Fatal immune hemolytic anemia due to cefotetan

In the first death associated with immune hemolytic anemia due to cefotetan, the patient developed hemolytic anemia and renal failure, dying 12 days after the beginning of 1 week's cefotetan therapy. The patient's serum contained strong antibodies reacting with cefotetan-treated red cells (RBCs) and with uncoated RBCs in the presence of cefotetan; a much weaker, drug-independent antibody was also detected. Three-days before the patient's death, the antibody reacting with cefotetan-coated RBCs rose to a titer of 262,144; the titer of the antibody to uncoated RBCs, in the presence of cefotetan, rose to 2048; the titer of the drug-independent antibody remained at 4.