By: Nyima Sillah
Tijan Jallow, the regulatory Officer Medical Control Agency (MCA) said 95% of kids that died from Acute Kidney Injuries are from flooded areas.
Jallow disclosed this on Monday during an organised press briefing held at the Central Medical Drug Store in Kotu.
Jallow said, “Science is on the evidence base and we cannot narrow our angle on medications because we were in the rainy season and for the past 15-20years, the Gambia experienced high rainfall this year. And we realized that 95% of the kids that died are from flooded areas.”
According to him, when some urine and blood samples were collected on cases it was showing the same signs and symptoms, an analysis was done and after the analysis, those samples shows that 90-95%, some presents of 6 different pieces of bacteria and 3 different virus pieces.
He also said that they have collected 3 samples from kids that are having Acute Kidney Injuries and the results show that out of the 3 kids, all of them have half of the bacteria present in their stool.
“I am part of the tax force that is investigating the causes of AKI. Just to make it clear to the public, we have not concluded yet whether it is the medication that causes it or the microorganism that has caused it. We are working on a causalities assessment. In the cases that have been subjected to medications, we are trying to establish to know the medications that each of the kids took.
“A good number of kids died without taking any medications. Other kids died, and the medication that they took, we have tested them and they are good. So, we are working on that,” Jallow explained.
Meanwhile, he noted that the WHO has pledged to establish a food and quality control lab. “The main challenge in the country is that we don’t have a quality control lab to ascertain any medicine that is coming to the country, he added.