RU-486 Concerns

Reuters:
Reports of rare bacterial infections, including a handful of cases in women who have taken the controversial RU-486 abortion pill, are cause for concern and warrant further study, U.S. health experts said on Thursday.

Two sometimes fatal bugs -- Clostridium sordellii and Clostridium difficile -- are a particular worry as antibiotic resistance grows and infections occur in people without typical risk factors, doctors and researchers said.

While the infections also have been reported in drug users, surgical patients and accident victims, including men, those found in women taking the pill drew the most scrutiny at a public meeting at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Atlanta headquarters.

Officials from the CDC, the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health are seeking advice from outside experts to decide what research is needed to understand and track the infections.

Paul Seligman, associate director for safety policy at the FDA, said it was unclear what was triggering the new clusters of cases.

"What we do know is that in this country we are seeing the simultaneous emergence of two virulent, often fatal illnesses affecting otherwise healthy people," he said at the meeting.

Drawing the most scrutiny are at least 15 cases in pregnant women, including 10 fatal infections reported recently in women who had given birth or who had miscarriages.

Another six women who took RU-486, also known as Mifeprex or mifepristone, have died since 2000. Officials linked four of the cases to infection but could not tie them to the drug. Another case is under investigation and another was ruled unrelated.
Earlier post here.