Drug Allergies: Penicillin as case study

Since World War II, penicillin has been used to successfully treat a wide variety of bacterial infections. However, the penicillin family of antibiotics is not without drawbacks. One is the role of penicillins and other antibiotics in the evolution of antibiotic- resistant bacterial strains. Another is their capacity to induce allergic reactions in some patients. Penicillin and its relatives are responsible for most of the recorded allergic reactions to drugs and 97% of the deaths caused each year by drug allergies.

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