Possibilities for Use of Endotoxin in Compromised Subjects

The basic idea suggesting that pyrogenic agents may be beneficial to medicine is not new. Around 500 B.C., Parmenides, a Greek physician, stated, “If only I had the means of creating fever artificially, I should be able to cure all illnesses” (Westphal et al., 1977). Over 2000 years later, the pyrogenic principle was found to be endotoxin. Fever therapy using whole gram-negative microorganisms had been in use for about 50 years when Boivin et al. (1933) described a method to purify the endotoxic material.