Pyrotherapy - fever as cure

摘要

The ancient idea that fevers can be beneficial enjoyed a renaissance around a century ago, following an observation by a physician in Vienna. Julius Wagner-Jauregg noticed that some of his psychiatric patients improved after fever attacks. After failed attempts at inducing fever in patients using microbes, Wagner-Jauregg injected blood from a person with malaria into a patient with syphilis, which is caused by the bacterium Treponema pollidum.