Japan supplement deaths suspected to be linked to outside mold

OSAKA/TOKYO -- The red yeast rice dietary supplements linked to five deaths in Japan may have been contaminated by mold from outside the factory during production, experts say, based on the latest information.

Two and a half months have passed since the initial reports of people getting sick after ingesting the products made by Japanese drugmaker Kobayashi Pharmaceutical, but authorities still lack a full picture of how this happened. The health ministry reports that 188 people were hospitalized as of Wednesday.