[The discovery of anaphylaxis: 19 days after an anodyne account of toxicology, it is shown that immunity is perhaps pathogenic].

While studying the toxicology of various coelenteres fishing filament poisons, Charles Richet and Paul Portier observed cases of rapid death which had no correlation with the injected doses. In dogs, death only occurred in those which, more than 15 days beforehand, had withstood well an injection more concentrated or identical to the later fatal one. The authors created the neologism 'anaphylaxis' which signifies 'non-protection'. Thus, it appeared that an immune response could be pathological. This discovery opened the subject area of immunopathology at a period of time when, in contrast, vaccination and serotherapy researches were prominent.