Two days after the hysteria broke out, it becomes clear: the cause of the mysterious illness is that Remedia's plant-based milk substitute did not contain vitamin B-1,
Concentration: Avi Blizovsky
Dr. Fatal-Walevsky, yesterday. She was appointed the coordinator of the tests
Two days after the hysteria broke out, it becomes clear: the cause of the mysterious illness is that Remedia's plant-based milk substitute did not contain vitamin B-1, contrary to what was written on the package. The meaning: babies who did not receive the vitamin may suffer from the "Berry-Berry" disease and develop a serious nervous disorder. Now the Ministry of Health is calling on parents to hurry up and take the children who received the formula in the last two months to the doctor - to get an extra vitamin.
Humana, the German company that produces the milk substitute for "Remedia" says that its food contains vitamin B1. According to the CEO of the company, vitamin B1 is found in the raw materials and additives from which the company produces the baby food. The company continues with laboratory tests and will submit a full report tomorrow.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health is denying a report by the AP news agency this evening, according to which a spokesman for the ministry confirmed to the agency's reporter that Israeli security officials are involved in the investigation of the Remedia case, on suspicion of deliberate sabotage. According to the report, a spokesman for the ministry said in response to a question about the involvement of the Shin Bet and the Mossad in the investigation: "All factors are involved."
Suspicion: a change in medicine caused a lack of vitamins
By Ran Reznik, Haaretz published on 9.11.03
Changes made to the soy-based vegetable breast milk substitute of the "Remedia" company damaged the quality of the product, resulting in the death of three babies and severe brain damage in six more; This is what the management of the Ministry of Health suspects. In addition, the office's inspector suspected that another 17 babies were similarly harmed in the past six months.
Product changes for kosher reasons
According to senior officials in the ministry, the change in the ingredients of the herbal remedy - produced in Germany - was made six months ago with the approval of the Ministry of Health. However, the office suspects that the change, made for kosher reasons, resulted in the dilution of the vitamins in the product.
The suspicion is that as a result, prolonged consumption of the product resulted in a deficiency of essential vitamins - probably vitamin B1, which is essential for the normal physical development of babies, and whose deficiency may cause severe brain or heart damage. Yesterday, tests of herbal remedies were conducted in the laboratories of the Ministry of Health, and the first answers from the tests will be received this evening.
The Ministry of Health emphasizes that, for the time being, there is no clear answer to the question of how, if at all, the herbal remedy resulted in harm to the babies. However, following the suspicions accumulated in the investigation of the ministry, he ordered the day before to immediately stop using the product and take it off the shelves. Yesterday, the ministry ordered all hospital managers in Israel to inject vitamin B1 to every baby who consumed herbal remedies, who arrives at the emergency room with signs of the disease; This is after taking a blood sample from the baby.
The first signs of brain damage are vomiting, diarrhea, changes in the state of consciousness, excessive sleepiness, convulsions, reluctance to eat extreme and unusual restlessness. The injection will be given even before the problem is fully clarified, because some of the brain and nerve damage is irreversible, and giving the vitamin quickly may prevent their appearance. According to the data of the Ministry of Health, collected from the milk drops in the central region, only 8-2% of the parents feed their children with soy-based herbal remedies. The Remedia company estimates that about 8,000-6,000 babies are fed the product.
The Ministry of Health's investigation over the weekend revealed that three babies who died recently suffered severe physical damage to the heart or brain after consuming herbal remedies: one baby died three days ago at the "Schneider" pediatric center in Petach Tikva after suffering a serious problem with heart function, the other died in Schneider about half an hour ago A year as a result of a severe brain injury. The management of the Ministry of Health informed last night about a third baby who died about two weeks ago at the Yoseftal hospital in Eilat, today a comprehensive investigation will be conducted regarding this case.
In addition, the ministry is investigating six additional cases of babies whose brains were damaged - and some of them are in serious condition after consuming herbal remedies. Among these babies, three are hospitalized at Schneider in critical condition and are being ventilated while unconscious. Another baby girl who was hospitalized in Schneider was released to her home in Ra'anana and still suffers from severe nerve damage. The other two babies are hospitalized in other hospitals: the six-month-old is hospitalized at the "Dana" Pediatric Center at Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv and the four-month-old is hospitalized in the rehabilitation department at Assaf Harofeh Hospital in Tsrifin.
