In one of those studies, which was published this year in an allergy and asthma journal, 20 subjects with a history of
penicillin allergy agreed to direct oral amoxicillin rechallenge by an allergist, he said.
The study compared adults with a known
penicillin allergy to similar people without a known
penicillin allergy.
After adjusting for several known risk factors, the researchers found that a
penicillin allergy label was associated with a 69 percent increased risk of MRSA and a 26 percent increased risk of C difficile.
Torres et al., "Clinical evaluation of Pharmacia CAP system[TM] RAST FEIA amoxicilloyl and benzylpenicilloyl in patients with
penicillin allergy," Allergy, vol.
The parents (597) of children aged 4-18 years with a history of parent-reported
penicillin allergy completed an allergy questionnaire; 51% (302) of the children were categorized as low risk, and 100 of them completed allergy testing by using a standard three-tier testing process.
The second part of the study was conducted in 2014, and it prospectively included patients with a history compatible with IgE mediated
penicillin allergy, namely a history of urticaria/angioedema, anaphylaxis or rash during penicillin, amoxicillin or amoxicillin-clavulanic acid treatment.
Overdiagnosis of
penicillin allergy is not benign, Ramsey says.
There is no defined azithromycin paediatric dosage for the secondary prevention of rheumatic fever in
penicillin allergy. Azithromycin has however been dosed long term in clinical trials in children with cystic fibrosis.
(19) observed an association between levels of specific IgE, cytokines and polymorphisms of IL-4 C/T and IL-4R[alpha]Q576R in patients with
penicillin allergy. According to the authors, the allele LL-4R[[alpha].sup.*]Q576 was present more frequently in allergic patients than in control subjects.
This is a good time to mention that there is potential cephalosporin cross-sensitivity in patients with a true
penicillin allergy (4% to 10% of cases) that has been observed predominantly with first-generation cephalosporins.
There is also a "traffic-light" system identifying which antibiotics should not be given to patients with
penicillin allergy.
Penicillin allergy is one of the most commonly reported drug allergies worldwide.