Serum sickness.
BACKGROUND
In the late 19th and early 20th century there was much interest in understanding the reactions to diphtheria antitoxin and the horse serum in which it was produced and administered.


OBJECTIVE
Pirquet and Schick reported on their studies of these reactions; particularly the differences in the reaction of those patients who had only one injection, and those who had a re-injection.


CONCLUSIONS
Pirquet and Schick concluded that "due to a single injection of horse serum a change takes place in the reaction of the human organism to the re-introduction of the same substance." This change, Pirquet in a 1906 article, called allergy.
Jackson
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R
Emeritus Professor of Medicine, Division of Dermatology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
D000486:Allergy and Immunology / Q000266:history; D005858:Germany; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D006967:Hypersensitivity / Q000266:history; D012713:Serum Sickness / Q000266:history*