Antibiotics are promoted as safe and effective, but side effects have been linked to a risk of peripheral neuropathy, which may leave users with a form of permanent nerve damage that attacks the peripheral nervous system.

Recently, studies have linked the use of certain oral fluoroquinolones antibiotics to the debilitating condition of peripheral neuropathy.

Fluoroquinolones are the most widely used class of antibiotics in the United States, with more than 23 million patients per year receiving prescriptions for the medications in pill form and another three million receiving injections.

The antibiotic drug Levaquin (levofloxacin) is prescribed to treat bacterial infections, pneumonia, and skin infections. It was created by the drug company Janssen Pharmaceuticals (part of Johnson & Johnson) and approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1996. It has been available as a generic drug since 2011. Every year, more than 6 million people are prescribed oral Levaquin or Cipro, another popular fluoroquinolone antibiotic.

Peripheral neuropathy (PN) is a nerve disorder occurring in the arms or legs. Symptoms include pain, burning, tingling, numbness, weakness, or a change in sensation to light touch, pain or temperature, or the sense of body position. It can occur at any time during treatment with fluoroquinolones and can last for months to years after the drug is stopped, or be permanent.

The FDA recently issued a warning that fluoroquinolone antibiotics such as Levaquin, taken by mouth or injection, carry a risk for permanent peripheral neuropathy.

Now, the first large epidemiologic study appears to have confirmed that Levaquin and Cipro are linked with peripheral neuropathy. An article published in the medical journal American Academy of Neurology, “Oral fluoroquinolone use and risk of peripheral neuropathy,” reported about that the risk of peripheral neuropathy is significantly elevated with the use of oral fluoroquinolones.

The study was led by Dr. Mahyar Etminan, a drug safety researcher at the University of British Columbia. This study, which involved 1 million men, showed that current users of Cipro and Levaquin are approximately twice as likely to develop peripheral neuropathy than non-users.

This latest study concludes that “Current users, especially new users of the antibiotics, are at a higher risk of developing peripheral neuropathy. Despite the increase in the use of fluoroquinolones, clinicians should weigh the benefits against the risk of adverse events when prescribing these drugs to their patients.”

Fluoroquinolone Antibiotics Peripheral Neuropathy Lawsuits

Instead of being reserved for use against serious, perhaps life-threatening bacterial infections like hospital-acquired pneumonia, these antibiotics are frequently prescribed for sinusitis, bronchitis, earaches and other ailments that may resolve on their own or can be treated with less potent drugs or non-drug remedies.

If you have taken the antibiotic Levaquin or Cipro and were later diagnosed with peripheral neuropathy, a form of nerve damage, you may be able to qualify for legal compensation.