Malaria therapy

The malaria therapy (or malaria inoculation,[1] and sometimes malariotherapy[2]) is an archaic medical procedure of treating diseases using artificial injection of malaria parasites.[3] It is a type of pyrotherapy (or pyretotherapy) by which high fever is induced to stop or eliminate symptoms of certain diseases. In malaria therapy, malarial parasites (Plasmodium) are specifically used to cause fever, and an elevated body temperature reduces the symptoms of or cure the diseases. As the primary disease is treated, the malaria is then cured using antimalarial drugs.[4] The method was developed by Austrian physician Julius Wagner-Jauregg in 1917 for the treatment of neurosyphilis for which he received the 1927 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.[5]

  1. ^ Ironside, Redvers N. (1925). "On the Treatment of General Paralysis by Malaria Inoculation". British Journal of Venereal Diseases. 1 (1): 58–63. doi:10.1136/sti.1.1.58. PMC 1046408. PMID 21772478.
  2. ^ Austin, S. C.; Stolley, P. D.; Lasky, T. (1992). "The history of malariotherapy for neurosyphilis. Modern parallels". JAMA. 268 (4): 516–519. doi:10.1001/jama.1992.03490040092031. PMID 1619744.
  3. ^ Kohl, F. (1993). "Wagner von Jauregg and development of malaria therapy". Psychiatrische Praxis. 20 (4): 157–159. ISSN 0303-4259. PMID 8362029.
  4. ^ Daey Ouwens, Ingrid M.; Lens, C. Elisabeth; Fiolet, Aernoud T. L.; Ott, Alewijn; Koehler, Peter J.; Kager, Piet A.; Verhoeven, Willem M. A. (2017). "Malaria Fever Therapy for General Paralysis of the Insane: A Historical Cohort Study". European Neurology. 78 (1–2): 56–62. doi:10.1159/000477900. PMID 28633136. S2CID 4774586.
  5. ^ Raju, T. N. (1998). "The Nobel chronicles. 1927: Julius Wagner-Jauregg (1857-1940)". Lancet. 352 (9141): 1714. doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(05)61500-0. PMID 9853480. S2CID 54264869.