Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Levofloxacin-induced delirium

  • Case Report
  • Published:
Neurological Sciences Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

An 83-year-old man was admitted for right lower lobe pneumonia which did not improve after a 5-day outpatient treatment with amoxicillin/clavulinate and clarithromycin. An empiric treatment with levofloxacin was started with a significant improvement after 24 h of this treatment. On the third day of hospitalization, delirium developed, while the patient was afebrile and with normal blood oxygenation. Treatment with levofloxacin was stopped, and a complete resolution of the patient’s delirium was observed 2 days later. To the best of our knowledge, this is the third case of levofloxacin-induced delirium described in the medical literature.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Inouye SK (2006) Delirium in older persons. N Engl J Med 354:1157–1165

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Leentjens AF, van der Mast RC (2005) Delirium in elderly people. Curr Opin Psychiatry 18:325–330

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Alagiakrishnan K, Wiens CA (2004) An approach to drug induced delirium in the elderly. Postgrad Med J 80:388–393

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Brown TM (2000) Drug-induced delirium. Semin Clin Neuropsychiatry 5:113–124

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Chow KM, Szeto CC, Hui AC, Wong TY, Li PK (2003) Retrospective review of neurotoxicity induced by cefepime and ceftazidime. Pharmacotherapy 23:369–373

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Vicente de Vera C, Garcia M, Pifarre Teixido R, Barbe F (2006) Delirium induced by clarithromycin in a patient with community-acquired pneumonia. Eur Respir J 28:671–672

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Mermelstein HT (1998) Clarithromycin-induced delirium in a general hospital. Psychosomatics 39:540–542

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Hakko E, Mete B, Ozaras R, Tabak F, Ozturk R, Mert A (2005) Levofloxacin-induced delirium. Clin Neurol Neurosurg 107:158–159

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Kiangkitiwan B, Doppalapudi A, Fonder M, Solberg K, Bhner B (2008) Levofloxacin-induced delirium with psychotic features. Gen Hosp Psychiatry 30:381–383

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Fennig S, Mauas L (1992) Ofloxacin-induced delirium. J Clin Psychiatry 53:137–138

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Jungst G, Mohr R (1988) Overview of postmarketing experience with ofloxacin in Germany. J Antimicrob Chemother 22:167–168

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Jungst G, Mohr R (1987) Side effects of ofloxacin in clinical trails and in postmarketing surveillance. Drugs 34:S144–S149

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Ball P, Mandell L, Niki Y (1999) Comparative tolerability of newer fluoroquinolone antibacterials. Drug Saf 21:410–421

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Fernandez-Torre JL (2006) Levofloxacin-induced delirium: diagnostic considerations. Clin Neurol Neurosurg 108:614–618

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Isaacson SH, Carr J, Rowan AJ (1993) Ciprofloxacin-induced complex partial status epilepticus manifesting as an acute confusional state. Neurology 43:1619–1620

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Internal Medicine A, Bnai Zion Medical Center, P.O. Box 6477, 31063, Haifa, Israel

    Gleb Slobodin, Nizar Elias, Natalia Zaygraikin, Muhammad Sheikh-Ahmad & Majed Odeh

  2. Department of Neurology, Bnai Zion Medical Center, Haifa, Israel

    Sergiu Sabetay & Boaz Weller

  3. Bruce Rapoport Faculty of Medicine, Technion, Haifa, Israel

    Gleb Slobodin, Nizar Elias, Boaz Weller & Majed Odeh

Authors
  1. Gleb Slobodin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Nizar Elias
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Natalia Zaygraikin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Muhammad Sheikh-Ahmad
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Sergiu Sabetay
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Boaz Weller
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Majed Odeh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Majed Odeh.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Slobodin, G., Elias, N., Zaygraikin, N. et al. Levofloxacin-induced delirium. Neurol Sci 30, 159–161 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-009-0027-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-009-0027-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation