Spain: 20 children continue to grow hair all over their bodies after medical blunder

In a massive blunder, around 20 children in Spain who were given hair restorer instead of medicine to cure their upset stomach, are still growing large hair all over their bodies even after getting a treatment. As per Newsflash's report, the incident took place in the city of Torrelavega in the northern Spanish region of Cantabria where the local authorities confessed that a certain group of kids mistakenly got minoxidil, a medication for hair growth, instead of omeprazole, the treatment for gastric reflux.

The blunder that made more than a dozen parents furious, took place two years ago but even now some of those affected children are growing hair all over their bodies. With this bizarre development, the parents went public with the entire incident and it was later confirmed that at least 20 children were impacted in Andalusia and the Valencian Community. As per the Ministry of Health, the authorities only discovered the entire unfortunate incident at the end of July 2019 after the complaint filed by the parents.

The parents of the impacted children are represented by lawyer Javier Diaz Aparicio. The health officials reportedly blame Farma-Química Sur, the Spanish pharmaceutical giant where the packaging mix-up happened that led to the blunder. Reportedly the mislabelled syrup was delivered to pharmacies in Granada, Cantabria and Valencia where chemists mixed it into a formula to treat the gastric reflux.  As per reports, one mother of a 10-month-old had thick locks everywhere on the body except his feet in just two months after taking minoxidil syrup.

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Children developed hypertrichosis

The impacted children developed hypertrichosis also known as “werewolf syndrome” that involves the appearance of excessive hair growth. The families even filed civil as well as criminal complaints against a laboratory and several other companies for importing and hampering the drug for manufacturing, distributing and even selling. The parents also filed a complaint against two other pharmaceutical companies in Cantabria which were later pardoned by the judge. 

The families also complained that their children continued to grow hair all over their bodies despite receiving treatment and thus, demanded compensation. Last year, the parents were reportedly said to be 'surprised by the appearance of hair in the babies, especially in the facial area.’ However, as the Spanish Agency for Medicines and Health Products is trying to reach to the root of the issue, it has removed many batches of the medication from circulation. The last few missing packets of the batch of meds are still being tracked down. 

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