Mom deathly allergic to penicillin. Does mupirocin contain penicillin?
Is mupirocin derived by penicillin?
Question posted by barbill2 on 17 Jan 2014
Last updated on 20 April 2020
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Answers
kaismama
17 Jan 2014
Here's a little hint. When you have the generic name and it does not include the word penicillin it won't contain it. Mupirocin is in no way related to penicillin.
CJM_PharmD
20 April 2020
That is not a fully accurate response. To the question, no there is no cross reactivity with mupirocin (Bactroban) and PCN allergy, as mupirocin has a separate MOA that targets isoleucyl-tRNA synthetase to inhibit protein synthesis, and therefore no cross reactivity there with beta lactams. However, your hint could prove problematic for someone who doesn't know better, because it insinuates that as long as the patient avoids the PCN class they are safe. But remember, the the allergy occurs when the beta lactam structure binds to host proteins forming a hapten that gets recognized by the immune system as a foreign protein and attacked.
Because it is a HS to the beta lactam itself, cross reactivity with other beta lactams such as carbapenems, cephalosporins, and monobactams (aztreonam) can occur in true life threatening PCN allergy, though many patients exhibit allergenicity to one class and not another, and many more patients mistake nausea or normal AEs as allergy to begin with. A fun thing we are having to do more and more now for STI treatments is induce short term allergy desensitization in PCN allergic patients so we can administer PCN drugs, but it's a short term fix when there is no other drug that can treat the organism at hand, and a 4 hour long process with significant monitoring (be sure to dc Beta blockers!)
Related topics
allergic reactions, mupirocin, penicillin
Further information
- Mupirocin uses and safety info
- Mupirocin prescribing info & package insert (for Health Professionals)
- Side effects of Mupirocin (detailed)
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