The best possible means of benefiting the incurable: Walter Bruetsch and the malaria treatment of paresis.
The first effective treatment for a specific psychiatric disorder was not developed until the early 20th century. The promise of discovery of causes of and cures for specific diseases had come with the development of laboratory science, especially the study of infectious diseases, in the last half of the 19th century. The introduction of malaria treatment of paresis in the 1920s was a landmark in psychiatry and was possible because, in this particular disorder, the knowledge gained from the study of infectious disease could be applied to the treatment of a psychiatric disease that had resulted from an earlier infection.
King
L J
LJ
Department of Psychiatry, Indiana University, School of Medicine, Indianapolis, USA.
D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D006979:Hyperthermia, Induced / Q000266:history*; D008288:Malaria / Q000266:history*; D009494:Neurosyphilis / Q000266:history* / Q000628:therapy; D011570:Psychiatry / Q000266:history