One of the main suspicions of Dr. Dorit Nitzan-Klosky, head of the food and nutrition service at the Ministry of Health, is that the new ingredients in the production of the herbal remedy caused a deficiency in the supply of vitamin B1 (thiamine) in the babies. This vitamin is related to the breakdown and utilization of carbohydrates in the body and is important for the proper functioning of the muscles, nervous system and heart. A continuous lack of this vitamin can cause serious nerve and heart diseases.
One of the signs that promoted the investigation was the monitoring of the condition of a six-month-old baby from Tel Aviv - who consumed a herbal remedy and has been hospitalized since Thursday night at "Dana" due to a long period of vomiting (about a month), weight loss and a neurological problem with eye movement. The tests conducted on him revealed a vitamin B1 deficiency. He received an injection of the vitamin and his condition has since improved significantly. The hypothesis was discovered by Dr. Aviva Fatal-Walevsky, a pediatric neurologist in Dana, who was appointed by the Ministry of Health to coordinate the tests related to vitamin deficiency in the other children as well. The affair began following a report by "Schneider" to the Ministry of Health last week, about three babies less than one year old who were hospitalized in serious condition, unconscious and with severe brain damage. The Ministry of Health started an epidemiological investigation of the case, which also included an investigation of the increase in the number of cases of infants and children hospitalized due to this disease in 2002 and its further increase in the last six months.
What is "Beri-Beri" disease?
Dr. Itamar Shalit, Director of the Infectious Diseases Unit at the Schneider Pediatric Center explains in Maariv: "The disease is caused by an unbalanced diet, which includes less than 0.4 mg of vitamin B1 per day for an adult, and less than 0.3 mg for a baby . In infants, the disease causes severe neurological problems: a phenomenon known as "encephalopathy", which includes impairment of brain function, and which manifests itself in unconsciousness, convulsions and the need for external ventilation. In head scans, you can see damage in different areas of the brain, such as the brain stem and the gray and white matter of the brain. The first signs of the phenomenon include excessive sleepiness, apathy, convulsions, restlessness, and when the baby stops eating."
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The state attorney, Edna Arbel, ordered the police to open an investigation into the "Remedia" case. At the conclusion of a discussion with the senior prosecutor's office, Arbel decided that there is an alleged suspicion of criminal offenses.
In the investigation of the affair, it is now being examined why the product did not include vitamin B1 (the absence of which causes nerve and heart diseases), and why "Remedia" published on the packaging that the vitamin was in the product.
The Director General of the Ministry of Health, Dr. Boaz Lev, explained why the ministry did not reveal the failure at an earlier stage: "There are products that are tested more rarely, the more reliable and better the product. Someone would say - why every 3 months? Why not every two weeks or every day? After all, we cannot test the product before every bite that every citizen takes."
The "Remedia" company undertook to continue to investigate how the malfunction occurred, and as a result, a delegation from the company, led by the company's marketing director in Israel and experts from Europe, went out last night to visit the factory of the German "Humana" company, which produces the plant-based milk substitute, as well as the German Ministry of Health.
Ministry of Health for parents: contact the health insurance funds - do not inject a vitamin independently
The Ministry of Health urges the parents of babies who are suspected of suffering from the neurological disease due to the consumption of "herbal remedy", not to inject their children with vitamin B1 independently, but only at the health funds.
Seven babies are still hospitalized in the hospitals, with severe damage to the central nervous system. Two of the 3 babies who were hospitalized during the last day at the "Soruka" hospital in Be'er Sheva were released to their homes after it became clear that they did not suffer from the neurological disease related to the plant-based milk substitute of the Remedia company.
This morning the Ministry of Health called on all parents who have given their children "herbal remedies" in recent months to immediately bring the babies to a doctor for examination, even if the children do not suffer from the symptoms of the nerve disease. The health funds will provide the vitamin as needed by injection or drops, free of charge.
