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Allergic Response:
Allergic Response:
Some drugs may act as haptens or allergens in susceptible individuals; re-administration of the hapten to such an individual results in an allergic response that may be sufficiently intense to call itself to the attention of the patient or the physician. The response may be so severe as to endanger the patient's life. The symptomatology of the allergic response is the result of the complex mechanism that is only "triggered" by the hapten. Hence, allergic responses to different haptens are fundamentally alike and qualitatively different from the pharmacologic effects the hapten-drugs manifest in normal subjects, i.e., patients not hypersensitive to the drug. Dose-effect curves obtained after administration of antigen to sensitized subjects usually reflect the dose-effect curves of the products of the allergic reaction even though the severity of the effects measured is proportional to the amount of antigen administered. Positive identification of a response as being allergic in nature depends on the demonstration of an antigen-antibody reaction underlying the response. In the case of specific patients, presumptive diagnoses of an allergic response must sometimes be made since no opportunity exists for formal identification of an antigen-antibody reaction; such diagnoses can be made and justified since the clinical symptomatology of allergic responses is usually characteristic and clear. Obviously, not all untoward effects of drugs are allergic in nature.
Cf. Side-effect, Idiosyncratic Response, Hypersensitivity, Sensitivity
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