14 infants suffer kidney stones; fake milk powder suspected cause

A hospital received 14 infants below 11 months, suffering from kidney stone, believed to be caused by the milk powder of the same brand, that they drank.

The infants, all from the remote countryside, drank the same brand of milk powder, much cheaper than the one on the market, said their parents. Chief Urology Doctor of the No.1 Hospital of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Zhang Wei to XINHUA news agency that the babies shared the same symptoms which are unable to pass urine accompanied with vomiting.

“It is rare for the babies to get kidney stones, and let alone so many babies at the same time,” Zhang, who has 22 years experience in urology, said.

The first case received at the hospital was on June 28.The provincial Public Health Bureau told the Chinese news agency that it had investigated, but didn’t give specific figure of how many infants were involved.

The bureau said further investigation would be made to find if there were any connection between the incident and the milk powder.In 2004, 13 infants in east Anhui Province died of nutritional deficiencies from consuming substandard milk powder.

While 171 infants suffered from malnutrition after being fed with milk powder deficient in protein and other nutrients. The majority of them lived in rural areas in Fuyang City. The parents bought cheap milk powder which contained little nutritional ingredients at rural shops.The children displayed swollen heads, while their bodies failed to grow properly.

BERNAMA