China on Tuesday announced three more deaths suspected caused by the use of the antibiotic injection "Xinfu", produced by a pharmaceutical company in the eastern Anhui Province.

So far, the clindamycin phosphate glucose injection is widely blamed for the deaths of six people.

The three new deaths were reported from the provinces of Hunan, Sichuan and Hebei.

On Aug. 2, 74-year-old retired teacher. Chen Dexiang. died at a clinic in the city of Zhangjiajie, in central China's Hunan Province, after receiving the injection.

Zhang's family members said after receiving the injection the retiree kept shivering and then fell into a coma before passing away.

In the county of Anyue, southwest China's Sichuan Province, a senior citizen named Hu Qingxiu who was being treated for a broken bone was injected with two bottles of "Xinfu" on July 20 at a local clinic.

According to her relatives, Hu suffered chest and abdominal pains after the injection and later died at the clinic.

The identity of the dead patient in Hebei is still unknown.

The drug was produced in Fuyang City by the Anhui Huayuan Worldbest Biology Pharmacy Co., a subsidiary of the Shanghai Worldbest Co. Ltd.

The company said it has recalled 760,000 bottles of clindamycin phosphate glucose injection by Sunday morning while more than 480,000 bottles have been sealed.

The company produced 3.68 million bottles of the injection in the batch since June and sold them to 26 provinces, regions and municipalities.

The antibiotic was blamed for killing three people including a six-year-old girl in Harbin, capital of northeastern China's Heilongjiang Province.

The girl, who was being treated for a cold, became seriously ill with a high fever within 20 minutes of the injection by a trained nurse at her home on July 24. She was transferred to two hospitals for emergency treatment, but was declared dead on July 27.

Patients in Qinghai Province reported kidney pains, stomach aches, nausea, vomiting and chest pains after being injected with the drug on July 27. Similar reports were filed in Guangxi, Zhejiang, Shandong and Heilongjiang.

The Adverse Drug Reaction Monitoring Center of the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) had received 81 reports of severe reactions to the antibiotic from 10 provinces by Saturday.

The SFDA has sent a team of experts to investigate the link between the reactions and the antibiotic injection, the administration said.

The Ministry of Health on Thursday issued an urgent circular suspending the use of the antibiotic injection.

Source: Xinhua