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disease stevens_johnson_syndromeStevens Johnson Syndrome is a rare disorder characterized by inflammation of the mucous membranes of the mouth, throat, anogenital region, intestinal tract and membrane lining the eyelids. Every year, drug reactions cause about one-third of the estimated 5,000 hospitalizations required to treat Stevens Johnson Syndrome, toxic epidermal necrolysis and similar disorders in the U.S according to a January 2005 published study.
The Stevens Johnson Syndrome Foundation has said a rise in disease incidence affecting children taking ibuprofen during 2004 has occurred yet most doctors and parents still do not know what the condition is. In about 10 to 30 percent of all Stevens Johnson Syndrome cases, the patient will end up blind or dead.
Though the causes of Stevens Johnson Syndrome in recent months have focused on the use of ibuprofen among children, Stevens Johnson Syndrome is a devastating event that can occur in people of all ages reacting to ibuprofen, seizure medication, antibiotics and other drugs. Causes of Stevens Johnson Syndrome can be from any drugs, but drugs containing sulfa have been the most frequently linked to the disease. Other causes of Stevens Johnson Syndrome include reactions to a variety of viruses.
In February 2005, a group of doctors and families called on federal regulators to warn the public that ibuprofen like Advil, and other similar drugs, are causes of Stevens Johnson Syndrome. The petition asked the FDA to order label warnings on products containing ibuprofen because they are causes of Stevens Johnson Syndrome. Despite the rare effect, resulting in about five in one million users, users who continue to take the drug can develop toxic epidermal necrolysis, resembling severe burn injuries all over the body and this is fatal in up to one-third of cases.
McNeil Consumer & Specialty Products, which make several forms of adult and children’s Motrin, issued a statement stressing the rarity of Stevens Johnson Syndrome, as well as pointing out there are other causes of Stevens Johnson Syndrome besides ibuprofen. According to Michael Nicar, a toxicologist from Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, who also signed the petition, “all we’re asking for is a few sentences on the box. We’re not asking that the drug be ‘withdrawn’ from the market.”
Warnings that the causes of Stevens Johnson Syndrome are linked to ibuprofen will allow highlighting the risk of the disorder so that consumers understand if a rash appears to immediately discontinue use and contact a physician. The petition also asked the FDA to launch an investigation to determine if ibuprofen manufacturers withheld critical safety data about over-the-counter forms of the drug.
It is unknown what exactly the causes of Stevens Johnson Syndrome are, though the potentially deadly effects are well known.
Most people have never heard of Stevens Johnson Syndrome, and that is probably because it only occurs in about five in one million users. A group of doctors and families are now calling on federal regulators to warn the public about this potentially...
Wyeth has been named in a lawsuit for the death of a three-year-old girl. According to the parents, under their doctor’s advice, their daughter was given the over-the-counter medicine children’s Advil to treat her fever.
Within two weeks...