Serum sickness induced by bupropion

OBJECTIVE: To describe the first reported case of serum sickness induced by exposure to bupropion. CASE SUMMARY: Bupropion was administered to a 45-year-old white man being treated for depression with psychosis. Within 24 hours after his first dose of bupropion, the patient became delirious and then developed fever, myalgia, arthralgia, and a rash. Bupropion was discontinued after the second dose. With supportive measures, symptoms remitted over two weeks. DISCUSSION: A thorough search for other etiologies of the patient's symptoms was unrevealing, and a clinical diagnosis of serum sickness was made. Given the temporal association between the illness and the introduction of bupropion, this was felt to be the causal agent. No previous reports of serum sickness induced by bupropion were found in the literature. CONCLUSIONS: The previously unreported adverse drug reaction of serum sickness associated with the use of bupropion is demonstrated by this case, based on the temporal relationship and the results of stopping the drug, in light of no other identifiable etiology.

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