Abstract

A short-cut review of the available medical literature was carried out to establish the proportion of patients who self-report an allergy to penicillin have a true penicillin allergy. After abstract review, four papers were found to answer this clinical question. The author, date and country of publication, patient group studied, study type, relevant outcomes, results and study weaknesses of these papers are tabulated. It is concluded that many adults who self-report a penicillin allergy are probably not allergic to penicillin antibiotics.