MORE DETAILS EMERGE OVER SWEET SICKNESS AT OCHI PRIMARY
Some Fainted, Others Were Disoriented After Having Unapproved Sweets
(School bus outside St Ann’s Bay Hospital’s A&E)
Nearly 60 students were treated this afternoon at the St Ann’s Bay Hospital and at least one private doctor’s office following complaints of dizziness and ill health after they consumed a product sold as a sweet/snack at their school.
The children affected were from the Ocho Rios Primary School and bought the product at the school gate on Milford Road, in the tourist resort, St Ann.
The Communications office at the St Ann’s Bay Hospital confirmed that 56 children between the ages of seven and 12 presented at the Hospital’s A&E department. Thirty-nine were females and 17 were males.
The Hospital said the predominant symptoms include but were not limited to :
drowsiness, dizziness, and dehydration.
Reports are the children bought the product from a vendor who was not among those usually at the gate.
The package taken from one of the students identifies the product as Dimo Full Throttle Sour Belts.
The labelling says it is NOT to be consumed by children and also has warnings against use by pregnant and lactating mothers. It is NOT approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.
Reports are, several students began to say they were dizzy or felt sick and some said they felt “high” after consuming the sweet. Some fell to the ground at the school. In the early stages of the complaints, parents were called about the illness. However, when it became clear that it might have been something they consumed it was arranged for several of them to be taken to the St Ann’s Bay hospital.
The school bus took some, private cars and staff members took others and police took some to hospital.
Watch as a bus with more than 20 children pulled up to the A&E Department at St Ann’s Bay Hospital
