Drug allergy to antibiotics may occur in the form of immediate or non-immediate (delayed) hypersensitivity reactions. Immediate reactions are usually IgE-mediated whereas non-immediate hypersensitivity reactions are usually non-IgE or T-cell mediated. This will facilitate avoidance of the putative antibiotic through patient education, use of drug alert cards, and electronic medical records with in-built drug allergy/adverse drug reaction prescription and dispensing checks.
Antibiotics are one of the most common causes of drug allergy in most epidemiological studies, both among adults and children. Among the various classes of antibiotics, beta-lactam antibiotics (penicillins and cephalosporins), cotrimoxazole and quinolones are some of the most common causes of antibiotic allergy. The clinical manifestations of antibiotic allergy may be cutaneous, organ-specific, systemic or various…
