RT Book, Section A1 Hong, David A1 Boyce, Joshua A. A2 Jameson, J. Larry A2 Fauci, Anthony S. A2 Kasper, Dennis L. A2 Hauser, Stephen L. A2 Longo, Dan L. A2 Loscalzo, Joseph SR Print(0) ID 1155952388 T1 Anaphylaxis T2 Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine, 20e YR 2018 FD 2018 PB McGraw-Hill Education PP New York, NY SN 9781259644016 LK accesspharmacy.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1155952388 RD 2023/01/30 AB Anaphylaxis is a potentially life-threatening systemic allergic reaction involving one or more organ systems that typically occurs within seconds to minutes of exposure to the anaphylactic trigger, most often a drug, food, or hymenoptera sting. Other triggers of anaphylaxis include radiocontrast administration or latex exposure. The term “anaphylaxis” was first described in 1902 by Charles Richet and Paul Portier who attempted to immunize dogs against sea anemone toxin in the same way Pasteur was able to vaccinate individuals against the smallpox virus. To their surprise, repeated administration of small, sub-lethal doses of sea anemone toxin reliably induced acute-onset death when re-administered 2–3 weeks after initial “vaccination” to the toxin. The phenomenon was termed ana (anti)-phylaxis (“protection or guarding”) because vaccination with anemone toxin resulted in the opposite intended immune effect. Charles Richet was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1913 for this work which led to further insights into hypersensitivity and mast cell biology.