CJIDMM Canadian Journal of Infectious Diseases 1180-2332 Pulsus Group Inc 539376 10.1155/1999/539376 Review Antibiotic and Oral Contraceptive Drug Interactions: Is There a Need for Concern? Zhanel George G ggzhanel@pcs.mb.ca 1 2 3 Siemens Shannon 2 Slayter Kathryn 4 Mandell Lionell 5 1 Department of Medical Microbiology Faculty of Medicine University of Manitoba Winnipeg Manitoba Canada umanitoba.ca 2 Faculty of Pharmacy University of Manitoba Winnipeg Manitoba Canada umanitoba.ca 3 Health Sciences Centre Winnipeg Manitoba Canada hsc.mb.ca 4 Departments of Pharmacy and Medicine Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre and Faculties of Pharmacy and Medicine Dalhousie University Halifax Nova Scotia Canada dal.ca 5 Division of Infectious Diseases McMaster University Hamilton Ontario Canada mcmaster.ca 1999 10 6 429 433 1999 Copyright © 1999 Hindawi Publishing Corporation. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the clinical significant of antibiotic and oral contraceptive drug interactions.

DATA SELECTION: MEDLINE search from 1975 to 1998 (September) inclusive. Search terms ‘antitiobic’, ‘oral contraceptive’ and ‘pregnancy’ were included. Published papers as well as references from these papers were reviewed. Papers documenting mechanistic interactions between antibiotics and oral contraceptives were included.

DATA EXTRACTION: Studies reporting oral contraceptive pharmacokinetics, mechanisms, incidence, implicated antibiotics and clinical consequences of antibiotic/oral contraceptive drug interactions.

DATA SYNTHESIS: Reports of oral contraceptive failure seem to be most numerous in women using preparations containing 30 μg of ethinylestradiol and 150 μ g of levonorgestrel. Rifampin is the only antibiotic that has been reported to reduce plasma estrogen concentrations. When taking rifampin, oral contraceptives cannot be relied upon and a second method of contraception is mandatory. Amoxicillin, ampicillin, griseofulvin, metronidazole and tetracycline have been associated with contraceptive failure in three or more clinical cases. When these agents are used, the clinician should discuss the available data with the patient and suggest a second form of birth control. Other antibiotics are most likely safe to use concomitantly with oral contraceptives.

CONCLUSIONS: Rifampin is the only antibiotic to date that has been reported to reduce plasma estrogen concentrations. Oral contraceptives cannot be relied upon for birth control while taking rifampin.

Antibiotics Drug interactions Oral contraceptives Pregnancy