Allergy to antibacterial drugs in the modern world occurs frequently, the cause of this is heredity, environmental conditions, other allergens surrounding a person, and excessive sterility in the house. Antibiotics are prescribed to fight bacterial infections that occur alone or may be a continuation of a viral illness. In order to exclude the occurrence of an allergic reaction and not aggravate the patient's condition, an intradermal test for antibiotics is performed.
Allergy to antibiotics
Allergy is the response of the human immune system to repeated exposure to antibiotics, subject to a negative reaction that could have occurred earlier. The immune system of a he althy person does not respond to drugs, but the system can fail, and taking medications becomes a problem for the body.
The risk increases with repeated use of antibacterial drugs and increasing dosage. The impact does not occur in every person, but it becomesproblem for physicians in the treatment of the patient. For prevention, a test for sensitivity to antibiotics is used, which is done in a medical facility.
Allergies can manifest:
- suddenly - signs appear within an hour;
- within 72 hours;
- late reaction if allergic after 72 hours.
Certain factors may increase the risk of developing a response to antibiotics:
- allergic reactions to other substances;
- taking an antibacterial drug for more than 7 days;
- repeated treatment with one drug;
- hereditary factor;
- combination with some other medicines.
Symptoms of antibiotic intolerance
Symptoms of antibiotic allergy can manifest themselves in different ways:
- skin rashes can appear all over the body or affect certain areas. Red-pink rash;
- urticaria - an allergic reaction in which red spots and blisters can grow and merge together, forming large bumps;
- Quincke's edema is a dangerous manifestation of an allergy. When it swells hands, throat, lips, eyes;
- A reaction to sunlight, in which rashes appear on areas of the skin that are exposed to the sun;
- Stevens-Johnson syndrome is manifested by fever and rashes on the skin and mucous membranes;
- Lyell's syndrome is a rare manifestation of allergy. On theblisters appear on the skin, which then burst;
- drug fever provokes the appearance of a temperature that disappears after the withdrawal of antibacterial drugs;
- Anaphylactic shock requires immediate medical attention. Heart failure, low blood pressure and suffocation occur.
Sensitivity diagnostics
Before prescribing an antibacterial drug, the doctor interviews the patient, in the absence of cases of negative reactions to medications, diagnostics may not be carried out. If there were similar cases in the patient's history, then an antibiotic is prescribed after taking tests to make sure that the prescribed medicine is safe:
- complete blood count;
- antibiotics test;
- blood test for immunoglobulin E.
Research is carried out different: sublingual, skin, inhalation.
Allergy skin test
Before antibiotic therapy, the presence of allergic reactions is ascertained. If there has already been a reaction to any drug, then it is not used in treatment and the study is not carried out. A test for antibiotics is carried out after determining the risk group to which the patient belongs:
- persons who have previously had a reaction to antibiotics;
- persons who are allergic to a substance and may test positive;
- people who have taken this drug more than once;
- persons who are not prone to allergies and have not been exposed to antibiotics.
The algorithm for testing for antibiotics is as follows:
- First, a prick test is performed, if within 30 minutes it does not give a positive result, then a skin test is prescribed.
- If the reaction to the antibiotic was positive, then further research is stopped.
- With a negative skin test, it can be argued that there is no allergic reaction, which means that therapy is being carried out with the selected drug.
Scarification test
Preliminary, the surface of the skin is treated with alcohol, antibiotic drops are applied to the forearm, small scratches are made with injection needles in the area of the drops, no more than 10 mm. Drops of saline solution are applied to the other hand. During the procedure, it is necessary to avoid the appearance of blood. Within 30 minutes, the appearance of a reaction to the drug is monitored:
- Negative reaction - within 30 minutes there was no redness on both the antibiotic hand and the saline hand.
- Weakly positive reaction - a small blister appeared at the injection site for antibiotics, visible when the skin was pulled.
- Positive reaction - redness and blister, no larger than 10 mm.
- Strongly positive reaction - a blister with a diameter of more than 10 mm with redness.
Intradermal test
The solution of the drug is injected into the forearm area with an insulin syringe. For the solution, sterile saline is used. The reaction is monitored for 30 minutes:
- The test is considered negative if the injection site has not changed its color and size within the specified time.
- The test is considered weakly positive if the blister doubles in size.
- If the test is positive, the size of the blister increases to 25 mm.
- A strongly positive reaction will enlarge the blister by more than 25 mm.
When answering the question of how to do an antibiotic test, you need to understand that a skin test is carried out only with a negative skin test. During the procedure, it is necessary to have all available means for first aid in case of anaphylactic shock.
If the test for antibiotics showed a positive reaction, then a record of this must be made in the patient's card. Also, the patient needs to remember which drugs are prohibited for him, this information can be useful in an emergency.
If in doubt and suspect that you may still be hypersensitive to antibacterial drugs, it is imperative to test for antibiotics. Experienced hospital staff knows how to do it according to all the rules. Testing should not be done at home.
