Photo by Hal Samples
The Mesh Warrior Foundation, which was founded by Lakewood neighbor Aaron Horton, announced it is partnering with The Quinolone Vigilance Foundation to raise awareness about the prescribing of fluoroquinolone antibiotics to treat common infections concurrent with transvaginal mesh implant.
“Many patients who suffer complications after transvaginal mesh implant are prescribed fluoroquinolones, putting this subset of injured patients at risk for additional permanent illness and injury,” Horton says.
For more information about The Mesh Warrior Foundation, read our story from May.
To summarize, transvaginal mesh (TVM) is a medical device designed to treat two common women’s health issues: pelvic organ prolapse (POP) and/or stress urinary incontinence (SUI). TVM acts like a plastic net in an effort to support weakened pelvic muscles and/or a malfunctioning bladder. POP and SUI are common in women who’ve borne children, as the trauma of the birthing process can be stressful on a woman’s tissues and organs.
Fluoroquinolones have been linked to mitochondrial toxicity, a condition that can lead to brain disorders and permanent muscle weakness, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and fluoroquinolones can also lead to permanent nerve damage. “Despite the evidence linking these drugs to severe side effects, doctors continue to be prescribe them not only to patients suffering from TVM-related infection,” Horton says, “but also for relatively routine infections for which other antibiotics could be more safely prescribed.
“In my opinion, when a patient is prescribed fluoroquinolones as a first-line defense to combat infection associated with transvaginal mesh, it’s literally adding injury to injury,” she concludes.
Rachel Brummert, president and executive director of the Quinolone Vigilance Foundation, says they hope to join with The Mesh Warrior Foundation in an effort to stop further suffering. “Patients are unnecessarily being placed in harm’s way again, not only by the defective medical device they’ve received, but also by the off-label use of these powerful fluoroquinolone medications,” she says.
