An allergy to antibacterial drugs in the modern world often occurs, this is due to heredity, environmental conditions, other allergens surrounding the person, and excessive sterility in the house. Antibiotics are prescribed to fight bacterial infections that occur separately or may become a continuation of a viral disease. In order to exclude the occurrence of an allergic reaction and not aggravate the patient's condition, an intradermal test for antibiotics is performed.
Antibiotic allergy
Allergy is a response of the human immune system to the repeated exposure to antibiotics, subject to a negative reaction that could have occurred earlier. The immunity of a healthy person does not respond to medications, but the system can fail, and taking medications becomes a problem for the body.
The risk increases with repeated use of antibacterial drugs and an increase in dosage. Exposure does not occur in every person, but it becomes a problem for doctors in treating a patient. For prevention, a test for antibiotic sensitivity, which is done in a medical institution, is used.
Allergies may occur:
- suddenly - symptoms appear within an hour;
- within 72 hours;
- late reaction if an allergy appears after 72 hours.
Under certain factors, the risk of developing a response to antibacterial drugs may increase:
- allergic reactions to other substances;
- taking an antibacterial drug for more than 7 days;
- repeated treatment with one medicine;
- hereditary factor;
- combination with some other medicines.
Symptoms of antibacterial intolerance
Symptoms of an allergy to antibiotics can manifest themselves in different ways:
- skin rashes can occur throughout the body or affect certain areas. The rash is reddish pink;
- urticaria - an allergic reaction in which red spots and blisters can grow and merge together, forming large bulges;
- Quincke's edema is a dangerous manifestation of allergies. With it, the hands, throat, lips, eyes swell;
- A reaction to sunlight, in which rashes appear on areas of the skin that are exposed to the sun;
- Stevens-Johnson syndrome is manifested by fever and rashes on the skin and mucous membranes;
- Lyell's syndrome is a rare manifestation of an allergy. Bubbles appear on the skin, which then burst;
- drug fever provokes the appearance of a temperature that disappears after discontinuation of antibacterial drugs;
- anaphylactic shock requires immediate medical attention. Heart failure, a decrease in blood pressure and suffocation occur.
Sensitivity Diagnostics
Before prescribing an antibacterial drug, the doctor interviews the patient, in the absence of cases of negative reactions to medications, they may not be diagnosed. If the patient had a history of such cases, then an antibiotic is prescribed after passing tests to ensure the safety of the prescribed medicine:
- general blood analysis;
- test for antibiotics;
- blood test for immunoglobulin E.
Studies are carried out different: sublingual, skin, inhalation.
Allergy skin test
Before antibiotic therapy, the presence of allergic reactions is ascertained. If there has already been a reaction to any drug, then it is not used in treatment and the study is not carried out. A test for antibiotics is carried out after determining the risk group to which the patient belongs:
- persons who previously had a reaction to taking antibiotics;
- persons who are allergic to a substance and are able to give a positive result for the sample;
- persons who have taken this drug more than once;
- persons who are not prone to allergies and who have not had contact with an antibiotic.
The antibiotic test algorithm is as follows:
- First, a scarification test is carried out , if within 30 minutes it does not give a positive result, then a skin test is prescribed.
- If the response to the antibiotic is positive, then further research stops.
- With a negative skin test, it can be argued that there is no allergic reaction, which means that the therapy is carried out with the selected drug.
Scarification test
Preliminarily, the surface of the skin is treated with alcohol, antibiotic drops are applied to the forearm, small scratches are carried out with injection needles in the area of the drops, not more than 10 mm. Drops of saline are applied to the other hand. During the procedure, blood should be avoided. The reaction to the drug is monitored for 30 minutes:
- Negative reaction - within 30 minutes, redness did not appear on both the arm with the antibiotic and the arm with saline.
- Weakly positive reaction - at the injection site for antibiotics, a small blister appeared, visible when the skin was pulled.
- A positive reaction is redness and blister, not more than 10 mm in size.
- A sharply positive reaction is a blister with a diameter of more than 10 mm with redness.
Intradermal test
A solution of the drug is injected into the forearm area with an insulin syringe. A sterile saline solution is used for the solution. The reaction is monitored for 30 minutes:
- The check is considered negative if, within a specified time, the injection site has not changed its color and size.
- The test is considered slightly positive if the blister has increased in size by 2 times.
- With a positive sample, the size of the blister increases to 25 mm.
- A sharply positive reaction will increase the blister by more than 25 mm.
When answering the question of how to make a test for an antibiotic, it is necessary to understand that a skin study is carried out only with a negative scarification test. During the procedure, it is necessary to have all the means at hand to provide first aid for anaphylactic shock.
If the test for antibiotics showed a positive reaction, then an entry is made about this in the patient's card. Also, the patient needs to remember which drugs are prohibited for him, this information can be useful in an emergency.
In case of doubt and suspicion that you may still be hypersensitive to antibacterial drugs, it is necessary to conduct a test for antibiotics. Experienced hospital staff know how to do it by all the rules. The test should not be carried out at home.