The French know them as Tavanic, Ciflox or Oflocet: fluoroquinolone antibiotics, normally prescribed for serious bacterial infections, can cause disabling adverse effects.
After the presentation of around twenty complaints against X or the doctors, the Paris prosecutor’s office opened an investigation for involuntary manslaughter and deception, RMC announced this Wednesday, March 27.
“I am destroyed”
According to the National Medicines Safety Agency (ANSM), fluoroquinolones are indicated in the treatment of several types of bacterial infections that, for some of them, can be life-threatening.
However, they have serious side effects such as neurological disorders, damage to nerves, tendons, heart problems, etc.
These effects can “appear from the first 48 hours of treatment and up to several months after stopping treatment,” specifies the ANSM.
Françoise, interviewed by RMC, was treated for four days against salmonellosis. For eight months now, she says she is “quadriplegic.” “I can’t lift a plate anymore, I need someone to go to the bathroom. She has made me completely dependent even though I was an independent person. I’m devastated.”
Recipes decrease, but not enough
The health authorities have taken charge of the problem. According to the Ministry of Health, between 2015 and 2022, the number of fluoroquinolone prescriptions decreased by 39%, partly thanks to the information notes sent to professionals.
In one of them, last June, the ANSM warned of the results of a study by the European Medicines Agency that showed that fluoroquinolones would continue to be used outside of authorized indications for several years.
“Special precautions should be taken in patients treated simultaneously with corticosteroids, in the elderly, in those with renal failure and in patients who have received a solid organ transplant,” the authorities stated.
From now on, before starting treatment with these antibiotics, patients must be informed by their doctor of the possible adverse effects associated with their use.
If symptoms appear, patients should “quickly” contact their treating doctor or go to the emergency room in case of sudden and intense abdominal, chest or back pain.
Source: BFM TV
