Serum sickness

The serum sickness is a delayed hypersensitivity reaction of the immune system (immune complex disease), for example, when human type III introduced into the vascular system of exogenous proteins and polysaccharides antiserum or vaccinate serum of animal origin is injected. Antiserum serves to protect against a poison . For example, it is obtained as an antivenin against snake venom from the blood of "serum horses". Vaccination serum, on the other hand, is supposed to protect against an infectious disease by means of “passive immunization” . Symptoms of serum sickness can rarely also occur after a fresh infection, e.g. B. occur with the hepatitis B virus . The symptoms of serum sickness are caused by so-called immune complexes . These immune complexes form when the body's own antibodies bind to an antigen (a foreign protein, e.g. the antiserum, or, in the case of an infection, a protein of the pathogen). The immune complexes are deposited in joints, in small vessels etc. and there lead to the activation of the complement system with damage and inflammation of the corresponding surrounding structures. This usually manifests itself over the course of days with slowly increasing clarity.

The serum sickness was first described in 1905 by Clemens von Pirquet and Béla Schick . Because the antibody level is highest 14 days after infection (here: antiserum administration), the serum sickness has also become known as the "illness of the 14th day".

Serum sickness should not be confused with anaphylactic shock (allergy of type I): This is an immediate reaction of the immune system due to already existing antibodies (Reagine), which therefore occurs with sudden violence within minutes.

Symptoms

Symptoms appear within a few days, but usually within 14 days. But there are also extreme cases with a time span of up to 35 days.

• Rash
• Joint pain
• fever
• Swelling of the lymph nodes
• shock
• Drop in blood pressure

treatment

The symptoms go away on their own. In severe cases, corticosteroids and symptomatic analgesics are given.

See also

• Arthur's reaction

swell

1. ↑ JH Stone, R. Mandakolathur, MR Murali: Case records of the Massachusetts General Hospital. Case 10-2013. A 30-year-old man with fever, myalgias, arthritis, and rash. In: N Engl J Med. Volume 368, No. 13, Mar 28, 2013, pp. 1239-1245. doi: 10.1056 / NEJMcpc1210260 . PMID 23514249
2. ^ ^{A b} Roche Lexicon

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