Category: Toxicology
Posted: 4/9/2020 by Hong Kim, MD
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A 7 year-old Spanish speaking female presents to the emergency room after ingestion of 2 – 3 tablets of her sister’s medication. She complains of nausea/vomiting with diarrhea, periorbital/facial swelling, and flushing of her skin. Her urine is reddish but there is no blood is shown in urinalysis/urine microscopic analysis. The patient's sister is taking the medication for a respiratory condition.
Which medication did she take?
Rifampin
Rifampin is often used to treat tuberculosis as part of a combination therapy. It inhibits RNA chain polymerization in mycobacteria. Rifampin also has significant drug-drug interaction issue due to induction of CYP3A4, 1A2, 2C9 and 2C19.
Isolated rifampin ingestion infrequently leads to serious toxicity.
Common symptoms of acute toxicity include:
Chronic toxicity
Management of acute toxicity is mainly supportive.