Clindamycin-Induced Rhabdomyolysis in the Setting of Mitochondrial Myopathy

We present a patient with mitochondrial myopathy who developed rhabdomyolysis following treatment with clindamycin. While clindamycin is not yet linked to drug-induced rhabdomyolysis in the literature, other drugs with mechanisms of action similar to clindamycin have been shown to damage human host mitochondria. Given this, we contend that clindamycin may also be capable of causing mitochondrial injury, and that while in otherwise healthy patients it may not produce any negative clinical outcome, it can precipitate rhabdomyolysis in certain patients whose mitochondria are already vulnerable.