Question

Antiserum has
a. Antigen
b. Antibody
c. White blood corpuscles
d. Red blood corpuscles

Answer 1

Hint: Antiserum is nothing but the serum of the human or nonhuman, which is mainly used to spread the passive immunity for many diseases, and this is mainly done by blood donation, antisera are used for diagnostic purposes in the virology laboratories.

Complete answer:
- Antiserum consists of either monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies that provide passive immunity. This type of therapy with antiserum is called serotherapy.
- In history, it was first made for infectious diseases such as diphtheria and tetanus.
- The antiserum can be prepared either in human or animal bodies.
- In the case of diphtheria, first, it was prepared from guinea pigs, but the serum it’s produced is not enough as it was world wartime, the requirement was more, so antiserum was started preparing from horses, and the horses are high serum producers.
- When the antiserum is given to the infected person, the antibodies present in the antiserum get attached to the antigen or pathogen, so this stimulates or activates the immune system.
- Mainly antiserum has more capability against the pathogens which are capable of evading the immune system in an unstimulated way.
- While checking, the animal is given a low-capable antigen for example even when preparing the venom, diluted snake venom is an antiserum for venom.

Hence, the correct answer is option (B).

Note: The perfect example for the antiserum in modern days is Convalescent blood serum of humans recovered from Coronavirus, are given for the patients who are in critical conditions affected by COVID 19, where the recovered persons have antibodies in their blood, which is the best option that is present in this pandemic situation, as there are no other reliable treatment options available.