Q: I am a 25 years old man who has been prescribed Ciprofloxacin for food poisoning and after a few days I got darkening of lips and rashes. The doctor diagnosed it as fixed drug eruptions and advised not to take that antibiotic ever. After discontinuing the drug, the rashes went away. After 4 years by mistake I took oflaxcin and after one tablet the rashes started appearing on lips and genitals and it took 4 days to go off. Why do I have this allergy? Should I avoid quinolone life long? Please advise.

A:A person can develop allergy to any agent at any time. People who are allergic to one quinolone are normally allergic to all quinolones. Hence you should not take ciprofloxacin, gatifloxacin, pefloxacin, levofloxacin, lomefloxacin, ofloxacin, sparfloxacin, gemifloxacin etc. for life.