[Drug allergy in children: more often suspected than real]

Drug allergy in children: more often suspected than real Abstract. Adverse drug reactions are frequent in the pediatric population. However, only a small proportion of all adverse reactions are drug allergic reactions. About 10 % of the parents report a suspected drug allergy in their children. Even though, no accurate epidemiological data are available, studies suggested that as few as 10 % of those reported an allergy really are. The most common drug allergy among children is a drug hypersensitivity to antibiotics, especially to betalactam antibiotics.In children, one of the major difficulty in the diagnosis of drug allergies, and especially to antibiotics, is the differentiation of maculopapular eruption as an allergic reaction from a viral exanthema, which is very common among children. Therefore, a high number of children are inappropriately labeled as "drug allergic". In case of suspicion of an allergy, it is recommended to perform a complete allergy workup.