Drug induced hypersensitivity syndrome has been reported to a variety of drugs. Reactivation of herpes viruses is associated with relapse of symptoms even as late as five weeks after stopping the inciting drug. We report here a case of drug hypersensitivity with CMV reactivation which was treated successfully.

Immunologically mediated drug reactions have been traditionally classified as unpredictable based on the fact that they cannot be predicted strictly on the pharmacological action of the drug. Such adverse drug reactions are associated with considerable morbidity and include severe cutaneous adverse reactions such as Stevens-Johnson syndrome/toxic epidermal necrolysis and the drug hypersensitivi...

Background Colloidal silica is an inorganic substance widely used as excipient in pharmaceutical preparation. It acts as a vehicule to increase the absorption of many oral drug formulations. Many excipients have been reported to induce drug hypersensitivity such as tartrazine, aspartame, benzalkonium chloride, sodium metabisulphite, propyl gallate. However, colloidal silica has never been repor...

Background Drug desensitization is the induction of temporary clinical unresponsiveness to drug antigens to which patients have presented severe hypersensitivity reactions (HSR). Rapid desensitization in patients suffering immediate hypersensitivity reactions with chemotherapeutic agents and monoclonal antibodies have been widely described and have shown to be successful. Non-immediate hypersen...

We thank the many women who completed questionnaires for this study. We are grateful to the staff at the collaborating breast screening units and at the Million Women Study coordinating centre for their valuable contribution to the study and to Adrian Goodill for producing the figure. Contributors: Emily Banks, Gillian Reeves, Valerie Beral, and Julietta Patnick had the original idea for the st...

Recent publications have shown that certain human leukocyte antigen (HLA) alleles are strongly associated with hypersensitivity to particular drugs. As HLA molecules are a critical element in T-cell stimulation, it is no surprise that particular HLA alleles have a direct functional role in the pathogenesis of drug hypersensitivity. In this context, a direct interaction of the relevant drug with...

Drug hypersensitivity reactions are adverse reactions to drugs that were administered at a dose that is tolerated by normal subjects, but produce symptoms that, from a clinical perspective, resemble an allergy. The revised nomenclature for allergies classifies hypersensitivity reactions to drugs as either allergic or non allergic. Drug allergies occur when immunologic mechanisms have been demon...