Context:

• The United States (US) Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has warned that a common class of antibiotics, used to treat a variety of infections in addition to certain serious illnesses, can cause bleeding of the arteries, with fatal results.
• Although the risk of aortic aneurysm or dissection is low, we’ve observed that patients are twice as likely to experience an aortic aneurysm or dissection when prescribed a fluoroquinolone drug.

Aortic aneurysm

• “Aortic aneurysm” is a bulge in an artery that can grow and burst, causing dangerous or fatal bleeding.
• Patients most at risk for an aortic aneurysm after taking these antibiotics include senior citizens, those with high blood pressure, people with a history of blockages of the aorta or other blood vessels, and those who have genetic conditions like Marfan syndrome or Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.

Fluoroquinolone:

• antibiotics are often used to treat serious respiratory infections, pneumonia, urinary tract infection, plague and exposure to anthrax.
• They include drugs sold under the names ciprofloxacin, gemifloxacin, levofloxacin, moxifloxacin, norfloxacin and ofloxacin. Patients usually take them orally or through injection.

Source:Downtoearth