Preliminary and Short Reports

The recorded reports of cutaneous eruptions due to the antihistaminic drugs have been few in number (1,2,3,4, 5, 6,7), but none of these has been truly urticarial in nature. McElin and Horton (1) in 1945 reported one instance of generalized pruritus, following thirty-eight intravenous injections of Benadryl hydrochloride in twenty-six patients. Epstein (2) reported two patients with atopic eczema who developed eruptions while they were taking Pyribenzamine. Both eruptions cleared when the drug was discontinued, and recurred when it was readministered. Harris and Shure (3) reported an eczematoid dermatitis due to the ingestion of Pyribenzamine by a patient with allergic rhinitis. The eruption recurred following an additional dose of Pyribenzamine. Rattner and Graffin (4) reported a patient with a dermatitis medicamentosa due to gold therapy, who developed an exacerbation after taking Pyribenzamine orally. Sulzberger, Baer and Levin (5) reported two instances of contact dermatitis which developed following the use of Pyribenzamine ointment in ninety eases. Another similar case was reported by Strauss (6), whose patient showed a positive patch reaction to Pyribenzamine ointment and a negative reaction to the ointment base. Epstein (7) recently reported a patient with a generalized eruption, which appeared following Trimeton for a dermatitis of the vulval and anal areas. This eruption was at first urticarial in nature but later developed into a generalized maculo-papular eruption. In the aforementioned instances of eruptions following the administration of antihistaminic drugs, these developed as a result of the treatment of either a preceding atopic eczema or some other allergic disease. The case described in this report is unique not only because it presented a true urticaria, but also in that no preceding eruption was present, nor was there any allergic history in the patient or his family. This patient developed a typical urticaria following the oral administration of Pyribenzamine.