Approximately 10% of all people list penicillin as a medication allergy. For many people, this came about as a result of developing some sort of rash after taking penicillin as a young child, many decades in the past. The details for most are vague, and did not typically result in a dangerous reaction, yet they were told to avoid penicillin anyway. For most of their lives, these people now need to take non-penicillin antibiotics that cost more, are more powerful, have more side effects and cause more antibiotic resistance than penicillin-based antibiotics. And yet most of these people aren't even truly allergic to penicillin.
Allergy testing is now available in order to confirm or rule out the presence of penicillin allergy. This is a simple procedure that can be performed in an allergist's office. Only an allergist can decide, after a careful evaluation of a person's penicillin allergy history and penicillin allergy testing, if a person is truly allergic to penicillin. In many cases, a significant number of people that thought they were allergic to penicillin can safely take this cost-effective class of antibiotics.
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