DERMATITIS FROM PENICILLIN

Abstract

Considering the large number of patients receiving penicillin and of physicians, nurses and others exposed to the drug while administering it, the incidence of true contact dermatitis from penicillin reported to September 1944 is not large. Pyle and Rattner¹ reported the first case. The reactions in 2 cases reported by Graves, Carpenter and Unangst² occurred in patients receiving injections of penicillin and were not contact dermatitis. They had received no previous medication with penicillin. The reaction was immediate and involved the hands, feet and groin. The following 2 cases of dermatitis from penicillin occurred in the medical staff of hospitals. REPORT OF CASES Case 1.—Dr. A. B., aged 27, began the administration of penicillin about March 1, 1944, in the surgical service at St. Luke's Hospital, Cleveland. In the latter weeks of the same month, dermatitis of the skin of the upper extremities and