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General paralysis is a stage in syphilis when the brain and psyche are attacked and the patient ends up in a lethargic and paralytic state that can end in death. As far back as antiquity, people noted that mental illnesses could be ameliorated by fevers. In 1917 Julius Wagner-Jauregg exposed patients to malaria-infected blood and could in this way cure or alleviate general paralysis. The malaria was of a type that was comparatively innocuous, and consequently the patient’s health could be improved.