dartom.www
23.07.11, 18:55
Julius Wagner-Jauregg
Za odkrycie terapeutycznego znaczenia wstrzykiwania malarii przy walce z paraliżem postępującym (neurosyphilis) został wyróżniony w 1927 roku Nagrodą Nobla.
link o nim w wikipedi: pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Wagner-Jauregg
Artykuł z 1990 roku o boreliozie:
"Should We Try Malariotherapy for Lyme Disease?"
www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM199004263221713
To the Editor:
There are important similarities between the biology, pathology, and clinical stages of Lyme disease and those of syphilis.1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Both diseases are caused by spirochetes; the Borrelia burg-dorferi that causes Lyme disease and the Treponema pallidum of syphilis are morphologically similar, although the DNA is not homologous.2 In both diseases, the spirochetes can remain alive in human tissue for years. Neuroborreliosis (neurologic Lyme disease) is being called the new "Great Imitator," the name originally attached to syphilis.3
Lyme disease and syphilis have similar clinical manifestations. Both can be transmitted through the placenta. In both diseases lesions first appear in the skin and can be cured with antibiotic therapy. Later stages involve the central nervous system; neuroborreliosis and neurosyphilis can persist even after intensive antibiotic therapy.
In 1917, Wagner-Jauregg8 reported treating neurosyphilis by inducing benign tertian malaria, for which he was awarded the 1927 Nobel prize. The malaria was halted by drugs after three weeks. Tens of thousands of patients with neurosyphilis were cured from 1917 to 1975, no failure to cure therapeutic malaria was reported, and deaths were rare.8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Malariotherapy is still recommended for neurosyphilis that persists after repeated courses of antibiotics.9 10 11
It was generally believed that fever was responsible for curing the neurosyphilis, but the fact that malariotherapy was much more effective than the mechanical induction of substantially higher body temperatures belies such a simplistic conclusion. An immune reaction may therefore be a curative factor. Recent reports indicate that malaria stimulates the production of tumor necrosis factor and other regulators of cellular immunity,18 19 20 21 22 such as interleukin-1, which has been associated with the pathogenesis of Lyme disease.23
Neuroborreliosis will probably continue to develop, since earlier stages of Lyme disease can be asymptomatic. In addition, blood tests may not reveal active disease, since serum antibodies are frequently undetectable in neuroborreliosis when spinal-fluid titers are positive, as in neurosyphilis.24 Furthermore, although penicillin, tetracyclines, and ceftriaxone successfully treat early Lyme disease, late persistent neurologic disease occurs in some cases — a phenomenon similar to treatment failures encountered in syphilis.25 26 27 28 29
Neurosyphilis and neuroborreliosis are closely related biologically and clinically; malariotherapy should therefore be considered for neuroborreliosis that is refractory to treatment with available biologic and pharmacologic agents. In addition to malariotherapy for neurosyphilis, examples of giving a disease to cure or prevent a disease include cowpox to prevent smallpox, and Sabin live polio vaccine. The rapidly increasing incidence of syphilis is another reason to resume the use of malariotherapy techniques.
Henry J. Heimlich, M.D., Sc.D.
Heimlich Institute, Cincinnati, OH 45208
