After two deaths in connection with a poisoned glucose preparation, the authorities ordered the immediate closure of three pharmacies in Cologne. It is about the preventive health protection during the ongoing investigation, said a spokesman for the North Rhine-Westphalian Ministry of Health.
Last week, a 28-year-old girl and her child, born of emergency cesarean section, had died as a result of taking the remedy from the Heilig Geist pharmacy in Longerich district. According to SPIEGEL information, an anesthetic should have been in the glucose mix. The substance appears to be an agent used for local anesthesia and can cause numbness and cardiac arrhythmias. There is no official confirmation, the authorities continue to speak only of a toxic substance.
The prosecution investigates in the case against unknown because of the initial suspicion of killing a crime. According to senior public prosecutor Ulrich Bremer, spokesman for the public prosecutor's office in Cologne, it is also unclear whether the contamination was intentional or negligent. (Read more about the case here.)
According to the autopsy, mother and child died of multiple organ failure. Whether the organ failure of the baby was caused by the substance or the early date of birth, you could not say currently. Toxicological reports were commissioned. According to Bremer, the result can only be expected in two to three months.