You don’t have allergies, but you didn’t know it. Three out of four patients labeled as allergic to penicillin or beta-lactam antibiotics are false positives, according to a study by the Bellvitge hospital. Most imaginary allergy sufferers have been allergic since childhood.
According to Gustavo Molina, a specialist in the center’s Allergology service, these false allergies to common medications constitute “a public and personal health problem,” since they lead to the use of more harmful, more expensive and less effective therapeutic alternatives, and an increase in infections. of surgical wounds or increased hospitalization time.
At the same time, the growth of antibiotic resistance is encouraged in a context of increase in multi-resistant bacteria that represents a threat to global public health.
Dr. Molina has led a study with 249 cases of allergy sufferers from seven Catalan public hospitals: Bellvitge, Vall d’Hebron, Arnau de Vilanova, Verge de la Cinta, Germans Trias i Pujol and Joan XXIII.
In 74.3% of the cases (184 individuals) the penicillin allergy label has been removed. The majority of false positives come from childhood, although there is sufficient evidence that antibiotic allergies usually develop between the ages of 26 and 54.
In Molina’s opinion, the data, which confirm the results of similar research, show the need to increase training in allergy and hypersensitivity “so that healthcare personnel improve skills in identifying reactions and the expected adverse effects of drugs.”
Penicillin allergy is an abnormal reaction of the immune system to the medication, used to treat bacterial infections. Itching, rash and hives are the most common symptoms. Anaphylaxis, which affects multiple body systems, is one of the most serious reactions.
The cause of false positives is the side effects of penicillin, like other medications, or the symptoms of the disease being treated, which are confused with an allergic reaction to the drug.
Next Saturday, a hundred Catalan allergists will meet at the Can Calderón municipal center in Viladecans to present and discuss cases of interest within the framework of a day organized by the allergology services of the Bellvitge and Viladecans hospitals.
The removal of false allergy labels is a priority of the health system in order to promote the optimization of antimicrobial treatment in the face of the increase in antibiotic resistance.
