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Antitoxin

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A bottle of antitoxin against diphtheria, from 1895.

An antitoxin is an antibody that can neutralize a specific toxin (or poison). Certain plants, animals, and bacteria produce them, when they are exposed to a toxin. Antitoxins can also be injected into another organism, as a treatment against an infectious disease. To produce an antitoxin, a safe dose of a toxin is injected into an animal. The animal will then produce an antitoxin. Later, blood is taken from the animal, and the antitoxin is extracted from it. It will be purified, and can be used.