Chapter VI 



ANAPHYLAXIS AND SERUM SICKNESS 



There has been frequent mention in the liter- 

 ature lately of ' l anaphylaxis ' ' and ' ' serum sick- 

 ness ' ' in connection with the use of Diphtheria 

 Antitoxin, and it is important to understand 

 these phenomena and their relation to serum 

 therapy. These conditions, however, bear no 

 relation whatever to the antitoxic property it- 

 self, but are caused entirely by the foreign pro- 

 teins contained in the horse serum. They may 

 be produced with normal serum, antibacterial 

 serum, as well as with antitoxic serum. 



Symptoms In a small proportion of cases 

 (about 5 to 14 per cent), the injection of horse 

 serum is followed by transitory and not very se- 

 vere symptoms, which appear only after 5 to 

 15 days; and consist of skin eruptions usually 

 of an urticarial form, fever, general swelling of 

 the lymph glands, and occasionally pain in the 

 joints. This condition is the so-called serum 

 sickness. 



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