Toxemia

TOXEMIA, or toxinemia, the circulation in the blood of an animal of toxic substances that cause phenomena of intoxication. Toxemia is largely observed in infectious diseases, developing here at the expense of bacterial toxins and endotoxins. It is incorrect, however, to view toxic substances exclusively in the latter.

Toxascaris leonina: a—head end; b—egg.

Various substances belonging to the organism itself can also be such agents, arising in tissues during various pathological processes by virtue of the breakdown of these tissues, various metabolic disorders in them, and so on. Clinical manifestations of toxemia include the temperature reaction and other so-called general phenomena, in particular on the part of the central nervous system. Morphologically, toxemia is expressed by a certain sum of degenerative and inflammatory processes in the areas affected by the toxic substances, and the very site of action is dictated by the nature of the toxin, its selective affinity for certain organs, the excretory capacities of these organs in relation to the given toxins, the sensitivity of tissues to the latter, and so on.