Additional hint: “The latest FDA warning against the use of my class of drugs has to do with increased risk of ruptures or tears in the aorta in certain patients, including the elderly and those with hypertension, aortic aneurysm or peripheral vascular disease.”
Editor’s note: This post is part of the P4P “Talking Therapeutics” series designed to make learning about antibiotics fun. Individual antibiotics give a short description of themselves and you are asked to guess their names. Antimicrobial spectrum, common uses and potential adverse effects follow. Enjoy!
And the answer is…… HERE
Selected antimicrobial spectrum
Gram-positives: Streptococcus pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus (some resistance even in MSSA), Enterococcus spp (urine;some resistance)
Gram-negatives: Enterics (eg, E. coli, Klebsiella spp), Pseudomonas spp, Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, H. influenzae, some ESBLs.
AVOID: MRSA, anaerobes
Common clinical uses: community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), healthcare-associated pneumonia (HAP), urinary tract infections (UTIs), legionnaire’s disease, abdominal infection (plus anaerobic coverage)
WATCH OUT! QT prolongation, C. difficile, central nervous system toxicity, seizures, myasthenia gravis, peripheral neuropathy, tendinopathy, drug interactions (eg. warfarin), and most recently aortic aneurysm diagnosis/dissection!
Remember the key features of levofloxacin before you prescribe it!
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Selected references
- FDA. FDA warns about increased risk of ruptures or tears in the aorta blood vessel with fluoroquinolone antibiotics in certain patients. https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-warns-about-increased-risk-ruptures-or-tears-aorta-blood-vessel-fluoroquinolone-antibiotics. Accessed Nov 26, 2020,.
- Marangon FB, Miller D, Muallem MS, et al. Ciprofloxacin and levofloxacin resistance among methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus isolates from keratitis and conjunctivitis. Am J Ophthal 2004;137:453-58. https://www.ajo.com/article/S0002-9394(03)01287-X/pdf
- Yasufuku T, Shigemura K, Shirakawa T, et al. Mechanisms of and risk factors for fluoroquinolone resistance in clinical Enterococcus faecalis from patients with urinary tract infections. J Clin Microbiol 2011;49:3912-16. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3209098/
- Rawla P, Helou MLE, Vellipuram AR. Fluoroquinolones and the risk of aortic aneurysm or aortic dissection: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Cardiovasc Hematol Agents Med Chem 2019;17:3-10. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6865049/
Disclosures: The listed questions and answers are solely the responsibility of the author and do not necessarily represent the official views of Mercy Hospital-St. Louis or its affiliate healthcare centers. Although every effort has been made to provide accurate information, the author is far from being perfect. The reader is urged to verify the content of the material with other sources as deemed appropriate and exercise clinical judgment in the interpretation and application of the information provided herein. No responsibility for an adverse outcome or guarantees for a favorable clinical result is assumed by the author. Thank you!