About four million people in the UK have the drug allergy on their medical record - but when tested, 90% of them are not allergic, research suggests.
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society says many people confuse antibiotic side-effects with an allergic reaction.
Common allergic symptoms include itchy skin, a raised rash and swelling. Nausea, breathlessness, coughing, diarrhoea and a runny nose are some of the others.
But antibiotics, which treat bacterial infections, can themselves cause nausea or diarrhoea and the underlying infection can also lead to a rash.
And this means people often mistakenly believe they are allergic to penicillin, which is in many good, common antibiotics.
These are used to treat chest, skin and urinary tract infections - but if people are labelled allergic, they are given second-choice antibiotics, which can be less effective.
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Source: BBC News, 28 September 2023
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