Serum Sickness

Overview :

Serum sickness is very similar to an allergic reaction. The patient's immune system recognizes the proteins in the drug or antiserum as foreign proteins, and produces its own antibodies to protect against the foreign proteins. The newly formed antibodies bind with the foreign protein to form immune complexes. These immune complexes may enter the walls of blood vessels where they set off an inflammatory reaction.

While other types of allergic reactions may produce a rapid response, the serum sickness reaction is delayed because it takes time for the body to produce antibodies to the new protein.