HHS Team Assists with DEG Toxicity Investigation in Nigeria

February 19, 2009 - Nigerian government officials requested assistance from the US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to investigate a cluster of acute renal failure deaths among young children.  An early Nigerian Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) report estimates that approximately 84 Nigerian children have died from ingesting teething syrup contaminated with diethylene glycol.

In coordination with HHS’ Office of Global Health Affairs, the HHS’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sent a team of two epidemiologists, a public health advisor and a communications specialist to work with the FMOH to better characterize the outbreak and support the current response efforts to bring it to an end, and the HHS’ Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sent an investigator to assist the Nigerian National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) with their manufacturing site inspections and tracing sourcing and distribution of the suspected product.  The HHS efforts will help the Nigerian Government respond to future incidents involving suspected contamination of pharmaceuticals and further strengthen our collaborative relationships with our Nigerian public health partners.

In this case, as in similar acute renal failure outbreaks attributed to diethylene glycol, HHS resources, experts, laboratory equipment, and educational tools can be deployed to help investigate these toxicologic incidents and establish in-country protocols to help prevent these public health threats from happening again.

For more information:

• Coordinating Office for Global Health - DGPHCD: Nigeria Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Program (N-FELTP) (U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

Last revised: February 20, 2009