Formication and Azathioprine Therapy

Excerpt

Formication (Latin: formica, ant), a variant of pruritus or paresthesia in which there is the sensation of ants crawling over the skin, was recently observed during azathioprine (Imuran®; Burroughs Wellcome Co.; Research Triangle Park; North Carolina) therapy in a patient with chronic active liver disease, and represents a previously undescribed complication of that drug.

The patient, a 56-year-old white woman with chronic membranous glomerulonephritis and renal failure, developed abnormal liver function test results: serum glutamic oxalacetic transaminase (SGOT), 155 IU/litre; serum glutamic-pyruvic transaminase (SGPT), 271 IU/litre; alkaline phosphatase (AP), 131 IU/litre; bilirubin, 1 mg/dl; and a positive hepatitis B surface