All infants, from a rural area of northwest Gansu province, drank the same brand of milk formula and were hospitalized in the past two months. Similar cases occurred in Jiangsu, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Gansu, Shandong, Anhui and Hunan, Xinhua the state-run Chinese news agency, reported.
Parents of the affected babies, mostly located in remote and poor rural areas, said they bought the milk powder by the brand name Sanlu at much cheaper prices than usual. The health department is investigating reports related to the The Sanlu Group, a dairy products company in China. The company said the products in question may be adulterated and it has begun its own investigation.
The provincial Public Health Bureau said further investigations would be carried out to find if there was any connection between the kidney stones and the milk powder.
Kidney stones are small, solid masses that form when salts or minerals normally found in urine crystallize inside the kidney. In 2004, at least 13 babies in eastern Anhui province in China died after drinking fake milk powder.
