USE OF PENICILLIN O IN PATIENTS HYPERSENSITIVE TO PENICILLIN G

Abstract

Keefer and associates¹in their classic paper on the use of penicillin pointed out that urticaria developed in 3.5 per cent of the patients treated with the antibiotic. Hypersensitivity to penicillin, particularly to the commonly used benzylpenicillin, which is known as penicillin G, has been studied by many authors. During the last years Feldman,²Waldo and Tyson,³Tunis,⁴Cross,⁵Andrini,⁶Peruccio,⁷and Taillens⁸published reviews on this subject, while the earlier experimental work of McClosky and Smith⁹and Chou and Cutting¹⁰was confirmed by Spada.¹¹The clinical manifestations of hypersensitivity to penicillin G in man present themselves most frequently as papular or vesicular skin eruptions, urticaria and edema in various localities. Syndromes resembling serum sickness, contact dermatitis and the Arthus type reaction are often observed. Animal experiments¹²indicate that penicillin G is a sensitizing agent acting like a hapten