Cephalosporins are alternative drugs for patients who have previous allergy to penicillins but they may be allergic to\ncephalosporins too. Hence, this study was undertaken to compare the allergic reactions caused by penicillins and\ncephalosporins. This study also has objectives of analyzing the clinical profile of these allergic reactions, grading them and trying\nto figure out ways to prevent these allergic reactions. ADR forms pertaining to penicillins and cephalosporins were included in\nthis study. These forms were analyzed by using a standardized questionnaire. The clinical profile and preventability aspects of\nthe ADRs were analyzed. Cefotaxime (50%) was found to produce more ADR�s followed by amoxicillin (18%), cefixime (10%)\nand piperacillin /tazobactam (7%). All the ADR�s reported are already known (100%) from the literature and no new kind of\nADR has been reported. When considering the duration of action, many events were cured in 1 or 2 days (46.28%), whereas few\nevents were continuing for more than 10 days and a maximum of 13 days (3.5%). When comparing with the severity of the\nevents most of the cases were mild (60.74%) followed by moderate (32.14%). Only 2 cases were severe (7%) which produced\nanaphylaxis. The reports show that most of the patients have recovered (78.57%) from the events and some are recovering\n(17.85%). No deaths have been reported in this study. Some ADRs were preventable (14.28%) (by considering the previous\nhistory of the patients and looking at the ideal dose of the drug). Most of the reactions are dermatological and no other systems\nhave been involved. Noting the previous history of allergy and adhering to ideal dose range would help in the prevention of\nADRs. Cefotaxime was responsible for the highest number of ADRs but we have not seen deaths in this study. Readymade list of\nalternative drugs for use in patients with known history of allergy can be provided to health care providers. Patients have to be\nencouraged to carry with them the details of the drugs to which they are known to be allergic. There is always a need for\ndissemination of guidelines to treat patients showing previous history to penicillins and cephalosporins. By reducing the\nadverse reactions, health care providers can reduce the fatalities and also the total cost of treatment in non-fatal adverse\nreactions.
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