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Updated: May 17, 2025

Basophil Activation Test for Investigation of IgE-Mediated Mechanisms in Drug Hypersensitivity
Published on: September 16, 2011
[Multiple hypersensitivity versus multiple intolerance to drugs]
Eglė Janušonytė1, Dayana Jaramillo Loaiza2, Peter Jandus1
1Service d'immunologie et allergologie, Hôpitaux universitaires de Genève, 1211 Genève 14.
Abstract:
In everyday practice, many patients experience reactions to substances from different drug families. Multiple Drug Hypersensitivity Syndrome (MDHS) and Multiple Drug Intolerance Syndrome (MDIS) both involve reactions to several unrelated drugs but differ in pathophysiology and clinical presentation. Rare and immune-mediated, MDHS involves T lymphocytes and presents with severe delayed exanthems, eosinophilia, and moderate hepatic cytolysis triggered by at least two chemically distinct drugs. In contrast, MDIS is a diagnosis of exclusion, characterized by adverse reactions-often pseudoallergic and immediate-to three or more unrelated drugs, occurring upon separate exposures with negative allergy tests.
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