The American Journal of Medicine
Volume 122, Issue 3 , Pages e3-e4 , March 2009

Levofloxacin-induced Hypoglycemia: A Rare but Life-threatening Side Effect of a Widely Used Antibiotic

  • Theodoros Kelesidis, MD

      Affiliations

    • Corresponding Author InformationRequests for reprints should be addressed to Theodoros Kelesidis, MD, Department of Medicine, Caritas St Elizabeth's Medical Center, Tufts University School of Medicine, 736 Cambridge Street, SJ3ID, Boston, MA 02135
    • ,
  • Elvia Canseco, MD

References 

  1. Singh N, Jacob JJ. Levofloxacin and hypoglycemia. Clin Infect Dis. 2008;46:1127
  2. Friedrich LV, Dougherty R. Fatal hypoglycemia associated with levofloxacin. Pharmacotherapy. 2004;24:1807–1812
  3. Kanbay M, Aydogan T, Bozalan R, et al. A rare but serious side effect of levofloxacin: hypoglycemia in a geriatric patient. Diabetes Care. 2006;29:1716–1717
  4. Lawrence KR, Adra M, Keir C. Hypoglycemia-induced anoxic brain injury possibly associated with levofloxacin. J Infect. 2006;52:e177–e180
  5. Wang S, Rizvi AA. Levofloxacin-induced hypoglycemia in a nondiabetic patient. Am J Med Sci. 2006;331:334–335
  6. Gibert AE, Porta FS. Hypoglycemia and levofloxacin: a case report. Clin Infect Dis. 2008;46:1126–1127
  7. Vallurupalli S, Huesmann G, Gregory J, Jakoby MG. Levofloxacin-associated hypoglycaemia complicated by pontine myelinolysis and quadriplegia. Diabet Med. 2008;25:856–859

 Funding: None.

 Conflict of Interest: No conflict of interest for all authors.

 Authorship: Both authors had access to the data and a role in writing the manuscript.

PII: S0002-9343(08)00984-4

doi: 10.1016/j.amjmed.2008.10.003

The American Journal of Medicine
Volume 122, Issue 3 , Pages e3-e4 , March 2009

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