Don't Fear Testing for, and De-labeling, Penicillin Allergy

You are seeing a 28-year-old man for a same-day appointment. He has a history of opioid use disorder and chronic hepatitis C virus infection. He has been using injections of heroin and fentanyl for more than 6 years, and you can see in his medical record that he has had four outpatient appointments for cutaneous infections along with three emergency department visits for same in the past 2 years. His chief complaint today is pain over his left forearm for the past 3 days. He does not report fever or other constitutional symptoms.

Examination of the left forearm reveals 8 cm of erythema with induration and calor but no fluctuance. The area is moderately tender to palpation. He has no other abnormal findings on exam.

You want to treat this patient with antibiotics and close follow-up, and you note that he has a history of penicillin allergy. A note in his record states that he had a rash after receiving amoxicillin as a child.

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Cite this: Don't Fear Testing for, and De-labeling, Penicillin Allergy - Medscape - Mar 30, 2023.