9/23/2012
Sixty-seven year old male physician who while taking daily erythromycin for prostate problem developed an erythematous, slightly pruritic, macula-papular rash on his forearms. The rash cleared initially while still taking the erythromycin. Now, he develops the same rash whenever he takes erythromycin, azithromycin as well as minocin. Any thoughts as to what the immunologic basis is for this rash?

Thank you for your inquiry.

I am afraid we do not know, at least to my knowledge, the mechanism of action of a reaction of this type of rash related to the administration of the antibiotics you mentioned. I could find no documented mechanism of action of this type of reaction on a literature search.

Thank you again for your inquiry and we hope this response is helpful to you.

Sincerely,
Phil Lieberman, M.D.