A three-member investigation team from the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) is conducting a probe into a medical injection suspected of killing three people and making 78 others seriously ill across the country.

The drug, clindamycin phosphate, is an antibiotic used to treat bacterial infections.

An official with the provincial food and drug administration said Monday that the team had arrived at Anhui Huayuan Worldbest Biology Pharmacy Co., producer of the injection, in east China's Anhui Province, to carry out the investigation.

The team will investigate the raw and supplementary materials used for the injection, as well as the company's production and quality assurance processes, the official said.

They will also check company production data and hold face-to-face interviews with staffs, according to the official.

Eighty-one cases of severe reactions to the drug have been reported in 10 provinces, according to the Adverse Drug Reaction Monitoring Center of the SFDA.

The cases include three deaths. A six-year-old girl from Harbin, capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, died on July 27 after being injected while being treated for a cold.

The other two victims are a male in his 70s in north China's Hebei Province and a 48-year-old woman in central China's Hubei Province, both of whom died after being given the injection in hospital in late July and early August.

The link between the injections and the three deaths is being investigated.

Another work team from the Health Ministry is in Heilongjiang, investigating No. 2 Hospital affiliated to Harbin Medical University. More than 10 patients who had adverse reactions to the injections are receiving treatment there.

The team will collect information about the patients and hold group consultations, said Zhang Xiaoju, an official with the provincial heath department.

Meanwhile, an increasing number of patients from Qinghai, Guangxi, Zhejiang, Heilongjiang and Shandong have complained about symptoms ranging from chest pains, stomach ache, diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting and anaphylactic shock after being injected with the Anhui Huayuan product.

The Ministry of Health issued an urgent circular last week suspending use of the antibiotic injection.

Of the 3.68 million bottles of the injection produced since June, the company has sold 3.18 million units to 26 provinces, regions and municipalities. Now some 1.4 million units have been impounded.

Source: Xinhua