Reacting to antibiotic allergies.

Assessment of the validity of reported antibiotic allergic reactions in pediatric patients.

STUDY OBJECTIVE To determine whether a reported antibiotic allergy was likely to have been immunologically mediated. DESIGN Questionnaire-based study. SETTING Tertiary care, freestanding children's hospital. PATIENTS One hundred patients aged 1 month-18 years for whom guardians reported an allergy to an antibiotic at the time of hospital admission between October 2009 and March 2010. IN...

Antibiotic Allergy-clinical Relevance and Consequences

Antibiotic allergy is one of the most commonly encountered problems in clinical practice. The symptoms may range from mildly annoying to life threatening. Drug allergies can become a major problem for patients with the multiple drug allergy syndrome, and more so since the emergence of antibiotic resistant organisms often limits the choice of antibiotics that can be used. β-lactam antibiotics (p...

Antibiotic Allergies – Is De-labeling Based on Clinical History Feasible?

The Microbiota and Allergies/Asthma

Two lines of evidence suggest that environmental changes are a major factor in the development of allergies: the increase in the incidence of allergic diseases over the past 20–30 years and the dichotomy in the rate of allergic disease between industrialized and developing countries. These observations have led researchers to propose the ‘‘hygiene hypothesis’’ for allergies and asthma. Simply s...

Implementation of an Infectious Disease Fellow-Managed Penicillin Allergy Skin Testing Service

Background.  A large percentage of patients presenting to acute care facilities report penicillin allergies that are associated with suboptimal antibiotic therapy. Penicillin skin testing (PST) can clarify allergy histories but is often limited by access to testing. We aimed to implement an infectious diseases (ID) fellow-managed PST program and to assess the need for PST via national survey. M...