Cross-sensitivity of common aminoglycoside antibiotics.

Guinea pigs were sensitized to neomycin (A, B, or C), paromomycin, gentamicin, kanamycin, streptomycin, and dihydrostreptomycin via intradermal or foot-pad injection with an adjuvant containing killed Mycobacterium butyricum or M tuberculosis H37Ra (Ra). These antibiotics produced greater cross-sensitization with an increase in the number of immunizations and chemical structural similarities. After repeated intradermal injections (adjuvant Ra) of neomycin, guinea pigs showed cross-sensitization to paromomycin, kanamycin, and streptomycin. A single intradermal injection of one of these antibiotics produced stronger reactions to the most closely related antibiotics, with no meaningful sensitization to the least-related allergens. Streptomycin-sensitized guinea pigs seldom showed a meaningful cross-sensitization to dihydrostreptomycin or the other antibiotics (except neomycin C); however, guinea pigs sensitized to dihydrostreptomycin or the other antibiotics often showed strong cross-sensitization to streptomycin.