Five patients with serum sickness like diseas

Abstract

Clinical and analytical data from 5 children with serum sickness like disease were picked-up along 2-3 years. Three were females and 2 males, with ages between 2 y. and 10 mo. and 9 y. and 7 mo. All patients had recently suffered an acute infection and had received antiinfective therapy. The presence of arthritis, cutaneous rash and fever was constant. On the contrary, the analytical data were very variable and increased levels of circulating immunocomplexes were found only in 1/3 cases. The frequence of this disease does not seem so high as some authors support. Nevertheless, the characteristics of this disease, rather different from classical serum sickness, are emphasized because it is likely than much patients remain without diagnosing.