Serum sickness is a classic clinical manifestation of which type of immune reaction? ________________?
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Answer: D. Systemic arthus reaction
Explanation
Serum sickness is characterized by the systemic deposition of circulating immune complexes in tissues. Type III hypersensitivity reactions involve soluble antigen-antibody complexes that trigger complement activation and inflammation. Clinical manifestations include fever arthralgia and rash appearing days after foreign protein administration. Immune complexes form when excess antibodies bind circulating foreign antigens in the bloodstream. These complexes deposit in vascular beds and renal glomeruli leading to neutrophil recruitment and tissue damage. Historical cases frequently arose after patients received therapeutic doses of animal-derived antitoxin sera.
Modern medicine rarely encounters classic serum sickness due to the widespread use of humanized monoclonal antibodies. Recognizing hypersensitivity reactions is vital for managing adverse drug reactions in hospitalized clinical patients. Supportive care and discontinuing the offending agent usually resolve mild systemic immune complex symptoms. Anaphylactic reactions represent immediate Type I hypersensitivity mediated by IgE antibodies bound to mast cells. Angioneurotic edema can be allergic or hereditary involving bradykinin pathways rather than classic immune complexes. Cell-mediated immunity involves T-cell responses rather than circulating antibody-antigen immune complex deposition.
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