Antitoxin

When the antitoxin is obtained from the blood, it is purified and injected into a human or other animal, inducing temporary passive immunity.

[3] Early 1887, in Bonn, Behring had found that the serum of tetanus-immune white rats contained a substance that neutralized anthrax bacilli.

[citation needed] When Paul Ehrlich demonstrated in 1891 that even vegetable poisons led to the formation of antitoxins in an organism, Behring's theory was confirmed.

Separating unnecessary proteins from the antibodies used to counter infections in medical practice is important to increase both potency of antitoxin doses and to reduced the incidence of serum sickness.

Annie Homer, working in Canada during the First World War, undertook research into antitoxic sera, which resulted in innovative methods to manufacture high quality antitoxin protein fractions from serum.