Polysporin and Death - a phase IV clinical study of FDA data

Summary:

Death is reported as a side effect among people who take Polysporin (bacitracin zinc; polymyxin b sulfate), especially for people who are male, 60+ old, also take Zofran, and have Metastatic malignant melanoma.

The study is created by eHealthMe based on reports of 512 people who have side effects when taking Polysporin from the FDA, and is updated regularly.

What is Polysporin?

Polysporin has active ingredients of bacitracin zinc; polymyxin b sulfate. eHealthMe is studying from 517 Polysporin users. Check the latest studies of Polysporin.

On Aug, 11, 2026

512 people reported to have side effects when taking Polysporin.
Among them, 17 people (3.32%) died.

Among these 17 people:

What is the gender of people who died when taking Polysporin? *

female: 23.53 %
male: 76.47 %

What is the age of people who died when taking Polysporin? *

What are other drugs people take besides Polysporin? *

What are other side effects people have before they died? *

Dyspnea (difficult or laboured breathing): 5 people, 29.41%
Chills (felling of cold): 4 people, 23.53%
Drug Hypersensitivity: 3 people, 17.65%
Arrhythmias (irregular heartbeat): 3 people, 17.65%
Cardiac Failure Congestive: 3 people, 17.65%
Pharyngeal Oedema (abnormal accumulation of fluid in the cavities and intercellular spaces of the pharyngeal): 3 people, 17.65%
Atrial Fibrillation/flutter (atrial fibrillation and flutter are abnormal heart rhythms in which the atria, or upper chambers of the heart, are out of sync with the ventricles): 3 people, 17.65%
Convulsion (muscles contract and relax rapidly and repeatedly, resulting in an uncontrolled shaking of the body): 3 people, 17.65%
Oedema Peripheral (superficial swelling): 3 people, 17.65%
Tremor (trembling or shaking movements in one or more parts of your body): 3 people, 17.65%

What are the existing conditions these people have? *

Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (acute cancer in which the bone marrow makes abnormal myeloblasts): 2 people, 11.76%
Metastatic Malignant Melanoma (spreadable cancer tumour of melanine): 2 people, 11.76%
Dizziness: 1 person, 5.88%
Agranulocytosis (a deficiency of granulocytes in the blood, causing increased vulnerability to infection): 1 person, 5.88%
Brain Neoplasm (tumour of brain): 1 person, 5.88%
Brain Neoplasm Malignant (brain cancer tumour): 1 person, 5.88%
Breast Cancer Female: 1 person, 5.88%
Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukaemia (cancers of the blood-forming cells of the bone marrow): 1 person, 5.88%
Conjunctivitis (pink eye): 1 person, 5.88%
Tumor: 1 person, 5.88%

* Approximation only. Some reports may have incomplete information.

Related studies:

Effectiveness of, long term effects of, and alternative drugs to Polysporin:

Polysporin (517 reports)

Expand to all the drugs that have ingredients of bacitracin zinc; polymyxin b sulfate:

Death and drugs with ingredients of bacitracin zinc; polymyxin b sulfate (18 reports)

Sub-studies by gender and age:

Female: 0-1 2-9 10-19 20-29 30-39 40-49 50-59 60+

Male: 0-1 2-9 10-19 20-29 30-39 40-49 50-59 60+

Browse all side effects of Polysporin:

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Browse all the drugs that are associated with Death:

Death (3,115 drugs)

Browse all the conditions that are associated with Death:

Death (3,686 conditions)

How the study uses the data?

The study uses data from the FDA. It is based on bacitracin zinc; polymyxin b sulfate (the active ingredients of Polysporin) and Polysporin (the brand name). Other drugs that have the same active ingredients (e.g. generic drugs) are not considered. Dosage of drugs is not considered in the study.

How to use the study?

DO NOT STOP MEDICATIONS without first consulting your doctor. If there are any serious or long term adverse effects discovered in the study, discuss the study with your doctor to ensure that proper medication management will be in place if applicable.

Who is eHealthMe?

With medical big data and proven AI/ML algorithms, eHealthMe provides a platform for everyone to run phase IV clinical trials. We study millions of patients and 5,000 more each day. Results of our real-world drug study have been referenced on 800+ peer-reviewed medical publications, including The Lancet, Mayo Clinic Proceedings, and Nature. Our analysis results are available to researchers, health care professionals, patients (testimonials), and software developers (open API).

WARNING, DISCLAIMER, USE FOR PUBLICATION

WARNING: Please DO NOT STOP MEDICATIONS without first consulting a physician since doing so could be hazardous to your health.

DISCLAIMER: All material available on eHealthMe.com is for informational purposes only, and is not a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment provided by a qualified healthcare provider. All information is observation-only. Our phase IV clinical studies alone cannot establish cause-effect relationship. Different individuals may respond to medication in different ways. Every effort has been made to ensure that all information is accurate, up-to-date, and complete, but no guarantee is made to that effect. The use of the eHealthMe site and its content is at your own risk.

If you use this eHealthMe study on publication, please acknowledge it with a citation: study title, URL, accessed date.