Banner Good Samaritan Poison and Drug Information Center Issues Statewide Alert
PHOENIX (May 12, 2010) – Medical toxicologists at Banner Good Samaritan Poison and Drug Information Center are reaching out to physicians statewide to warn about an increase in a deadly trend that can easily be missed.
The new concerns is over levamisole, a drug no longer used in humans, but which is a deworming agent used in animals. The drug is increasingly showing up as an adulterant in cocaine—adding new concerns for those who may be using the illicit drug—and for doctors who may not know what to look for.
Steven Curry, MD,a medical toxicologist with the Banner Good Samaritan Poison and Drug Information Center, says cocaine laced with levamisole can cause persons to develop agranulocytosis, which means that a person’s white blood cell count becomes dangerously low, compromising the ability to fight infection. If doctors confronted with a patient suffering from low white blood cell counts do not know to look for levamisole exposure as the cause, they may perform unneeded diagnostic tests and treatments.
Dr. Curry and his colleagues are “urging physicians to consider the possibility of levamisole exposure in patients with newly diagnosed agranulocytosis. A history of cocaine use and/or a urine drug screen positive for cocaine or cocaine metabolites would provide support for this diagnosis.”
The Banner Good Samaritan Poison and Drug Information Center is sending information to nearly 3,000 physicians statewide to help raise awareness.
About Banner Good Samaritan Poison and Drug Information Center
The Banner Good Samaritan Poison and Drug Information Center is just a phone call away, and can be reached at 1-800-222-1222. The center provides a free, 24-hour emergency telephone service for both residents and medical professionals of Maricopa County.
About Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center
Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center has been providing medical care to Arizona and the Southwest since 1911. Banner Good Samaritan is owned and operated by Phoenix-based Banner Health, a nonprofit-organization. The hospital was named to the 2009-’10 U.S. News & World Report’s “America’s Best Hospitals” list for Gynecology, Heart & Heart Surgery and Kidney Disorders. Banner Good Samaritan has been recognized as a Magnet™ facility by the American Nurses Credentialing Center, the highest honor a hospital can earn for its nursing care and practices, and has been named one of the Best Places to Work in the Valley by The Phoenix Business Journal and BestCompaniesAZ in 2007 and 2008 and one of the “Top 100 Hospitals to Work For” by Nursing Professionals magazine.
