Pharmacy Friday #1: Antibiotic Alternatives to Fluoroquinolones for Infectious Disease

Welcome to EMM's first Pharmacy Friday where we dive deeper on a certain pharmacological topic as it pertains to emergency medicine. Dr. Rachael Duncan, emergency medicine clinical Pharmacist, joins us today to talk about antibiotics use for infectious disease, specifically fluoroquinolones. Special thanks to Dr. Nichole Neville, infectious disease pharmacist, for much of the information presented in this podcast. Educational Pearls: Levofloxacin and other fluoroquinolones used to be relied upon heavily due to key upsides including ease of use and wide spectrum coverage of common bacteria. Overuse over the past decade has resulted in the discovery of 3 concerns that have led to their use being advised against in most patients These concerns are patient adverse reactions, safety concerns and drug resistance. Patient adverse reactions include potential QTc prolongation, neurologic symptoms including worsening of myasthenia gravis or peripheral neuropathy and severe hypoglycemia. Due to these adverse effects, a new term was coined: fluoroquinolone-associated disability. In an FDA report, they looked at the percentage of disability reports among all serious outcome reports of selected antibiotics and found that the top 5 antibiotics that led to disability reports were fluoroquinolones. Safety concerns have led to several black box warnings as well. Drug resistance due to overuse has also severely decreased the susceptibility rates of fluoroquinolones at many institutions. Check out your facility's antibiograms to get an idea of what susceptibility rates are for different drugs. Common infections that are inappropriately given fluoroquinolones when other options would be better suited are PNA, UTI and intra-abdominal infections. Tune in next week for more on cross-reactivity of cephalosporins and penicillins References: Fda.gov. 2017. Fluoroquinolone Safety Labeling Changes . [online] Available at: https://www.fda.gov/media/104060/download > [Accessed 21 August 2020]. Idsociety.org. 2018. Practice Guidelines . [online] Available at: https://www.idsociety.org/practice-guideline/practice-guidelines/#/date_na_dt/DESC/0/+/ > [Accessed 18 August 2020]. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. 2018. FDA Updates Warnings For Oral And Injectable Fluoroquinolone . [online] Available at: https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-drug-safety-communication-fda-updates-warnings-oral-and-injectable-fluoroquinolone-antibiotics > [Accessed 18 August 2020].