongly suggested that medications were contaminated with diethylene glycol [DEG] or ethylene glycol [EG], which resulted in an Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) cluster among children. Additionally, the investigating team interviewed the carers of the affected children and found that they had given the affected children a prescription or over-the-counter cough syrup-based medication before their kids were unable to pass urine.

The team added that in a lab analysis of 23 medication samples, four products from Maiden Pharmaceuticals in Haryana contained DEG and EG.

A senior official from the Union Health Ministry stated that they had requested that a team of Indian officials be delegated to The Gambia to investigate the case; however, their request was not approved by the Gambian government. The Indian Health Ministry has not officially responded to the CDC-US investigation, and several health experts have called this move "a political ploy."