Successful Desensitization in Penicillin Sensitivity

Penicillin is finding increasingly wide use in present day medical practice. The clinical indications for its use were at first almost exclusively imperative and urgent. However, at present it is used in preference to other available forms of treatment in many mild infections, and its administration has become an almost routine postoperative precaution. As a result, the reported incidence of reaction to penicillin has increased. These reactions are for the most part allergic, and in many instances they are of such severity as to preclude or limit further use of the drug. The case reported here illustrates the clinical problem which arises when resumption of penicillin therapy becomes necessary or a person who previously exhibited such an allergic reaction. The reactions to penicillin in our clinical material have fallen into four groups: Group 1: Reactions similar to those seen in other cases of drug sensitization and often characteristic of serum