Current Comment

PREVENTION OF SERUM SICKNESS  The "induced erythema" reported by Voss and Hundt¹ of children's clinic in Heidelberg, Germany, is interesting. Blood was drawn from patients convalescent after the serum sickness which in their hands so often follows routine administration of diphtheria antitoxin. From 1 to 10 cc. of the resulting convalescent human serum was injected intravenously into diphtheria patients from one hour to eight days after routine administration of antidiphtheritic horse serum. The German investigators report that if the intravenous convalescent serum injection is made within the first twenty-four hours allergic symptoms are not noted. If the injection is delayed till the third or fourth day, however, an "inverse anaphylactic reaction" is produced, a generalized erythema, which usually disappears within a few hours. Delayed until the eighth day, i. e. until the end of the usual incubation period of spontaneous serum sickness, the "inverse anaphylactic reaction" is of "shocklike