Management of Suspected Antibiotic Reactions in Children.

Abstract

Copyright © 2019 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. Unauthorized reproduction of this article is prohibited. The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal • Volume 38, Number 7, July 2019 www.pidj.com | e149 EPIDEMIOLOGY To date, the actual incidence of drug allergy in the pediatric population is not well known. Epidemiologic studies report that drug allergy affects more than 10% of children and adolescents; although when these children are fully investigated <10% are confirmed to be truly allergic to the suspected drug. Until a few years ago, penicillin allergy was the most frequently reported drug allergy ith a prevalence rate of 5%–10% in adults and children. Today amoxicillin allergy is more prevalent than penicillin allergy in children. Non-β-lactam allergy is rare in children and estimated to affect 1%–3% of this population following β-lactams and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. As regards the most frequently reported reactions to non-βlactam drugs, sulphonamides and macrolides are among the most commonly implicated antibiotics. These so-called allergic reactions are rather common in children, most likely because of the frequency of rashes that occur during antibiotic treatment for a viral infection and reluctance to test to confirm allergy. Nowadays, it is mandatory to rigorously confirm or exclude a diagnosis of antibiotic allergy to improve patient safety by using the most appropriate antibiotic depending on the infection to be treated and avoid alternative often more expensive, favoring antibiotic resistance.