Serum Sickness and Immune Complexes

The article by Lawley et al.1 in this issue of the Journal provides an excellent description of the clinical and immunologic features of serum sickness in patients with bone-marrow failure who received antithymocyte globulin in horse serum. This group of patients, similar to those described by von Pirquet and Schick in 1905,2 acquired fever, skin lesions, arthralgias, lymphadenopathy, gastrointestinal symptoms, and mild proteinuria 8 to 13 days after beginning therapy. The relation of the formation of immune complexes to the development of clinical manifestations in these patients is well documented. A rise in the level of immune complexes was accompanied . . .