Establishing a clear penicillin allergy assessment pathway (PAAP) in a safe clinical setting can be effective in ‘de-labelling’ patients wrongly thought to be allergic to penicillin, according to a recently published study led by researchers from the University of Oxford and University of Leeds.
It is thought that 6% of the UK general practice population has a record of a penicillin allergy, but fewer than 10% of these people are likely to be truly allergic.
The Allergy Antibiotics And Microbial Resistance (ALABAMA) trial, designed to address incorrect penicillin allergy records in primary care, investigated patients’ experience of penicillin allergy testing (PAT) and their acceptance of de-labelling following a negative allergy test. This was conducted in hospital settings, but had some…