Serum therapy in general is explained in an easy-to-understand manner.

Summary: Serotherapy is defined as the treatment with sera (also called antitoxins or antisera) containing artificially produced polyclonal antibodies (human or other animals). Its history dates back to 1890, when Shibasaburo Kitasato and Emile Behring announced the discovery of serotherapy for diphtheria and tetanus. Currently, Japan has gas gangrene antitoxin, diphtheria antitoxin, and botulinum toxin as government-owned products, and insurance-approved drugs that can be used immediately at ordinary medical institutions include pit viper antitoxin, habu antitoxin, and tetanus human immunoglobulin. In addition, unapproved drugs that can be used for clinical research include porcupine antivenom and spiders antivenom. There are no representative texts in Japan in the field of emergency and intensive care medicine that list serotherapy together. In this article, we will discuss how to administer actual serotherapy to patients. What precautions should be taken? This article provides intensivists with easy-to-understand information on what to do and what to watch out for when administering actual serotherapy to patients.