Acute laryngotracheitis after accidental aspiration of clindamycin

Abstract

Clindamycin is a lincosamide antibiotic which works primarily by inhibiting protein synthesis by binding to the 50S ribosomal subunit of bacteria. It is mainly used for the treatment of anerobic, streptococcal and staphylococcal infections. Capsular clindamycin administered orally is used to prevent and treat infections after dental surgery.1,2 The most common adverse effects associated with clindamycin are diarrhea and allergic reactions and the major disadvantage of clindamycin is its propensity to cause Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea.3 The occurrence of esophagitis and esophageal ulcers is a quite frequent adverse reaction, which has been described in detail.4 In contrast, laryngotracheitis is not described as a possible adverse effect in the product information of clindamycin and reports are also lacking in the medical literature. We report a case of acute laryngotracheitis that occurred immediately after accidental aspiration of the content of a clindamycin capsule. To our knowledge, no comparable cases have been …