A Brief History of Polyclonal Antibody Therapies Against Bacterial and Viral Diseases Before COVID-19.

Publication date: Aug 30, 2024

The use of the serum or plasma of patients or animals who have recovered from an infectious disease, or had been immunized with a relevant antigen, to treat or prevent the same infection in others began in the late 1880s when French and German scientists uncovered, one step at a time, several of the elements of the immune system’s response to infection. A key finding was that the damage caused by some bacteria depends upon their secreted toxins which can be neutralized by biologic agents. Antitoxins to diphtheria and tetanus began to be manufactured in large animals in France, Germany, and the US in the 1890s and were soon being used worldwide. The impact of diphtheria antitoxin on childhood mortality was profound. Shortly after the development of antitoxins, convalescent serum began to be used for its anti-bactericidal properties thus addressing serious infections caused by non-toxin-producing organisms. The effectiveness of antitoxins and antisera was demonstrated by examining mortality rates in hospitals before and after the introduction of antitoxins, by comparisons of treated and untreated patients, by comparing early and late treatment and dosage, by examining vital data mortality trends, and by several randomized and alternate assignment trials. Antitoxins continue to have a role in the rare cases of diphtheria and other conditions largely eradicated by immunization, but serum therapy nearly disappeared from the medical armamentarium with the development of antibiotics in the 1940s. Inasmuch as new human pathogens are now emerging with unprecedented regularity as seen in the recent COVID-19 pandemic, and because specific therapies are unlikely to be available for them, plasma-based antibody therapies are likely to again carve out a niche in infectious disease control.

Concepts Keywords
1940s Antiserum
Bactericidal Antitoxin
Convalescent Convalescent serum
Germany CP
Viral Diphtheria
Passive antibody therapy
Pneumococcal pneumonia
Tetanus

Semantics

Type Source Name
disease IDO history
disease MESH Viral Diseases
disease MESH COVID-19
disease MESH infectious disease
pathway REACTOME Infectious disease
disease VO immunized
disease MESH infection
disease VO time
disease VO Bacteria
disease MESH diphtheria
disease MESH tetanus
disease VO diphtheria antitoxin
disease IDO bactericidal
disease VO effectiveness
disease VO immunization
disease MESH Pneumococcal pneumonia

Original Article

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