Cutaneous Adverse Drug Reactions to Antibiotics: How Much is the Extent of the Problem?

Abstract

Medication-related harm or adverse drug reaction is a great global health concern today. They are frequent and, most often, devastating. With the rising incidences of drug-related adverse outcomes, it is imperative that clinicians have the knowledge and understanding of these occurrences to prevent, diagnose, and manage them properly. Skin is a very commonly affected organ system, and incidences of cutaneous adverse drug reactions are between 1-5% depending on the geographic location. Up to 60% or more of all adverse drug reactions may represent cutaneous reactions. These may fall into either of the dose-dependent or dose-independent categories. Being the most prescribed and utilized drug group, antibiotics have been implicated as one of the major drug groups causing cutaneous drug reactions. There is ample evidence that antibiotics cause severe and non-severe cutaneous adverse drug reactions. A review of the present literature was done using MEDLINE/PubMed, Google Scholar, and other search engines to gather evidence to find how extensive the problem is and how much the burden is. Which will enlighten clinicians from all backgrounds and medical students and help them deal with cutaneous adverse drug reactions more prudently