Penicillin can cause a direct Coombs + autoimmune hemolytic anemia
The Direct Coomb's test involves anti-Ig antibody (Coombs reagent) added to patient’s RBCs. RBCs agglutinate if the RBCs are already coated with antibodies (indicating that the body is making antibodies that bind the RBCs). RBCs tagged with antibodies are destroyed in the spleen. Penicillin is thought to act as a hapten binding with proteins on the RBCs and triggering an antibody response against the penicillin-RBC complex [FA2020 p423]
submitted by ∗cassdawg(1781)
Penicillin can cause a direct Coombs + autoimmune hemolytic anemia
The Direct Coomb's test involves anti-Ig antibody (Coombs reagent) added to patient’s RBCs. RBCs agglutinate if the RBCs are already coated with antibodies (indicating that the body is making antibodies that bind the RBCs). RBCs tagged with antibodies are destroyed in the spleen. Penicillin is thought to act as a hapten binding with proteins on the RBCs and triggering an antibody response against the penicillin-RBC complex [FA2020 p423]