Antibiotic may be linked to liver problems

WASHINGTON -- Researchers reported Friday three cases of severe liver problems, including one death, in patients at a North Carolina hospital after they began taking a novel antibiotic.\nFederal regulators said they were reviewing an unknown number of U.S. cases involving the drug, telithromycin, and were consulting with their counterparts overseas.\nOne patient at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, N.C., died after taking telithromycin, which is marketed as Ketek, researchers at the hospital said. Another required and received a liver transplant, while the third recovered from drug-induced hepatitis after treatment with Ketek was stopped.\nThe severity of the cases warranted the researchers alerting doctors to what they called a "possible link with telithromycin," said Dr. John Hanson, who works in the liver transplant center at Carolinas Medical Center.\nThe reports do not prove the drug caused the problems, researchers said. Nor is there enough information to support major changes in how the drug is prescribed, Hanson said. Two of the three patients reported some use of alcohol, although there was no prior evidence of liver damage.\nThe Food and Drug Administration approved the drug, marketed as Ketek, in 2004 for treatment of acute bacterial infections from chronic bronchitis, acute bacterial sinusitis, and community-acquired pneumonia.