Millions of people live with diabetes, a disease that causes blood sugar levels to become too high.
If diabetes is not well controlled, it can damage many parts of the body, including the heart, kidneys, eyes, and nerves.
For this reason, many people take medicines every day to help keep their blood sugar within a healthy range.
One of the newest groups of diabetes medicines is called SGLT2 inhibitors. These drugs work differently from older medicines such as metformin or insulin.
Instead of helping the body make or use insulin, they allow the kidneys to remove extra sugar from the blood. The sugar then leaves the body in urine.
This simple approach has helped many people improve their blood sugar control. Research has also shown that these medicines may lower the risk of heart failure, protect the kidneys, and help some people lose weight.
Although these benefits are important, every medicine can have side effects. A study by scientists at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, found evidence that SGLT2 inhibitors may be linked to a rare but very serious infection called Fournier gangrene.
Fournier gangrene is a fast-moving bacterial infection that attacks the skin and soft tissues around the genitals and anus.
Even though it is uncommon, it is considered a medical emergency because it can spread quickly and destroy healthy tissue. Patients often need urgent surgery, strong antibiotics, and hospital care. Without quick treatment, the infection can become life-threatening.
The FDA researchers reviewed reports collected between 2013 and 2019. They found 55 people who developed this infection while taking an SGLT2 inhibitor.
The patients included both men and women and ranged from young adults to older people. Some became sick only a few days after starting the medicine, while others did not develop symptoms until years later.
Several patients also experienced other serious diabetes-related problems, including kidney injury, severe infections, and diabetic ketoacidosis.
The researchers compared these reports with older diabetes medicines. Over many years, far fewer cases were linked to treatments such as metformin and insulin. This suggests the newer medicines may carry a higher risk of this rare infection, although the overall chance remains very low.
Doctors recommend that patients do not stop taking these medicines on their own because they provide major health benefits for many people.
Instead, patients should learn the warning signs, including pain, redness, swelling, tenderness, fever, or unusual discomfort around the genital or anal area. Anyone with these symptoms should seek medical help immediately.
The findings remind us that every treatment has both benefits and risks. With careful monitoring and early treatment of any warning signs, most people can continue using these medicines safely while gaining their important benefits.
If you care about diabetes, please read studies about 5 vitamins that may prevent complication in diabetes, and how to manage high blood pressure and diabetes with healthy foods.
For more health information, please see recent studies about vitamin D and type2 diabetes, and to people with type 2 diabetes, some fruits are better than others.
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