Many years ago, the sexually transmitted disease syphilis was treated with the use of mercury. This type of treatment even gave way to the expression ‘A night in the arms of Venus leads to a lifetime on Mercury’. Patients that were suffering from the symptoms that this type of STD can cause were treated by placing mercury directly onto the skin, and it was even given to some patients as an oral treatment method. Another unbelievable method that this type of STD was treated with involved placing the individual inside of a box that was closed, and the only area of their body that remained outside the box was their head.  A fire would then be lit underneath the box that contained mercury, which would cause it to vaporize. Not only was this treatment method extremely uncomfortable for the individuals that went through the treatment, but it was also not very effective in treating the STD.

in 1908, Salvarsan was used, which is an arsenic based drug. Shortly after, the disease called malaria was then used as a treatment that would kill syphilis. It was believed that the extreme fevers caused by malaria would be effective, regardless of the risks.