Drug allergies

How to protect your kids
Drug allergy occurs when the immune system reacts to a medication. Though not as common as food or Hay Fever allergies, reaction to medication affects children and adults.

According to Dr Magda Attia, a general practitioner, drug allergy accounts for 20 per cent of all allergy patients seen in a month, with the majority being children.

Just like any other allergy, the immune system mistakenly responds to the drug as a harmful invader allergen.

Drug allergies are mostly mild and the symptoms may go away within a few days. However, most drug-related symptoms may not be as a result of drug allergies and do not involve the immune system. They may just be non-allergic drug reactions, usually called adverse drug effect that may have similar symptoms to the allergic reaction. Thus, a doctor would be the right person to diagnose your child’s drug allergy.

Dr Magda says: ‘Some of the most common symptoms that children with drug allergy present include rashes, swelling in the eyes and mouth, blisters or eczema. These normally occur a few hours after taking the drugs. Other symptoms in severe allergic reaction will include fever, wheezing, coughing, troubled breathing and anaphylaxis, which is a life-threatening reaction and considered as an emergency.’

The signs and symptoms of life-threatening drug reaction may include rapid pulse, dizziness, lightheadedness or loss of consciousness.

Some children have delayed symptoms that may occur a week or more after taking drugs. The condition is called serum sickness. Serum is the clear fluid in the blood. Serum sickness is similar to an allergy in that the body mistakenly identifies a protein from the antiserum or medication as harmful and activates the immune system to fight it off. Today, the most common cause of serum sickness is the antibiotic penicillin. Serum sickness will usually develop within seven to 10 days after initial exposure, but sometimes it can take as long as three weeks.

Responsible drugs
There are many drugs that cause adverse side effects and certain medicines trigger an allergic reaction. Penicillin and related antibiotics are the most common cause of drug allergies. Others include:

• Sulpha drugs.
• Vaccines.
• Insulin preparation.
• ARVs.
• Iodinated X-ray contrast dyes.
• Anticonvulsants.

According to Dr Magda: ‘The children who visit her clinic with drug allergy will have taken augmentin, chloroquine, brufen, or sulpha drugs (sulphonamides).’

Risk factors of drug allergy
Anyone can get a drug allergy but some factors may increase the risk. These include:

• Having a past allergic reaction to the same drug.
• Taking similar drugs to the one that caused a reaction in the past.
• Low immunity from other conditions such as HIV/ Aids.
• Having Hay Fever or another allergy.

Diagnosis and treatments
It is possible that a drug allergy may go away on its own. This is because the immune system changes over time and may in future react differently to the drug that caused the allergy. However, it is advisable that you take your child to a doctor for diagnosis and treatment to avoid severe reactions that may lead to the child developing anaphylaxis or drug-induced anaemia.

Your paediatrician or a general practitioner will be in a position to diagnose your child after knowing the drug he or she is using or has taken. He or she may also ask you about child’s medical history. In case no information is given about the drugs taken, the doctor may perform a skin test or give small doses of the medicine to see its reaction.

The first treatment for any allergy is to avoid the allergen or anything that causes the reactions. In drug allergy too, the doctor may stop the use of the medicine by the child. If the medicine cannot be changed, the doctor may try to do desensitisation, where small doses of medicine are taken for sometime then the amount increased slowly until the body gets used to the medicine.

Treatment of mild allergic reactions may include over the- counter antihistamines and it is always wise to ask your doctor about them before giving them to your child. For severe reactions that are often dealt with at the hospital bed or emergency room, epinephrine shots may be given to help breathing.

Controlling your kids drug allergy
Once you know that your kid has a drug allergy, it is easy to control the reaction by doing thefollowing:

• Know the name(s) of the medicine your child is allergic to.
• Always keep a list of the medicine that your child is taking.
• Discuss with your child’s doctor or pharmacist about any new medicine prescribed for him or her.
• Never give the medicine prescribed for the child to the other children.

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