Think you’re allergic to penicillin? Get tested and be sure!

Up to 90% of people who think they are allergic to penicillin are not allergic when tested. It’s important to know if you’re still allergic to penicillin because alternatives are more expensive, often more toxic, and for some illnesses less effective. They also increase your risk of developing future infections with drug resistant bacteria. Besides penicillin, there are a number of very common and safe antibiotics that can cross react with penicillin. We will review your history and testing to determine your risk of reaction to cross-reactive antibiotics. Testing will be discussed and performed if indicated per current guidelines. If the tests confirm that you are one of the 10% who are truly allergic, you and your primary physician will be provided with a list of safe alternatives, and if need be, penicillin desensitization can be performed. The reasons for the low incidence of truly positive penicillin allergy on testing are:

• You can lose your allergic sensitivity over the years
• The symptoms you had, especially if it was a skin rash, may have been due to the infection for which the penicillin antibiotic was given (this is very common if the reaction occurred when you were a child)
• The reaction may have been from a different drug you were taking at the same time

Our office is pleased to offer penicillin testing. Our testing procedure meets (or exceeds) the current guidelines for testing from the ACAAI and CDC. The test can determine whether you are truly allergic or not.