What Doctors Don't Tell YouSeveral possible risks have emerged with fluconazole, marketed here by Pfizer as Diflucan, the once a day oral or injectable court of last resort anti candida drug.
A 22 year old woman with no previous allergies was given fluconazole orally to treat vaginal candida.
Within a few minutes she developed a severe anaphylactic (or hyper sensitive) reaction, including several oedema and hypotension, to the point where her pulse was barely detectable.
The writers, two doctors from the University of Basle in Switzerland, believe the woman could have been sensitized to fluconazole after taking two imidazole derivatives (ketoconazole and metronidazole) earlier for the same problem.
In the same issue of The Lancet, a correspondent complained about the failure of the drug to treat candida in a burns patient, who went on to receive successful treatment with amphotericin B.
This correspondent was the latest of a number to complain about the drug’s failure to work in certain conditions.
Daniel Redwood DC
Tom Ferguson MD
