Three more children have been hospitalized in Ho Chi Minh City with allergies developed after having milk produced by FrieslandCampina Vietnam.

A fifteen-year-old boy from Binh Chanh District was hospitalized Thursday night with critical allergic symptoms, including shock and low blood pressure, according to the Children’s Hospital No.2.

The boy’s family said the teenager and his three-year-old younger brother had the same Vivinal GOS milk, but the smaller sibling didn’t develop any allergy.

Two brothers from the adjacent province of Binh Duong were also admitted to the hospital on Friday with allergies also after having Vivinal GOS, the hospital said.

The hospital previously admitted five children with similar symptoms and causes between Oct 13 and 19, which prompted them to propose that the city’s health department conducts an investigation.

The investigation, including epidemiological checks, is still under way, said Hoang Thuy Tien, deputy head of the health ministry’s Food Safety and Hygiene Department. He said this at a press briefing organized by FrieslandCampina Vietnam, which was renamed from Dutch Lady Vietnam in July.

As there is no clear evidence that the milk causes allergies in the children at the moment, they can’t ask the producer to stop circulating the products, Tien added.

Jan Bles, managing director of FrieslandCampina Vietnam, said at the press briefing that they’d sent many milk samples to the European TNO Laboratory for tests and results showed Vivinal GOS doesn’t contain common allergens.

It’s out of the company’s expertise to identify what has caused allergies in the children, he noted, urging the health ministry to speed up the investigation.

Source: Thanh Nien, Tuoi Tre