SOUTHLAND PHARMACIES REPORT RUN ON ANTIBIOTIC.

Byline: Troy Anderson Staff Writer

As officials in Florida try to track down the source of the anthrax bacteria that left one man dead, pharmacists in Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley report increased demand for Cipro, the antibiotic used to treat the disease.

County officials say some pharmacies have temporarily run out of Ciprofloxacin and Doxycycline, both strong antibiotics.

The prescription drug Ciprofloxacin, manufactured by Bayer AG, is the approved treatment by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for inhalational anthrax after exposure.

Cipro, its common name, costs about $5 a pill. It can improve a patient's prognosis if taken after exposure to anthrax and before symptoms appear.

``I just filled three prescriptions for three different family members today,'' Lewis Abramson, a pharmacist at Capitol Drugs in Sherman Oaks, said Thursday. ``They are traveling to Guatemala. Even my doctor inquired about getting it for his family.''

Abramson recommends that people not take Cipro as a preventive measure, but only after they've been exposed to anthrax.

``Otherwise, you'll build up a tolerance to it and it won't work. If enough people take it, the anthrax virus will become immune to it.''

Dr. Carol Peterson, medical epidemiologist at Los Angeles County Acute Communicable Disease Control, said some pharmacies have run out of the drugs. But Peterson said it's an ``extremely poor practice'' to prescribe the drugs to people who have no reason to believe they have been exposed to anthrax.

``This also has the potential to take a valuable antibiotic out of circulation, which could mean they would not be available on a large scale if needed,'' Peterson said.

She said people who take the drugs can develop sensitivities and allergies and the drugs are not recommended for children. Cipro can cause cartilage damage and has been associated with bone damage and discolored teeth in children.

``The national pharmaceutical stockpiles have hundreds of thousands of doses of antibiotics that could be brought to the Los Angeles area in 12 hours,'' she said. ``Those are in addition to stockpiles we have locally.''

Dale Thomas, a spokesman for Advance PCS, the largest U.S. pharmacy management benefit company, said there has been a ``rather modest increase in Cipro prescriptions on a national basis. And there has been a fairly dramatic increase in New York and Florida.''

David Levy, pharmacist-in-charge at Care Pharmacy in North Hollywood, said he's been filling Cipro prescriptions.

``I'm getting calls from everybody under the sun to see if we are carrying these medications,'' he said. ``I've gotten calls from friends asking if the items are available.