Certain drugs have been associated with a serum sickness like reaction (SSLR).
Usually the patient has been taking the drug for several weeks or has been re-exposed to the drug following previous therapy.
The reaction may start after the causative drug has been stopped. This may occur if it has a long half-life or if the target antigen is a metabolite with a long half-life.
Findings implicating the drug:
(1) reversal on discontinuation of the drug (although this may take several days to occur)
(2) recurrence on re-exposure (which often is not done because of the potential risk to the patient)
Implicated drugs include
(1) 6-mercaptopurine
(2) bupropion
(3) carbamazepine
(4) cephalosporin
(5) clopidogrel
(6) fluoxetine
(7) fluroquinolone
(8) griseofulvin
(9) iron dextran
(10) itraconazole
(11) metronidazole
(12) minocycline
(13) N-acetylcysteine
(14) penicillamine
(15) penicillin
(16) propranolol
(17) recombinant human proteins
(18) rifampin
(19) rituximab
(20) streptokinase
(21) sulfonamides
(22) thiouracil
(23) ticlopidine
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