
Pregnant women can safely tolerate penicillin allergy testing
The latest research by Dr Jumy Olajumoke Fadugba, chief of section of allergy and immunology at Penn Medicine, and colleagues found that pregnant women who report a penicillin allergy can safely undergo penicillin skin testing without worry of adverse effects. The tudy, published in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, suggest that more than 90 percent of patients with reported penicillin allergy can safely undergo the test, though there were unspecified rash (44%), hives (39%), angioedema or facial swelling (4%), shortness of breath (4%), throat symptoms (1%), prolonged gastrointestinal symptoms (< 1%) and dizziness (< 1%). The importance of this finding is that penicillin allergy during pregnancy is associated with cesarean delivery, post-cesarean wound complications and increased hospital stays, despite penicillin being a widely-used antibiotic.