To the Editor: Roujeau et al. (Dec. 14 issue)1 present datashowing a morbidity of 1 in 230,000 associated with toxic epidermicnecrolysis and the StevensJohnson syndrome due to oneweek of trimethoprimsulfamethoxazole therapy. If thedeath rate is assumed to be 15 percent,2 the mortality ratewould be 1 in 1,550,000. It would be interesting to know theactual mortality among their index patients.
To put this excess mortality in context, it is similar to thetransfusion-associated frequency of human immunodeficiency virustransmission in Germany (1 in 800,000 to 1 in 2,000,000)3,4and the United States (1 in 450,000 . . . [Full Text of this Article]
References
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