It's well known that antibiotics can cause rashes, but just how common these reactions are has been less well-documented. Some drugs are more likely to cause rashes in children than others.
A review of nearly 6,000 patient charts in a large pediatric practice indicates that more rashes were attributed to the oral antibiotic Ceclor than with any of the other antibiotics.
Overall, "rashes occurred in 7.3% of children who were given the commonly used oral antibiotics," the study authors write They add, however, that rashes apparently occur "in less than 3% of exposures to common oral antibiotics when considered per written prescription." They found that rashes occurred in 12% of children prescribed cefaclor, 7% of those taking a penicillin drug, 9% of those taking a sulfonamide and 3% of those taking other cephalosporins.
Archives of Dermatology, 2000;136:849-854.
Antibiotics are obviously greatly overused in this country, but occasionally they may be beneficial and necessary. It is important to recognize that he cephalosporin type of antibiotics (such as Keflex) are the most likely to cause a rash. One should seek alternatives to these drugs if at all possible. If one's child is place on antibiotics, it will be very important to make sure that good bacteria, like bifidus and acidophilus are used to prevent any overgrowth of harmful bacteria and yeast.