Following up on tainted medicine

Panamanian investigators asked health authorities to track down patients whose names appeared on 6,000 bottles of medication contaminated with a chemical commonly found in antifreeze.

The bottles were handed over to the government two years ago when at least 116 people died after using poisonous cough syrup, antihistamine tablets, calamine lotion and rash ointment made at a government laboratory. The medicines were found to be contaminated with diethylene glycol.

Investigators gave the Health Ministry a report on the 6,000 bottles in hope of determining how the patients were affected and whether they still needed treatment, the attorney general’s office said.