Many Who Say They Have Allergy Don't
From Reuters Health Information
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Aug 05 - Penicillin skin prick and cutaneous testing provides prompt results in emergency department patients with self-reported allergy. In most cases, that gives doctors more treatment options, according to researchers, because many of those who believe they are allergic to the antibiotic actually are not.
"It is feasible to determine if patients are truly allergic to penicillin in an emergency department setting," senior investigator Dr. Joseph J. Moellman told Reuters Health.
"Many patients that say they have an allergy," he added, "in actuality really do not when formally tested."
As reported in the July issue of the Annals of Emergency Medicine, Dr. Moellman of the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Ohio, and colleagues studied 150 patients with self-reported penicillin allergy.
Either of two physicians initially conducted skin tests in the patients, and if negative, intracutaneous testing was then employed. Total testing time was about 30 minutes.
The penicillin skin test result was negative in 137 of the patients, giving a false-positive rate for self-reported penicillin allergy of 91.3%. There were no adverse reactions associated with the testing.
"The clinical ramification of this study," continued Dr. Moellman, "is that many of these patients who might require penicillin to treat a specific infection would be able to receive penicillin if they tested negative to this skin test."
"This," he concluded, "would allow clinicians to avoid more costly alternative antibiotics and ultimately decrease drug resistance."
Ann Emerg Med 2009;54:72-77.
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