Controversial drug strikes again, causes allergic reaction

• Patient experienced numbness in arm and severe complications requiring ICU admission

By Sheain Fernandopulle

Ceftriaxone, the antibiotic which caused the tragic and untimely death of a 21-year-old woman in July, has caused another allergic reaction in a patient at the National Hospital Colombo, Daily Mirror learns. 

According to informed sources, the patient who was admitted to the hospital on December 09 over fatigability had been administered with Ceftriaxone. Subsequently, the patient has developed complications.

The patient had reportedly experienced numbness in his arm immediately after receiving the vaccine, following which he was admitted to the intensive care unit due to severe complications.

According to tests conducted in the intensive care unit, there has been a significant decrease in both blood pressure and the percentage of oxygen in the lungs.

Furthermore, sources told Daily Mirror that the doctors in the hospital had been informed by last morning not to use Ceftriaxone and, instead, to use alternate antibiotics.

Several attempts to contact a top health official to get a comment over the incident failed.
Ceftriaxone has sparked serious concerns in the recent past due to its association with allergic reactions in multiple patients, resulting in two fatalities and incidents of severe complications reported at hospitals such as Peradeniya Teaching Hospital and Teaching Hospital Kegalle.

Ceftriaxone is an antibiotic that is used to treat many kinds of bacterial infections.