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Review
. 2021 Nov 29;92(S7):e2021519.
doi: 10.23750/abm.v92iS7.12384.

Hypersensitivity to polyethylene glycol in adults and children: An emerging challenge

Annamaria Bianchi  1 , Paolo Bottau  2 , Elisabetta Calamelli  3 , Silvia Caimmi  4 , Giuseppe Crisafulli  5 , Fabrizio Franceschini  6 , Lucia Liotti  7 , Francesca Mori  8 , Claudia Paglialunga  9 , Francesca Saretta  10 , Mariangela Tosca  11 , Fabio Cardinale  12 , Amelia Licari  13 , Michele Miraglia Del Giudice  14 , Carlo Caffarelli  15
Affiliations
Review

Hypersensitivity to polyethylene glycol in adults and children: An emerging challenge

Annamaria Bianchi et al. Acta Biomed. .

Abstract

Hypersensitivity reactions to polyethylene glycol (PEG) is an emerging challenge and the interest about this disease is growing since PEG is considered one of the possible causes of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID 19) vaccine-associated anaphylaxis. PEG is used in a wide variety of pharmaceutical, medical, industrial, cosmetic, and food products and can be an active ingredient or used as an excipient. PEG is present in several medications, and it may or may not be present in different formulations and dosages of the same drug. Lack of standardization nomenclature, inadequate labelling of products and lack of knowledge about PEG involvement in hypersensitivity reactions expose patients at risk of presenting multiple reactions before a diagnosis could be made. In this review we describe the main cases published in literature and propose an allergy work-up and management.

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Conflict of interest statement

Each author declares that he or she has no commercial associations (e.g., consultancies, stock ownership, equity interest, patent/licensing arrangement etc.) that might pose a conflict of interest in connection with the submitted article.

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