A common antibiotic used to treat infections could be deadly for heart disease patients years after taking the drug. Clarithromycin, sold under the brand name Biaxin, is used to treat many skin, ear, sinus and lung infections.
People suffering from heart disease that took a two-week course of it had a significantly higher risk of heart attack or sudden death a year or more after they were treated for infection.
Clarithromycin belongs to a family of antibiotics called macrolides, which fight infections by blocking protein production in bacteria. Both clarithromycin and azithromycin-another common drug in the same family, sold as Z-Pak-are broad-spectrum antibiotics.
Respiratory infections have been shown, in some studies, to raise the risk of heart attack by as much as 17 percent, so it is key that heart disease patients get effective treatment for them quickly, but the FDA's trial suggests that clarithromycin could pose a similar risk to infection.
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