toxin-antitoxin

[ tok-sin-an-ti-tok-sin, -an-tee-, -an-ti-tok-sin, -an-tee- ]

noun

, Immunology.

1. a mixture of toxin and antitoxin, formerly used to induce active immunity against certain diseases, especially diphtheria.

toxin-antitoxin

noun

1. a mixture of a specific toxin and antitoxin. The diphtheria toxin-antitoxin was formerly used in the US for active immunization

Word History and Origins

Origin of toxin-antitoxin¹

First recorded in 1900–05

Example Sentences

Parents in the 1950s were generally enthusiastic about the polio vaccine, but 30 years earlier, parents whose children were encouraged to receive the novel diphtheria toxin-antitoxin were more hesitant.

From Slate

But the Balto story blew up around the time when New York City was about to start pressing for the use of a related preparation known as toxin-antitoxin to immunize as many children as possible.

From Slate

By the time the Board of Health decided to make a big push to immunize as many children as possible with toxin-antitoxin, it had tried many other methods of controlling the disease.

From Slate

Besides, the immunity that came from toxin-antitoxin injections was not long-lasting and didn’t eliminate the “asymptomatic carrier” problem.

From Slate

When looking to immunize schoolchildren, historian James Colgrove writes in a chapter-long history of the diphtheria immunization push in the 1920s in New York state, public health workers had to reassure parents that diphtheria immunization was not the same as smallpox vaccination, sending home fliers in English, Italian, and Yiddish that read: “Children are not made sick by toxin-antitoxin, as sometimes happens after smallpox vaccination.”

From Slate