From William Hughes-Games
Your article on the role of fever in fighting infection (31 July, p 42) missed one of the most interesting chapters in this saga: in the late 1800s and early 1900s a doctor called William Coley attempted to cure cancer with fever, with some success. An earlier article in New Scientist (2 November 2002, p 54) described his work.
The trouble with using fever as a cancer cure is that it would not be patentable. It would be a repeat of the malaria-wormwood story: progress in the widespread use of artemisinin – the anti-malaria agent derived from wormwood – was stymied for many years by the lack of obvious profitability.
Waipara, New Zealand
