Overview
- About 80 secondary students at I.E. Túpac Amaru II in Cusipata fell ill after receiving a pill during a school deworming campaign, with the incident occurring on Tuesday and triggering an emergency medical response.
- Pupils developed blurred vision, abdominal pain, drowsiness and dry mouth and local health teams sent roughly 19 students to regional hospitals for specialized observation.
- Regional health officials have preliminarily said an anticonvulsant, carbamazepine, may have been given instead of the intended antiparasitic albendazole and have immobilized the implicated medication lot pending lab tests.
- Hospitals reported that all affected students were stabilized and by June 26 the Regional Hospital of Cusco confirmed every patient had been discharged from care.
- The Gerencia Regional de Salud has opened an administrative inquiry and the Ministerio Público and national police are evaluating possible criminal responsibility, a process that could lead to changes in procurement, storage and dosing protocols for school health programs.