An investigation into the safety and prescription of 4th generation antibiotics, which belong to the fluoroquinolone category, was opened by the Paris Prosecutor’s Office, following dozens of complaints from citizens about serious side effects they experienced after their use.
Fluoroquinolones (in Greece they are sold under various names, the best known being Ciproxin) have been used for more than 30 years in medicine and it is known, as is also written in the relevant instruction sheets, that they can have serious side effects, affecting the nervous system, the tendons and the heart. But due to their long-term use and their wide prescription for the treatment of serious bacterial infections, the complaints that reached the French authorities increased, resulting in the Public Prosecutor’s Office taking the decision to open an investigation.
According to what was announced, the prosecutor’s office will base its investigation, which opened on March 27, on more than 20 citizen complaints, and the direction in which it will move will be to charge (it is not clear who will be charged) for manslaughter and fraud. The investigation opens after at least 9 years of efforts to raise public and physician awareness of the administration and use of fluoroquinolones. The Ministry of Health’s campaign to limit their prescription over the past nine years has resulted in a 39% reduction in their prescription in France, but so far no obligation has been imposed on doctors to inform patients of the possible health effects of the use of fluoroquinolones before starting treatment.
The guidelines given by the Ministry of Health regarding the use of these antibiotics, for now, are that patients who experience strange symptoms during or after taking these drugs should immediately contact their treating physicians or go to the emergency room. in case of sudden pain in the back, chest or abdomen. In addition, in its instructions, the Ministry of Health states: “Special precautions should be taken in patients undergoing simultaneous treatment with corticosteroids, in the elderly, in people with renal failure and in patients who have received a solid organ transplant.”
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