Drug allergy
Drug allergies are allergic reactions to medications. In children, antibiotics are the most common drugs to which allergies are reported.
A drug allergy occurs when the immune system reacts to a drug. Symptoms of a reaction can include rash, lip or tongue swelling and trouble breathing. A severe drug allergy can cause anaphylaxis which is a sudden, life-threatening reaction.
True drug allergies are relatively uncommon, and many children are misdiagnosed as being allergic to certain drugs, particularly antibiotics, because of a suspected reaction in childhood. This ‘false allergy’ label can stay with them into adulthood and results in unnecessary avoidance of safe and effective medication. It can also mean
using alternate medication that might be less effective and potentially harmful.
Confirming a child’s true drug allergy status improves the likelihood of them receiving the safest available medicines.
Who does this affect?
Who does this affect?
- Up to one in four children and adults report an allergy to an antibiotic
- More than 90 percent of children whose reaction to an antibiotic occurred more than one hour after a dose do not have confirmed allergy
- Of those who are truly allergic to penicillin, more than 80 per cent will lose their allergic tendency over a 10 year period.
Our drug allergy research
Our drug allergy research
People with antibiotic allergies are given alternative antibiotics that are not the first choice of treatment for their infection. This could mean their treatment is less effective, they have longer stays in hospital or have more side effects from their treatment.
Our research focuses on three key areas. These are:
- Developing streamlined processes for drug allergy de-labelling in children to remove false antibiotic or drug allergy labels and diagnoses.
- Assessing the cause of adverse (potentially harmful) drug reactions in children including if and how they can be prevented.
- Determining the risk of reacting to other drugs in the same drug class (family) after a confirmed drug allergy.
Our impact
Our impact
- We found that only about one in five children with reported allergies to a class of drugs called non β-lactam (beta-lactam) antibiotics have a true allergy to these drugs. These drugs are commonly prescribed for children. Our study concluded that overall, 80 per cent of children diagnosed with an allergy to this class of drugs could be de-labelled.
- The study also found that, on average, children wait 1.9 years to have testing for their drug allergy.
- We have implemented a streamlined process for antibiotic allergy testing and referral to the drug allergy clinic at the Royal Children’s Hospital so that each child can have their allergy tested as soon as possible. This is currently being evaluated.
- Other research we conducted was the first to demonstrate high rates of inappropriate antibiotics in hospitalised children diagnosed with allergy to β-lactam antibiotics which include penicillin. Children receiving intravenous antibiotics in the hospital were far more likely to have restricted antibiotics and stay longer in hospital if they had this diagnosis than those labelled non-allergic.
Our vision
Our vision
Our mission is for every child to receive the safest most effective medication. Our research aims to achieve this by implementing new drug allergy de-labelling pathways in every children’s hospital to remove false diagnosis of drug allergy. This will improve quality of care throughout life.
Where to next?
Where to next?
In the future, we plan to research whether genetic testing can help in identifying those children who will have an antibiotic allergy.
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