The History of Convalescent Serum and the Story of the Antibody, Part 1

Healio Rheuminations

Jul 15, 2020•41 min•Season 1Ep. 37

--:--

Listen in podcast apps:

Listen to this episode in Metacast mobile app

Don't just listen to podcasts. Learn from them with transcripts, summaries, and chapters for every episode. Skim, search, and bookmark insights. Learn more

Episode description

COVID-19 has brought up the use of the old remedy convalescent serum. What is it? Did it work? This series walks us through the history of the serum, how it was discovered, how it was first used, and how it inspired the field of immunology.

Intro :11
In this episode :15
A quick tale :20
Outline of these three episodes 2:51
Quick definitions 3:50
How it all began 7:16
A solo paper on diphtheria 12:57
A trial of children 17:07
Giving fluids from a horse 21:57
What happened with tetanus? 25:12
Switching gears to our understanding of antibodies 27:09
The next target: snakes 29:17
The plague 32:00
Summary of Part 1, what’s next 39:05

Disclosure: Brown reports no relevant financial disclosures.

We’d love to hear from you! Send your comments/questions to Dr. Brown at [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter @HRheuminations @AdamJBrownMD @HealioRheum

References:

Butler T. Clin Microbiol Infect. 2014;20:202-209.

Crum FS. Am J Public Health. 1917;7:445.

Eibl MM. Immunol Allergy Clin North Am. 2008;28:737-764, viii.

Graham BS, Abrosino DM. Curr Opin HIV AIDS. 2015;10:129-134.

Grundbacher FJ. Immunol Today. 1992;13:188-190.

Hawgood BJ. Toxicon. 1999;37:1241-1258.

Kantha SS. Keio J Med. 1991;40:35-39.

Kaufmann SHE. mBio. 2017;8:e00117-17.

Klass, Perri. “An Apocryphal Christmas Miracle.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 23 Dec. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/12/23/well/family/diphtheria-antitoxin-Christmas-miracle.html.

Lindenmann J. Scand J Immunol. 1984;19:281-285.

Meyer KF, et al. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1952;55:1228-1274.