Studies in penicillin hypersensitivity. II. The significance of penicillin as a contaminant

Challenge of Penicillin‐Allergic Volunteers with Penicillin‐Contaminated Meat

“…Penicillin-contaminated air in hospitals and factories has also been incriminated in the initiation of anaphylactic responses in hypersensitive persons (7,23). Contaminated sterilization fluids and syringes have been responsible for serious incidents (5). It is practically impossible to eliminate all antigenic properties of penicillin by steam sterilization.…”

Penicillin Hypersensitivity — Is Milk a Significant Hazard?: A Review

“…Over the next decade, understanding of the mechanisms involved in the development of penicillin allergy increased and it was not unreasonable that the public health significance of the presence of penicillin allergens in milk should be questioned. Milk and milk products were regarded as but one source of covert exposure to penicillin and attention was drawn to residual penicillin in sterilized syringes and from penicillin-producing fungi in the environment (Coleman & Siegel 1955, Siegel 1959). Welch (1957) expressed this concern in a publication which recorded that the Commissioners of the Food and Drugs Administration of the USA had authorized the setting up of a Medical Advisory Panel to consider public health problems arising from the presence of antibiotics in marketed milk.…”

“…Coleman & Siegel (1955) were the first to draw attention to this possibility by reporting a case in which penicillin contaminating a sterilized syringe was implicated in the development of anaphylactic symptoms in a patient receiving a testosterone injection. The patient had previously developed generalized allergic reactions after oral therapy with penicillin and also following the use of penicillin skin tests.…”

Etudes sur l’allergie à la pénicilline. IV. Les tests cutanés dans l’allergie à la pénicilline

“…Des chocs anaphylactiques graves et parfois mortels ont été observés chez certains patients fortem ent sensibilisés lors de tests par injection intra dermique de pénicilline [9,14]. Des manifestations immédiates géné ralisées (prurit, malaise, urticaire) peuvent se voir même à la suite de scratch-tests avec de la pénicilline [9,6], Il n'existe cependant pas, à notre connaissance, de cas publiés de décès par choc à la suite d'un tel scratch-test.…”

“…Cependant des réactions positives ont été obtenues avec des doses aussi faibles que 0.0005 unité (14]. Un choc anaphylactique sévère a été observé à la suite de l'in jection intradermique de 20 unités [13] et des chocs mortels après ingestion de 1000 unités [9].…”