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Penicillin Allergy and Other Antibiotics

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Allergy and Asthma

Abstract

Penicillin allergy is commonly diagnosed, reported in approximately 8% of the general population and 10–15% of hospitalized patients. Although penicillin allergy is widely reported, 80–90% of individuals with self-reported penicillin allergy are actually able to tolerate penicillins after undergoing evaluation for penicillin allergy. Since the majority of patients with self-reported penicillin allergy will have subsequent negative allergy testing and tolerate penicillins, they may be unnecessarily exposed to broader spectrum antibiotics. Use of such antibiotics leads to increased risks of developing antibiotic resistant microorganisms and incur greater health care utilization costs. Penicillin allergy evaluation and management should be a core component of antibiotic stewardship and can significantly improve health care quality and value for individual patients and health care systems as well as the public at large. Key knowledge points to effectively evaluate and manage patients with penicillin allergy discussed in this chapter include (1) clinical manifestations of penicillin allergy; (2) utility of clinical history; (3) methods for penicillin allergy testing; (4) management options based on testing results; and (5) penicillin allergy cross-reactivity with other beta-lactam antibiotics.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Allergic Diseases, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA

    Thanai Pongdee & James T. Li

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  1. Thanai Pongdee
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  2. James T. Li
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Correspondence to James T. Li .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Milton S Hershey Med Ctr, Penn State University Milton S Hershey Med Ctr, Hershey, Pennsylvania, USA

    Timothy Craig

  2. Suite 502, Allergy, Asthma and Immunology Suite 502, Tampa, Florida, USA

    Dennis K. Ledford

Section Editor information

  1. Penn State University, Hershey, PA, USA

    Tim Craig DO

  2. Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Massoud Mahmoudi DO, Ph.D.

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Pongdee, T., Li, J.T. (2018). Penicillin Allergy and Other Antibiotics. In: Craig, T., Ledford, D. (eds) Allergy and Asthma. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58726-4_23-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58726-4_23-1

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