Antitoxin

Diphtheria antitoxin historically

An antitoxin (from the ancient Greek preposition αντί antí "against" and the Latin toxicum "(arrow) poison") is an antidote that renders poisons already present in the body harmless. It is mainly obtained from the serum of convalescent or large laboratory animals, mostly horses or cattle. Chemically speaking, they are neutralizing antibodies from the production of B lymphocytes . The principle of serum treatment has been used in infectious diseases with strong toxin formers such as tetanus , botulism and diphtheriaas well as the antivenins have been tried and tested in case of intoxication with snake venom or other animal poisons .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Wilhelm Gemoll : Greek-German school and hand dictionary . G. Freytag Verlag / Hölder-Pichler-Tempsky, Munich / Vienna 1965.
2. ↑ Erich Pertsch: Langenscheidts Large School Dictionary Latin-German . Langenscheidt, Berlin 1978, ISBN 3-468-07201-5 .

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