LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Fatal heart rhythms associated with Azithromycin

Madam, Azithromycin is a broad spectrum macrolide antibiotic that is widely used to treat bacterial infections. Azithromycin was reported to be generally free of cardiotoxic effects. However, a recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine concludes that patients who undertook azithromycin therapy had an increased number of cardiovascular deaths, especially sudden cardiac deaths compared with patients who did not take antibiotics or who took other antibiotics. In this study, the researchers at Vanderbilt University examined the records of thousands of patients over a span of fourteen years, and associated azithromycin with a 2.5 times higher risk of mortality from cardiac problems. Wayne Ray, the research leader, expressed his concern that people with underlying heart problems who use azithromycin are at a higher risk.