A patient receives treatment in a local hospital in Guangzhou, capital city of south's China Guangdong province May 15, 2006. The patient shows symptoms of acute renal failure and has been found to have taken a fake injection produced by a chemical works in Qiqihar,  northeast China's Heilongjiang Provinc. The concerfeit medicine have led to four deaths. [Xinhua]

Diethylene glycol, which was discovered in Armillarisin A that has killed at least five people, was also found in another four drugs, the provincial Food and Drug Administration said.

The four are Tongxinshu, an enema fluid used as a painkiller in children; Puerarin, which is injected for blood vessel diseases; Yansuan Naifupan, injected to treat pain; and Shuqisong, injected to treat arthritis and respiratory system disorders.

A total of 12 batches of the five drugs made by the Qiqihar No. 2 Pharmaceutical Co Ltd are tainted, the administration said.

A Jiangsu Province farmer, Wang Guiping, sold about 1 ton of diethylene glycol under labels saying it was propylene glycol made by the province's Taixing Chemical Factory, initial investigation showed.

Wang, a former salesman at the Taixing Chemical Factory, bought the diethylene glycol from a factory in Changzhou, a neighboring city in Jiangsu. The Taixing factory is a producer of dyes. Wang is in police custody.

Niu Zhongren, an experienced worker in charge of purchase at the drugmaker, bought the chemical at more than 6,000 yuan (US$750) per ton. The imported propylene glycol was about 17,000 yuan per ton.

The company mixed the diethylene glycol in at least 72,000 ampoules of Armillarisin A in March, officials said.

Niu and six others at the drugmaker, including three top company officials, have been detained.

The No. 3 Hospital Affiliated to Sun Yat-sen University in Guangdong's provincial capital Guangzhou bought 3,600 ampoules of the tainted Armillarisin, the Guangzhou Daily reported yesterday. The hospital used 887 ampoules on its patients.

The hospital said five people had died of kidney failure caused by the injections.