Diabetes can lead to foot complications. These complications, neuropathy and circulatory damage, can together set up a situation in which cuts and lesions are undetected, and go septic, leading to very serious infections. The difficulty of effectively fighting serious foot infections can lead to amputation. Diabetes is the biggest producer of such “non-traumatic” (meaning not caused by auto, train, falling object, projectile, or land-mine) amputation.
Now the doctors have a new tool. Drugmaker Merck & Company, Inc., announced on November 14, 2005, that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved its antibiotic Invanz (ertapenem) for treatment of moderate to severe complicated foot infection (where osteomyelitis, bone infection, is not present).
Invanz, a a carbapenem related to the beta-lactams class, is a powerful antibiotic, administered by injection or by IV drip infusion. Not a “broad spectrum” antibiotic, it is specifically targeted against particular skin and skin structure infections. “It should only be used to treat or prevent infections caused by susceptible bacteria,” warns Merck.
Company literature shows Invanz is also useful against other moderate to serious infections, such as: some complicated intra-abdominal infections, community-acquired pneumonia, complicated urinary tract infections, and acute pelvic infections.
For more information about Invanz (ertapenem), your doctor should go to the Merck Web site: www.merck.com.