Can malarial chills be cured without medicine?
Malarial
Chills
Q. Can malarial chills be cured without medicine?
A. Nearly four hundred years ago, Don Alexis, of
Piedmont, Italy, was treating cases of malarial fever
successfully by means of sweating baths applied just before the
beginning of a chill. The patients were
first rubbed with hot linen cloths, then warmly wrapped and made to perspire. The same method, in one form or another, is
still in use by the laity in various parts of the world.
The writer was cured of a
very severe attack of intermittent fever nearly fifty years ago by a corn
sweat, prescribed by an old lady who had used it successfully in a large number
of cases. The remedy often succeeds at the very first application, though
sometimes three or more applications were needed, as observed by Don Alexis.
Among the laity of Germany, a method employed by
Priessnitz, and probably in use long before his time, consisted in the cold
douche. On the first approach of a chill, several pailfuls
of cold water were poured over the patient.
He was then vigorously rubbed, put to bed, wrapped with woolen blankets, and made to
perspire vigorously. This method answers
very well in persons with strong constitutions. A combination of the two methods is most effective.
It must be added that while
the cure of malarial infection is
often possible without the use of quinine,
in most cases it is well
to use quinine in connection with the methods
outlined above. By this means the treatment succeeds more quickly. The dose of quinine
required is small, usually not more than five grains
repeated at proper intervals until fifteen or twenty grains have been taken.