Penicillin Allergy Testing and Resensitization Rate

Penicillin is one of the earliest discovered antibiotics and a drug of choice for several infections. Up to 10 to 20% of all patients in clinical trial are labeled as penicillin allergic. Most of these patients do not have a true allergy but few have had it verified. Approximately 80% of patients with IgE-mediated penicillin allergy lose their sensitivity after 10 years. Several studies have been conducted denying the risk of sensitization following negative testing of penicillin allergy. Investigators have not had the same experience and have therefore decided to conduct a retrospective study review of 83 adult outpatients with a distant penicillin allergy label and evaluate outcomes of skin retesting six weeks following Drug Provocation Test and challenge.