- serum sickness
- serum sickness n an allergic reaction to the injection of foreign serum manifested by hives, swelling, eruption, arthritis, and fever called also serum disease
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a reaction that sometimes occurs 7-12 days after injection of a quantity of foreign antigen and is characterized by the deposition of large immune complexes. Since the complexes are deposited in the arteries, kidneys, and joints, the symptoms are those of vasculitis, nephritis, and arthritis.* * *
a hypersensitivity reaction to the administration of foreign serum or serum proteins characterized by fever, urticaria, arthralgia, edema, and lymphadenopathy. It is caused by the formation of circulating antigen-antibody complexes that are deposited in tissues and trigger tissue injury mediated by complement and polymorphonuclear leukocytes. Serum sickness is classed with the Arthus reaction and other immune complex diseases as a type III hypersensitivity reaction (Gell and Coombs classification). Although serum sickness is now rare because of the replacement of most animal-derived antisera with human immune globulins, an identical illness (serum sickness–like reaction or syndrome) can be produced by hypersensitivity reactions to penicillin and other drugs.
Medical dictionary. 2011.