I swear I thought it was Contemporary Peds but just searched the CP archives and couldn't find the article... Eve H. Switzer, MD rural peds On Sun, 17 February 2002, "David Arkin" wrote: > > In the particular situation Michael quotes, with a non-urticarial > exanthematous rash associated with Amoxil, I have been telling parents for > years that this is an adverse reaction to Amoxil, but not an allergic > reaction. When the rash appears while the child is still taking the > medicine, I tell the parent to complete the Amoxil course, since the rash > will go away in 3 or 4 days whether the medicine is continued or not. For > subsequent illnesses, I prescribe penicillins as if no reaction had > occurred. In the dim dark recesses of my knowledge, I remember reading that > this rash is not IgE-mediated, so there should be no additional risk of > subsequent anaphylaxis, but I cannot give you the reference. (Pediatrics in > Review comes to mind, though). > So far, no problems with this advice. > David Arkin, MD > Richmond, VA > > > >From: Michael Sachs <> > >Reply-To: Michael Sachs <> > >To: > >Subject: Re: The Infamous "Amoxil Rash" > >Date: Sun, 17 Feb 2002 14:12:37 -0800 > > > >>In a message dated 2/14/2002 1:40:45 PM Eastern Standard Time, > >> writes: > >> > >> > >> > Anyone have any information on the infamous "Amoxil (amoxicillin) > >>rash"? > > > > > > > >>At 04:31 PM 2/17/02 -0500, wrote: > >>No data, but I certainly see it. That's why I ask lots of questions when > >>parents tell me their child is allergic to something. You really have to > >>find out what kind of reaction they had. Many tell me they vomited, or > >>had > >>some diarrhea, or something else like that. Rashes are tougher, because > >>they > >>don't always remember what it looked like or whether it itched. If I'm > >>not > >>really sure, I let them know that testing is available for penicillin > >>allergy. > >> > >>Moshe Adler, MD > > > > > >I seem to recall reading somewhere that 70-80% of people who report a > >penicillin allergy actually are not allergic. > > > >Sometimes when I'm pretty confident that a non-urticarial rash is likely > >one of these idiosyncratic Amoxil rashes or maybe a non-specific viral > >exanthem I'll try Amoxil again at some point in the future. I've rarely > >seen the rash duplicated on a subsequent course of Amoxil. > > > >So here's a question back to the list: If a child has had a non-severe, > >non-specific, non-systemic, non-urticarial rash associated with Amoxil in > >the past, is there likely to be a significant risk of anaphylaxis with > >trying another course before doing formal skin or RAST testing? Any > >opinions? > > > > > > > >Michael Sachs, M.D. > >General Pediatrician > > > > > > > _________________________________________________________________ > Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com > _________________________________________________________________ iVillage.com: Solutions for Your Life Check out the most exciting women's community on the Web http://www.ivillage.com