Published on : 10 Dec 2025, 2:56 am

OXFORD UNIVERSITY: Researchers at the University of Oxford and their collaborators have demonstrated that simple, rapid, and inexpensive tests can detect deadly contaminants in medicinal syrups - contaminants that have tragically led to the deaths of hundreds of children worldwide.

In 2022, contaminated medicinal syrups caused the deaths of more than 300 children across Indonesia, The Gambia, Uzbekistan and Cameroon. Only two months ago, at least a further 24 deaths were reported in India. In response, Oxford’s DEG-EG team is developing novel tests to identify these lethal contaminants in both medicinal syrups and their raw materials.

The team has successfully repurposed commercially available rapid tests, each costing less than £1:

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