Family feared mother who drank aloe vera juice was going to die
A family told how they feared their mother would die when she collapsed after drinking juice apparently contaminated with a drug.
Police are investigating how neat ketamine came to be inside bottles of aloe vera juice sold in Leicester.
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Police urged anyone who has a bottle of the juice to hand it in at a police station
A 60-year-old woman from Rushey Mead was one of two left seriously ill in hospital after drinking the Gayatri brand product.
Health officials yesterday confirmed the chemical was ketamine and urged anyone who has a bottle of the juice to hand it in at a police station.
The woman's daughter, who asked for her family not to be identified, said she arrived at her parents' house five minutes after receiving a panicked phone call from her father on Wednesday evening.
Her mother had collapsed after complaining of a burning sensation in her throat.
The daughter said: "When I got there, I thought she was going to die. My dad was crying as the paramedics were trying to revive her. It was awful.
"She was basically in a vegetative state. They thought she might have bleeding on the brain. I thought 'that's it'."
The family took the bottle of aloe vera juice to the hospital with them.
Another woman was admitted on Friday with similar symptoms. Her family took in the same brand of juice. It was then doctors raised the alarm.
The first woman has now regained consciousness.
Her daughter said: "All she could remember was a burning in her throat and stomach.
"Hopefully, she will now get better but it will take time."
The second woman was said to be in a "satisfactory" condition.
Health officials said they had cleared one city shop of the stock and were investigating whether it was being sold anywhere else in Leicester.
Dr Philip Monk, a public health consultant with the Health Protection Agency, said: "We can confirm it was ketamine and probably neat.
"It is an anaesthetic agent – it slows the breathing."
He said in the small doses the women took it was unlikely to prove fatal – but added it could cause serious damage.
A police spokeswoman said: "We are working with the Health Protection Agency to look into how the drinks consumed came to be potentially contaminated.
"Police are keeping an open mind as to the circumstances."
Adrian Russell, the city council's director of environmental services, said he did not think the product was widely sold.
He said: "We are relying on getting the message out to shopkeepers and others."
Comments
by ULHAS KARLE, India
Monday, July 19 2010, 11:21AM
“I,ULHAS KARLE, Managing director of Gayatri Herbals Pvt.Ltd am indeed shocked to see the news about certain drug ketamine being found in the bottle of Aloevera juice in leicester.We are a very reputed company and we have been selling Aloevera juice since last 10 years ONLY IN INDIA with numerous satified customers.Firstly we have never exported aloevera juice to UK at all.We are surprised as to how the product went to UK and secondly how it got contaminated with Ketamine as per the reports in media.It is certainly a case of pilferage done by some anti-social elements and they used out product as the medium.I am a herbal scientist with
strong technical background and all our products are tried and tested with several testimonials.I request the concerned authorities to find out the real culprits who are playing with the human lives.We sincerely pray for the wellbeing of the two women who were unfortunately the victims of something so dangerous.I again stress that we have no connection whatsoever with the presence of ketamine in the aloevera juice.We are open to any cooperation to the authorities regarding the investigation process.”