title: Myasthenia gravis exacerbation or unmasking associated with telithromycin treatment.
abstract: Telithromycin, a new ketolide antibiotic, has been implicated in the exacerbation or unmasking of myasthenia gravis. This retrospective study presents two clinical reports and summarizes eight other suspected cases notified to the French pharmacovigilance system, highlighting a potentially life-threatening risk of telithromycin treatment in myasthenic patients. An important common feature was that, in seven cases, symptomatology occurred within 2 hours of first telithromycin intake--notably in cases of severe exacerbation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology A, Hôpital Neurologique, Hospices Civils de Lyon, France. xavier.perrot@chu-lyon.fr
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Perrot
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bernard
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vial
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Antoine
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Laurent
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Vial
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Confavreux
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vukusic
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000009:adverse effects; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D048628:Ketolides / Q000009:adverse effects*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009157:Myasthenia Gravis / Q000139:chemically induced*
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D048628:Ketolides; C106791:telithromycin