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A Case of Resolution of an Acute Psychotic Episode After High Fever

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 November 2014

Gabriele Sani ,
Giovanni Manfredi ,
Isabella Pacchiarotti ,
Saverio Simone Caltagirone ,
Iginia Mancinelli ,
Alexia E. Koukopoulos ,
Caterina Tatarelli ,
Giorgio D. Kotzalidis ,
Roberto Tatarelli  and
Paolo Girardi
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Abstract

Fever (pyretotherapy) was used for psychosis during the turn of the 19th century, but pyretotherapy (ie, the treatment of a disorder by inducing fever) fell out of use after the introduction of convulsive methods. Here, we report on a case of schizoaffective disorder and review classical and recent literature on fever and psychosis. The patient developed auditory hallucinations, persecutory delusional ideas, and was terrified soon upon his arrival in a foreign country. After being treated for 12 days with olanzapine and haloperidol, he developed a fever due to urinary infection; his creatine phosphokinase levels were high, prompting the suspension of antipsychotics. Psychotic symptom resolution followed immediately fever abatement. Antipsychotics were reintroduced at lower dosages. He was discharged asymptomatic with a prescription of olanzapine 15 mg/day and haloperidol 3 mg/day. The time course of symptom resolution in this patient suggests that fever had a beneficial role in this case. The associations between body temperature changes and psychotic symptoms need to be further studied.

Type
Case Report
Information
CNS Spectrums , Volume 12 , Issue 6 , June 2007 , pp. 447 - 450
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

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