Posted on 03/11/2005 11:40:50 PM PST by thoughtomator
The Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center revealed Thursday it had administered the wrong kind of penicillin to more than 650 patients treated for syphilis from 1999 to March 2004.
At first the center believed only 300 were exposed to the wrong drug.
But in a joint report with the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the center said 663 patients at the Center got Bicillin C-R, which contains only half the dose of benzathine penicillin G (brand name: Bicillin L-A) that the CDC recommends for treating the disease.
If a syphilis infection is not treated properly, debilitating symptoms can emerge years after the original infection.
"Early in 1999 the distributor of Bicillin L-A ran out of the medication. In fact, there was a national shortage. They substituted it with a lesser dosage," explained Darrel Cummings, chief of staff for the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center.
The medical mix-up was discovered last year after a patient read package instructions stating the medicine would not treat syphilis.
"When we discovered this we contacted the public health department in Los Angeles and then we got on the phone with the CDC," Cummings said.
As a result of the ensuing investigation, King Pharmaceuticals, whose subsidiary, Monarch Pharmaceuticals, markets Bicillin products, has agreed to packaging and labeling changes to prevent similar mistakes in the future.
Of the 663 patients treated with the wrong medication, investigators have been able to contact only 398 of them; there are 265 people who still do not know they were treated with the wrong version of penicillin.
Of the 255 who agreed to be retreated, 19 (4 percent) underwent a lumbar puncture procedure for suspected treatment failure. One such patient was subsequently diagnosed with neurosyphilis, according to a CDC report.
Dr. Jason Schneider, a board member of the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association (GLMA), said patients not treated with the right medication could see symptoms appear later on.
"The manifestations are very different than the initial ulcer or chancre," he said. "The most common sign is a diffuse rash all over the body. If syphilis is untreated for many years it could lead to heart problems and nervous system problems, including dementia."
If only they read the package instructions that came with their humanity, they wouldn't have this problem...
IT'S BUSH's FAULT!!! (how long before the MSM are screaming that?)
Is a gay clinic a happy clinic?
I hate it when clinics are sad.
Some how, some way this is going to become the manufacturer's fault.
OVER 5% of test group subsequently diagnosed with neurosyphilis!
John Edwards will return your call as soon as he can.
If the GLMA has deep pockets.
.
Laughing aside, this mix up is an outrage. Doesn't this clinic have any 'real' medical personnel?
Honestly, the typical gay lifestyle would result in these gUys, even if they had been treated and cured, being reinfected anyway. IF they have any concern for their health, they would already have been checked at another clinic and treated (maybe even properly) for syphillis which they probably thought was a new infection. Isn't it recommended that gay gUys be check for STD's several times a year?
Ping
Sounds like conspiracy to me....
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