One Deadly Disease to Treat Another? Malaria Therapy for Neurosyphilis
(Room JW Grand Ballroom 1)
04 Jul 18
3:00 PM
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4:15 PM
Soon after Salvarsan 606 was discovered in 1909, it became clear that this “miracle cure” for syphilis was completely ineffective for tertiary forms of neurosyphilis like general paralysis, a leading cause of institutionalization in mental hospitals in the early 20th century. When malaria therapy was introduced at Central State Hospital in 1925, patients diagnosed with general paralysis could expect to be dead within two years. This new and seemingly radical treatment used one dreaded and potentially deadly infectious disease to treat another that was most certainly deadly. This is the story of malaria therapy as used in the Pathological Department of Central State Hospital, which now houses the Indiana Medical History Museum. Sarah Halter will discuss the methods used, the public fears and physicians' responses, its effectiveness and wide popularity, it's decline in the wake of penicillin, and its legacy today.