To what extent is penicillin allergy present and what alternative antibiotic treatment is possible?

As a cohort study of 106 US hospitals between 09/2018 and 01/2019 has shown, it is primarily important to check whether there really is a penicillin allergy at the time of the disease. In most cases, the allergy was already present some time ago and may have already disappeared. fter alternative testing with 1) ß-lactam antibiotic alternatives, such as macrolides, sulphonamides, tetracyclines, clindamycin and linezolid, 2) narrow-spectrum ß-lactam antibiotics, such as 1st/2nd generation cephalosporins and penicillins, and 3) other ß-lactams, such as aztreonam, monobactam, carbapenem and 3rd /4th generation cephalosporins, it was found that most patients with penicillin allergy were treated with ß-lactam alternative antibiotics, in particular clindamycins and aztreonam. For urogenital tract infections before surgery, with non-ß-lactam antibiotics. As suspected, the alternative treatment to penicillin is sometimes not as effective and clindamycin in particular has been shown to increase the risk of a clostidium difficile infection. It remains important to check the history of penicillin allergy and talk to the patient about the symptoms of the suspected allergy.