Contributions to the study of the favouring role of chronic urinary infections in inducing and starting drug-allergic-type reactions.

Abstract

A randomized study in a group of 87 patients with drug-allergic-type reactions (DAtR) manifested by urticaria and or angioedema, revealed in 55 patients (63.2%) the presence of chronic urinary infections (CUI), significantly different (p less than 0.001) from the control group (80 patients without DAtR) in which the incidence of CUI was only 20% (16 patients). Among the drugs observed to induce allergic-type reactions were substances such as penicillins and aspirin which are not used in CUI. It was therefore assumed that it is not their frequent use in CUI (as is the case with antibacterial drugs and contrast iodide substances) that leads to DAtR but rather more the CUI proper. The assumption that CUI are risk factors for the occurrence of DAtR is discussed and the following mechanisms are suggested in support of this assumption: enhancement of IgE secretion (by the drugs as allergens--complete or haptens--or by the inhibiting effects of some antibiotics on the T suppressor cells): nonimmunological mast cell degranulation (by the bacterial wall products--lectins and proteoglycans--or by the endotoxines with complement activation generating anaphylatoxines C3a and C5a): neurovegetative changes induced by infectious diseases.