If you have a serious bacterial infection but you're allergic to the only antibiotics that can knock out the infection, you do not have to worry. In such a challenging situation, desensitisation is a useful option, according to recent research. Rather than denying these patients potentially life-saving therapy, antibiotic desensitisation can be considered. Desensitisation involves administering the antibiotic in small, increasing doses until the full therapeutic dose is clinically tolerated. Researchers form the Children's Hospital in Boston, USA, reviewed the medical records of 21 patients who underwent antibiotic desensitisation at their institution during a five-year period. Nineteen of the patients were patients with cystic fibrosis, who were predisposed to develop allergy to a wide range of antibiotics because they often have to take multiple courses of antibiotics over their lifetime. A total of 57 desensitisations were performed involving 12 different antibiotics, with successful outcomes in 75 percent of cases. Of the 11 (19 percent) of antibiotic desensitisation procedures that were terminated due to an allergic reaction, none were fatal or required intubations or other aggressive measures.
Annals of Allergy, Asthma, & Immunology,
May 2004