ABSTRACT
The objective of this paper was to draw up an efficient and safe study protocol to diagnose allergy to beta-lactam antibiotics. Seven hundred and fifty patients with clinical histories suggesting penicillin allergy were studied. RAST to penicilloyl G/V, skin tests with PPL, MDM, penicillin G and ampicillin, epicutaneous tests with differed type reactions and a provocation test (in case of the negative results of the other tests) were performed on the patients. The incidence of this pathology is very low (6.5%) and atopic patients do not present greater predisposition to suffer from it than the general population. By carrying out RAST and skin tests with PPL, MDM, penicillin G and ampicillin we arrived at the diagnosis, in the anaphylactic type charts, in 97.5% of the cases. In reactions of a differed type, by performing patch tests we arrived at the diagnosis in 50% of the cases.
