Case Report
Sabrina A Gmuca *,Nicole Poupp
Abstract
A 14-year-old, 86 kg, female treated with piperacillin-tazobactam [cumulative dose of 114.75 g (1.3 g/kg)] for a bone-related infection developed neutropenia and bone marrow suppression/cell line destruction after 10 days of treatment. Reported cases of piperacillin-induced myelosuppression in adults typically occur after 15 days of therapy, and this adolescent received a much shorter duration of therapy. As we are beginning to understand how the frequent use of antibiotics in the pediatric population affects their unique microbiome, which may have long-term implications on their health, we also need to consider if adverse event profiles are distinct or different in children. While this case will not answer these important questions, it underscores the need for further investigation. One could postulate that pediatric pharmacovigilance is better served by restricting data mining analysis to a smaller pediatric subset, as adverse/possible events in children cannot be solely compared to or tabulated with adult data. Further studies are needed to determine pediatric-specific drug safety profiles for piperacillin-tazobactam and other drugs used in the pediatric population.