JAC Advance Access published online on June 30, 2009
Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, doi:10.1093/jac/dkp236
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org
Research letter |
Killing with kindness? Drug reaction eosinophilia with systemic symptoms (DRESS) masquerading as acute severe sepsis
1 Department of Intensive Care, South Tyneside District Hospital, South Shields, NE34 0PL, UK 2 Department of Microbiology, South Tyneside District Hospital, South Shields, NE34 0PL, UK
* Corresponding author. Tel: +44-191-4041000; Fax: +44-191-2024145; E-mail: richard.ellis@stft.nhs.uk
Key Words: β-lactams , hypersensitivity , antimicrobial reactions
| The first 10% of the full text of this article appears below. |
Sir,
A 37-year-old white UK-born male was admitted acutely unwell in late 2008 with a 2 h history of upper abdominal pain, vomiting, headache, pain between the shoulder blades and feeling feverish. Two hours prior to the onset of symptoms, the patient had taken the first dose of amoxicillin prescribed that day by his dental surgeon on the basis of an empirical diagnosis of possible periapical infection.
The patient had been previously fit and well and was on no regular medication. On examination, he was sweaty, hot and clammy. He had a diffuse erythematous macular rash on his back. He was febrile (39°C), hypotensive (88/60 mmHg),
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