antitoxin

noun

an·​ti·​tox·​in ˌan-ti-ˈtäk-sən 

: an antibody that is capable of neutralizing the specific toxin (such as a specific causative agent of disease) that stimulated its production in the body and is produced in animals for medical purposes by injection of a toxin or toxoid with the resulting serum being used to counteract the toxin in other individuals

also : an antiserum containing antitoxins

Examples of antitoxin in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

In other words, a book that could be a personal antitoxin against the current moment. —New York Times, 13 Apr. 2023

Seven of the latter are displayed on white canine forms, arranged around a sled to commemorate the 1925 dog-sled relay that delivered diphtheria antitoxin to Nome from Lord’s home village, Nenana. —Mark Jenkins, Washington Post, 7 June 2023

In February 1925, in the midst of a diphtheria outbreak, a relay of sled dog teams delivered an emergency supply of antitoxin to Nome, Alaska, which had been isolated by snow. —Emily Anthes, New York Times, 27 Apr. 2023

Parker also knows that, unlike UC Davis, many veterinarians do not keep antitoxin on hand, further delaying treatment and worsening outcomes. —Claire Panosian Dunavan, Discover Magazine, 11 Jan. 2018

Williams jabbed the antitoxin into the boy’s arm. —Justin Beal, Harper’s Magazine , 12 Dec. 2022

Still, while current fatality rates are lower than 10 percent, before the development of antitoxin, the fatality rate was 50 percent, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. —Beth Mole, Ars Technica, 16 Mar. 2023

One study in the forties found that a batch of diphtheria antitoxin protected some guinea pigs from the disease, but not others, depending on whether they’d been reared on green vegetables or beets. —Sonia Shah, The New Yorker, 18 Feb. 2023

These mutants produce their own version of the antitoxin molecule, preventing suicide of the bacterial host. —Ashley P. Taylor, Discover Magazine, 16 Nov. 2012

Word History

Etymology

anti- + toxin, probably after Italian antitossina or German Antitoxin (both perhaps calqued on German Gegengift "antidote")

Note: Probably introduced by the Italian pathologist Guido Tizzoni (1853-1932), who used the word in Tizzoni and Giuseppina Cattani, "Sulla proprietà dell'antitossina del tetano," Atti della Reale Accademia dei Lincei, Serie Quarta, Rendiconti, vol. 7 (1891), 1. semestre, pp. 333-37; and in Guido Tizzoni, "Ueber die experimentelle Immunität gegen den Tetanus," Internationale Beiträge zur wissenschaftlichen Medicin: Festschrift, Rudolf Virchow gewidmet, Band 3 (Berlin, 1891), pp. 31-60. The term antitoxin is associated with the German pathologist Emil von Behring, though its use by Behring appears to be subsequent to Tissoni's; for background see Derek S. Linton, Emil von Behring: Infectious Disease, Immunology, Serum Therapy (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 2005).

First Known Use

1877, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

antitoxin

noun

an·​ti·​tox·​in ˌant-i-ˈtäk-sən 

: an antibody that is formed in response to a foreign and usually poisonous substance introduced into the body and that can often be produced in animals for use in treating human diseases (as tetanus)

antitoxic

-sik

adjective

Medical Definition

antitoxin

noun

an·​ti·​tox·​in ˌant-i-ˈtäk-sən 

: an antibody that is capable of neutralizing the specific toxin (as a specific causative agent of disease) that stimulated its production in the body and is produced in animals for medical purposes by injection of a toxin or toxoid with the resulting serum being used to counteract the toxin in other individuals

also : an antiserum containing antitoxins