[The development of allergy to antibiotics].

The paper includes a survey of issues concerning evolution of allergy to antibiotics. Particular attention is paid to penicillin allergy as this antibiotic has been the drug most frequently causing sensitization since 1960s until today, although the frequency of the allergy is continuously decreasing. In addition, the paper deals with the importance of replacing benzyl penicillin with semi-synthetic penicillins and the impact of these process on the nature of immune response (a decrease in the immediate allergy incidence, an increase in the delayed allergy incidence), cross reactions, the significance of the hidden allergen sources. Apart from that, the paper discusses the most important issues concerning the evolution of allergy to other antibiotics, especially the aminoglycoside antibiotics and cephalosporins.