More likely than adults to test positive for the allergy on penicillin skin testing
MONDAY, Nov. 15 (HealthDay News) -- Children are more likely than adults to test positive to amoxicillin allergy on penicillin skin testing (PST), according to a study presented at the annual scientific meeting of the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, held from Nov. 11 to 16 in Phoenix.
Stephanie Fox, M.D., and Miguel Park, M.D., of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., evaluated 778 children with a history of penicillin allergy for penicillin allergy by PST. The PST skin test panel was composed of benzylpenicillin polylysine, penicillin G, and benzylpenicilloate. In addition, 685 of the 778 children were tested with amoxicillin. The investigators compared the differences in the proportion of children and adults positive to the various determinants of PST using the Fisher's exact test.
The investigators found that 90.4 percent of the children had a negative PST, 8.5 percent had a positive PST, and 1.1 percent had an equivocal PST. The investigators also found that 62 of the 66 children with a positive PST were tested to amoxicillin, and 34 percent of these children were positive. Compared to adults, children were more likely to be positive to amoxicillin if they were positive to another determinant as well as more likely to be positive solely to amoxicillin.
"Children are more likely to be positive to amoxicillin on PST compared to adults. Amoxicillin should be considered as part of the penicillin skin test panel when testing children, and if included, there may be a better chance of detecting penicillin allergy in this group," the authors write.
Abstract No. 50
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