Hemolytic Anemia after Tetracycline Therapy

ACQUIRED immune hemolytic anemia can occur after exposure to a number of commonly used drugs. Among the best-documented offenders are penicillin, methyldopa, and quinidine, each of which is believed to act through a different mechanism.1 Although tetracyclines have been implicated in a variety of adverse reactions, hemolytic anemia has only rarely been described.2 3 4 We report on a patient who had acute intravascular hemolysis with hemoglobinemia, hemoglobinuria, thrombocytopenia, hypofibrinogenemia, and transient renal impairment on at least two occasions after oral use of tetracycline. The patient's serum contained an IgG antibody that reacted only with red cells exposed either in vivo or . . .