serum sickness


nounPathology.
  1. a generalized allergic reaction to a foreign serum or drug, characterized by fever, skin rash, enlarged lymph nodes, and painful joints.

Origin of serum sickness

1
First recorded in 1910–15
  • Also called serum disease .

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use serum sickness in a sentence

  • These symptoms, to which the name serum disease is applied, usually disappear in the course of a few days.

    Manual of Surgery | Alexis Thomson and Alexander Miles

British Dictionary definitions for serum sickness

serum sickness

noun
  1. an allergic reaction, such as vomiting, skin rash, etc, that sometimes follows 2-3 weeks after an injection of a foreign serum

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