Fluoroquinolone antibiotics: Prescribe only as last resort, says UK regulator

Doctors should prescribe fluoroquinolones only where no other antibiotics are appropriate for use, the UK’s medicines regulator has said. In a safety update the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency said it had introduced further restrictions to limit use of fluoroquinolone antibiotics after reviewing current measures to reduce the risk of long term or irreversible side effects.1Serious adverse reactions to fluoroquinolones include tendinitis or tendon rupture, muscle pain, muscle weakness, joint pain, joint swelling, peripheral neuropathy, and central nervous system effects.Last year the MHRA also received a report of a death by suicide of a doctor thought to be related to the fluoroquinolone antibiotic ciprofloxacin.23As of 22 January, fluoroquinolone given systemically by mouth, injection, or inhalation must be given only when there are no alternative antibiotics appropriate for use, the safety update said. Fluoroquinolones should be prescribed only when other recommended antibiotics have failed, will not work because of resistance,…
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