Kounis syndrome secondary to simultaneous oral amoxicillin and parenteral ampicillin use in a young man.

The concurrence of acute coronary syndrome with allergy or hypersensitivity as well as with anaphylactic or anaphylactoid reactions is increasingly encountered in daily clinical practice. There are several reports associating mast cell activation with acute cardiovascular events in adults. This was first described by Kounis as 'allergic angina syndrome',progressing to 'allergic myocardial infarction'. The main mechanism proposed is the vasospasm of coronary arteries. We present a case of a 28-year-old man who was admitted to our hospital with thoracic pain and dyspnoea. The symptoms recurred after simultaneous use of 1 g amoxicillin/clavulanic acid orally and 1 g ampicillin/sulbactam parenterally for tonsillitis the night before presentation and on the morning of admission.