Antidepressant drugs appear to increase the chances of catching the killer C. difficile bug, which is one of the most common hospital-acquired infections. Two of the drugs-including Prozac-double the risk.
The C.difficile bug kills around 7,000 people in the US alone every year, usually while they are in hospital-and those who are taking Prozac or Avanza (mirtazapine) double their risk of catching it.
People who are depressed seem to be at greater risk of infection while in hospital anyway, say researchers from the University of Michigan. Only those two antidepressants increase the risk further; the other antidepressants don’t seem to have any effect.
(Source: BMC Medicine, 2013; 11: 121).
