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Glite Dictionary
serum sickness

serum sickness

7.6
A delayed reaction to a foreign injection that causes fever, rash, and joint pain
  • noun
  • /ˈsɪrəm ˈsɪknəs/
  • Specialized
translation icon : enfermedad sérica
  • The patient developed serum sickness a week after receiving the antitoxin injection.

Examples

  • Doctors monitor for serum sickness in patients treated with animal-derived serums.

  • Symptoms of serum sickness include rash, fever, and swollen joints.

  • She developed serum sickness after receiving the vaccine.

  • What are the symptoms of serum sickness?

  • After receiving the medication, he developed a fever and rash, indicating that he was experiencing serum sickness.

  • Many patients report joint pain and malaise when suffering from serum sickness following the administration of foreign serum.

  • Following the treatment, she was diagnosed with serum sickness due to the delayed reaction of her immune system.

Synonyms

serum disease
vsserum sickness
  • Archaic
8.1

A delayed harmful reaction by the body's defenses after receiving medicine made from another person's or animal's blood

emphasizes later symptoms like fever rash and joint pain rather than the cause

How Reactive

serum sickness
  • Specialized
7.6
immediate allergy
  • Specialized
4.2
Schick test
  • Archaic
8.5
anergy
  • Specialized
9.9

Surface Forms

serum sickness singular
serum sicknesses plural

Morphology

serum + sickness

The compound is compositionally transparent: 'serum sickness' denotes a sickness caused by serum, following the common noun+noun pattern where the first noun specifies the cause or type. While the full clinical details (delayed immune reaction) are technical, a B1 learner who knows 'serum' and 'sickness' can readily infer it is an illness related to serum.

Etymology

Serum sickness comes from old treatments that used animal serum, the clear part of blood, which was given by injection and sometimes made people sick days later. Because the illness began after the serum was given, the name links the serum to the sickness, so today it means a delayed body 'reaction' to foreign serum.