Serum sickness-like reaction

D

Deanne NZ

Senior Member (Voting Rights)
I'm interested to know if members with MECFS recall if they ever had Serum sickness-like reaction in the years preceding onset of MECFS, or maybe in their childhood.

I don't recall it being mentioned on the forum & have often wondered if there could be any clues in the condition. It was the only significant illness my son had at the age of 3 (was on cefaclor at the time) prior to MECFS diagnosis at 13. It was severe enough that he was hospitalised for 4 days & it took him several weeks to recover.

I know of at least one other MECFS teen who had Kawasaki Disease prior to diagnosis but have never asked others about this.

Is there any significance in this quote taken from wikipedia "Serum sickness–like reactions (SSLRs) refer to adverse reactions that have symptoms similar to those of serum sickness (type III immune complex hypersensitivity) but in which immune complexes are not found"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serum_sickness-like_reaction
 
What are you meaning by 'serum sickness type reaction'? As a clinical and immunologist I would not use that term because it is much too vague and speculative.

Are you meaning rash with fever or something like that?
 
That’s what the paediatricians called it at the time he was in hospital but without committing to the actual diagnosis.
He was very unwell with fever, urticaria/rash on most parts of his body but particularly torso, groin, thighs & face, swollen wrists, knees & ankles, a very sore tummy & he could not stand or lift his hands to eat or drink. He was very poorly for a week like this.He gradually improved but then it flare again for a few days but less severe. It was approximately 8 weeks until the symptom flares stopped. They also detected something off with his heart & the main concern seemed to be checking for rheumatic fever.

I am interested if this is a common childhood condition with PwME and curious if there is any relevance to MECFS in that it is described as a condition in which immune complexes are not found.
 
Deanne NZ said:
I am interested if this is a common childhood condition with PwME and curious if there is any relevance to MECFS in that it is described as a condition in which immune complexes are not found.
Click to expand...

I think the problem is that it is a common enough event anyway. I had an episode a bit like that when I was about 6, with joint pains. My wife had episode in her early teens.

Tests for immune complexes have largely been abandoned because they were so unreliable, soI doubt the lack of finding them means much. In most cases I think 'serum-sickness like reaction' just means that it looks a bit like serum sickness and nobody has looked for immune complexes since we have given up bothering.

Allergic reactions to drugs are very likely due to immune complex formation where circulating antibody meets antigen at interfaces like the demo-epidermal junction - which is what also happens in lupus rash. You don't find complexes in the circulation because they aren't present there but that is not because the symptoms are not due to complexes. People were interested in mechanisms in the 1970s but have largely lost interest since it doesn't make any difference to treatment. Understanding of how complexes cause changes in the 1970s had some big holes in it - so we are left with outdated concepts that were probably never very valid.
 
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