My daughter gets a rash (raised bumps, non symmetrical, non-blanching) when she takes any kind of antibiotic.

It doesn't seem to bother her a whole lot, but it does my wife and I.

She recently tested positive for strep A, so antibiotics are required or else we risk it turning into something worse.

Since her birth we have tried - Amoxicillin, Penicillin, Ceclor -- and all have had the same situation.

I let her doctor know when we were in the office where she tested positive for Strep that she had a mild allergy to antibiotics and this time she tried Azithromycin to treat.

Same thing happened. After 2 doses of 5, we noticed she had raised bumps, rashes, all over her body, but they dont seem to be a big deal to her. Obviously we are paying attention to ensure no anaphylaxis will occur as it just seems to be a mild allergy.

Any ideas?

BadMoonRisin said:

---

My daughter gets a rash (raised bumps, non symmetrical, non-blanching) when she takes any kind of antibiotic.

It doesn't seem to bother her a whole lot, but it does my wife and I.

She recently tested positive for strep A, so antibiotics are required or else we risk it turning into something worse.

Since her birth we have tried - Amoxicillin, Penicillin, Ceclor -- and all have had the same situation.

I let her doctor know when we were in the office where she tested positive for Strep that she had a mild allergy to antibiotics and this time she tried Azithromycin to treat.

Same thing happened. After 2 doses of 5, we noticed she had raised bumps, rashes, all over her body, but they dont seem to be a big deal to her. Obviously we are paying attention to ensure no anaphylaxis will occur as it just seems to be a mild allergy.

Any ideas?

---

Does it itch? Or any nausea, diarrhea, belly pain, lightheadedness, coughing?

Amoxicillin and Penicillin are the same class, so lots of cross reactivity between the two. Ceclor is in another class, however structurally similar to the first .

Azithromycin is in a completely different class as both, and I'm not aware of any cross reactivity between them.

Take lots of pictures if the rash she has now, along with any future rashes she has. At some point, might be worth seeing an allergist. Usually seeing an allergist is a waste of money, but for antibiotics it might be useful.

BadMoonRisin said:

---

My daughter gets a rash (raised bumps, non symmetrical, non-blanching) when she takes any kind of antibiotic.

It doesn't seem to bother her a whole lot, but it does my wife and I.

She recently tested positive for strep A, so antibiotics are required or else we risk it turning into something worse.

Since her birth we have tried - Amoxicillin, Penicillin, Ceclor -- and all have had the same situation.

I let her doctor know when we were in the office where she tested positive for Strep that she had a mild allergy to antibiotics and this time she tried Azithromycin to treat.

Same thing happened. After 2 doses of 5, we noticed she had raised bumps, rashes, all over her body, but they dont seem to be a big deal to her. Obviously we are paying attention to ensure no anaphylaxis will occur as it just seems to be a mild allergy.

Any ideas?

---

We've gone through the same thing with our daughter with amoxicillin and penicillin. But it only seems to happen when she's on them for longer periods of time, like more than 5 days. The past couple of times she got strep they gave her azithromycin and it took care of it and no reaction either. We just got done doing allergy testing last week and she's not allergic to penicillin like we thought, she's just reactive when on it for longer periods of time. Hoping that strep is less of an issue for us going forward since she had her tonsils removed in March. Sounds like your daughter is reactive to the antibiotics, but not allergic. You could keep trying different ones until you find one she isn't reactive to.

You can get with an allergist and have her tested but I'd wager you have the exact same diagnosis as our daughter.

I am allergic to Penicillin/Amoxicillin so I only take Azithromycin. The former gave me the chemical burn rash all over.

Nope, no itching. We keep Benadryl gel and hydrocortisone at the ready, just in case.

We are on day 4 of a 5 day prescription, so I think we are mostly ok.

Im just wondering if anyone else had this situation occur with their kiddos.

Ragoo said:

---

I am allergic to Penicillin/Amoxicillin so I only take Azithromycin. The former gave me the chemical burn rash all over.

---

Interesting. I was hoping the Zithromax would not bother her like amox/peni because I've heard of success stories like yours before.

Has she had the strep for a while, or had it recently (within the last month or so) of starting the azithromycin?

Could be the rash from scarlet fever and the azithromycin is just a coincidence, not the cause. Scarlet fever has a pretty distinct rash so you should be able to tell.

Other option is it is not the antibiotic specifically but something else that's in both as a carrier that she's allergic to.

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "raised bumps". Do they look like mosquito bites or smaller, firm "bumps"? You can google "Urticaria" to see the classic "wheal and flare, target lesion" rash often associated with allergic reaction. Additionally, allergic reaction are often very itchy. If not itchy and the bumps are more firm, she may be having papular acrodermatitis. It is a benign skin eruption in children associated with a laundry list of potential triggers.

If you are not certain if she is really allergic to the antibiotics, it might be worth the trauma of testing for IgE associated with penicillin allergy (blood test) and/or be skin tested by an allergist. There are a lot of people running around thinking they are allergic to antibiotics because of a "childhood" rash that wasn't properly assessed. Hope some of that helps.

FIDO95 said:

---

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "raised bumps". Do they look like mosquito bites or smaller, firm "bumps"? You can google "Urticaria" to see the classic "wheal and flare, target lesion" rash often associated with allergic reaction. Additionally, allergic reaction are often very itchy. If not itchy and the bumps are more firm, she may be having papular acrodermatitis. It is a benign skin eruption in children associated with a laundry list of potential triggers.

If you are not certain if she is really allergic to the antibiotics, it might be worth the trauma of testing for IgE associated with penicillin allergy (blood test) and/or be skin tested by an allergist. There are a lot of people running around thinking they are allergic to antibiotics because of a "childhood" rash that wasn't properly assessed. Hope some of that helps.

---

It looks more like Urticaria than papular acrodermatitis.

Im not certain about anything and my pediatrician doesnt think much about it, I was just opining because I would rather have her get hives and get over strep than not and have it turn into scarlet fever. I just dont know what choices I have, and it doesnt sound like I have any at all.

Im not exactly sure how long she has had it.

My in-laws who are older were coming in on Friday and she slept in my bed and was super sick (high fever, sweating, and she was kind of complaining in her sleep) Thursday night, so I made an appointment and took her to the doctor Friday before noon and got the antibiotics in her just after noon. We wanted to try and cut it off early so the risk of spreading it to in-laws was as reduced as we could possibly get it.

I guess it could be Scarlett fever, but like I said we tended to her illness almost immediately so Im not sure.

We gave her the Zithromax expecting something like this would happen and it did.

I think the above poster mentioned something about being "reactive" and not necessarily "allergic". Maybe that's what it is. Anyway, my care providers dont seem too worried about it, I'm just curious and trying to figure out what's going on.

Any joint swelling?

I had a patient with a severe case of Serum like sickness recently that was really impressive.

Serum Sickness-like Reaction | Causes, Symptoms and Treatment (cincinnatichildrens.org)

Her last course of antibiotics was yesterday and she is totally fine now. I guess its just a strange reactivity.