VIII. SERUM SICKNESS 



Definition. Under this name we now include 

 the various clinical manifestations following the 

 injection of horse serum into man. The princi- 

 pal symptoms of this disease are a period of incu- 

 bation varying from eight to thirteen days, fever, 

 skin eruptions, swelling of the lymph glands, 

 leukonemia, joint symptoms, oedema and albumin- 

 uria. The term " serum sickness " was first used 

 by von Pirquet and Schick, 1 from whose excellent 

 monograph the following data are chiefly taken. 



In 1874 Dallera reported that urticarial eruptions 

 may follow the transfusion of blood. Neudorfer 

 and also Landois also refer to this complication. 

 In the year 1894 the use of diphtheria antitoxin 

 introduced the widespread practice of injecting 

 horse serum. In the same year several cases were 

 reported in which these injections were followed by 

 various skin manifestations, mostly of an urticarial 

 character. Following these came a great mass of 

 evidence which made it clear that following the in- 

 jection of antidiphtheric serum these sequelae were 

 usually comparatively harmless. Nevertheless from 

 time to time the occurrence of serious symptoms, 



1 v. Pirquet and Schick, Die Serum Krankheit, Wien, 1905. 



.38 



