Quinolone antibiotics are among the most popular medications in the United States, but they also come with some of the most severe side effects. Patients have reportedly suffered several severe adverse effects such as nerve damage, vision damage, and Stevens Johnson Syndrome (SJS).

Quinolones are a family of synthetic broad-range antibiotics, which can be prescribed to treat a variety of infections. Most notably, several drugs in this pharmaceutical family have been approved to treat certain sexually transmitted diseases, urinary tract infections, ear infections, and respiratory infections.

Some of the most popularly prescribed quinolones include: Cipro (ciprofloxacin), Levaquin (levofloxacin), and Avelox (moxifloxacin), and others.

However, medical experts warn against prescribing quinolones unless they absolutely believe it is the best treatment method for the patient’s infection.

Some of the most severe injury reports come from patients who suffered an extreme allergic reaction, called Stevens Johnson Syndrome (SJS). Patients have also reported suffering from its more severe cousin, Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis (TEN), which is a more progressive form of SJS.

Overview of Stevens Johnson Syndrome Complications

Stevens Johnson Syndrome is an extreme allergic reaction that is specifically caused by one or more medications. While very rare, experienced medical experts state that SJS is more likely if drugs are taken in conjunction with each other, and if the patient has a medical history of drug sensitivity.

Due to its rarity, many new physicians have yet to encounter this condition.

SJS begins with flu-like symptoms, and will strike within the first two to eight weeks of starting a medication. However, the most obvious sign of Stevens Johnson Syndrome is the infamous red or purple skin lesions that appear on the patient’s skin, which can cover up to about 30 percent of the body.  Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis can cover up to as much as 90 percent of the body.

The infected skin areas then detach from the skin, creating a melting appearance, which ultimately exposes the patient to risk of infection and further complications.

Due to the nature of these injuries, SJS patients are often treated in the burn unit of hospitals because of the common need for skin grafts. Patients who are lucky enough to survive this ordeal are often left with permanent skin scarring, vision damage or blindness, internal organ damage, and the strong possibility of recurrence.

Both Stevens Johnson Syndrome and Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis are extremely rare adverse effects, with an average of 300 cases reported per year in the United States. Despite the low report numbers, the FDA Adverse Events Reporting System (AERS) has documented approximately 2,500 deaths that were allegedly caused by quinolone SJS, between the years 1997 and 2010.

During that same period, there were 45,000 quinolone SJS injury reports submitted at that time. The FDA states that only 10 percent of adverse event reports are submitted to the AERS, which means that 90 percent of all injury reports go unreported. This means there could be many more instances of quinolone SJS, but it has not been documented.

Many patients who suffered SJS after taking either Cipro, Levaquin, Avelox, or any other quinolone drug have filed SJS quinolone lawsuits against the manufacturing companies.

These patients claim that the companies failed in their civil duty to protect them against the dangerous side effects of their drugs, and never would have taken the quinolones if they had known about the possibility of Stevens Johnson Syndrome.