History Main / CurseThatCures

* ''WebComic/StandStillStaySilent'': The team discovers that, just before society collapsed, someone discovered a working cure for [[ZombieApocalypse the Rash disease]] and tested it. One problem though; [[spoiler:the "cure" is, effectively, a curse that makes you immune to the virus at the price of ''[[BarredFromTheAfterlife barring you from the afterlife]]''. Once you die of any other cause, you're reduced to a deranged ghost that [[AndIMustScream can't even remember it's identity, let alone die]].]]

* The cures holding Velvare together in ''Webcomic/TheSilverEye''. They does a good job, for the most part, [[spoiler: considering he's supposed to be dead]] but sometimes Melete's magic is weakened, and he starts to fall apart again. The worst is in Chapter 10 when he's gone 8 straight days without sleep, and his cuts are bleeding so much, they completely soak through his clothes.

* There have been cases where people suffering from syphilis were cured by getting malaria, or otherwise catching something that produces a dangerously high fever -- too high for syphilis to survive.

* In the late 1700s, it was discovered that milk-maids, farmers and cattle workers who had been previously infected with cowpox or horsepox were resistant to deadly smallpox infections. Thus, inoculation, the first form of vaccination (which even now is named for cows): people were deliberately infected with cowpox, survived and recovered from it (which humans normally survive, although it's pretty nasty to live through), and came out immune to smallpox -- the beginning of the end for that disease.

-->--''Series/TeenWolf'' 2.12, "Master Plan"

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

* The manga ''Franchise/OnePiece'' has an interesting version of this trope. Brook ate the Revive-Revive Fruit, which meant that he knew that he'd be able to come back and live a second life as an [[TheUndead undead]] of sorts. It isn't known how much he knew of the Fruit's ability; he probably assumed correctly that his body would revive [[TheGrotesque regardless of its condition.]] However, he had no idea that due to circumstances of his death he would be CursedWithAwesome.

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

[[folder: Fanfiction ]]

[[folder: Films -- Animated ]]

-->'''Victor:''' Mayhew! How nice to see... [notices he's dead] I'm so sorry.
-->'''Mayhew:''' Oh, yeah. Actually, though, I feel great.

[[folder: Films -- Live-Action ]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* ''Series/StargateSG1'': This is how Colonel O'Neill views blending with a Tok'ra to cure himself of a fatal disease. Initially, he refuses vehemently and repeatedly, but finally gives his consent. Turns out he had good reason to refuse since the symbiote completely took over his body like a Goa'uld instead of sharing with the host as the Tok'ra usually do. By contrast, Jacob Carter takes finding out about the stargate... and aliens... and the idea of sharing his body with an alien parasite very much in stride and views it as kind of an adventure, in addition to being a necessity.
** Much earlier, millionaire Adrian Conrad becomes a Goa'uld host for this reason. It doesn't go well.

* In ''Series/{{iZombie}}'', Liv infects [[spoiler:Major]] to save [[spoiler:him]] from a mortal wound. [[spoiler:He]] is not appreciative at all, so Liv injects [[spoiler:him]] with the remains of the cure ([[spoiler:it's later revealed that the cure is only temporary]]).

[[folder: Tabletop RPG ]]

* The whole point of worshiping Nurgle in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer40000}}'': if you are already covered in diseases and rotting flesh, you can't get old, and you won't feel pain. You also have the patronage and love (yes, actual, unconditional paternal love) of the only [[AffablyEvil kind]] [[{{GodIsEvil}} god]] in the entire [[CrapsackWorld galaxy]].

[[folder: Video Games ]]

[[folder: Visual Novels ]]

* In ''VideoGame/{{Hakuouki}}'', Kaoru encourages Okita to take the water of life and become [[OurVampiresAreDifferent a fury]]; sure, he'd end up with a debilitating sensitivity to sunlight and an overpowering thirst for blood, but at least the fury HealingFactor would cure his terminal [[IncurableCoughOfDeath tuberculosis]]. [[spoiler:It's a subversion: Kaoru is lying, all just part of his dedicated campaign to torment Okita in order to make Chizuru suffer. Although the HealingFactor does buy Okita time, his tuberculosis continues to take a toll on his body, and in the anime adaptation it's a major factor in his death via TheLastDance.]]

[[folder: Web Comics ]]

* Xykon from ''WebComic/TheOrderOfTheStick''. It is revealed in the prequel ''StartOfDarkness'' that he became a lich, under Redcloak's suggestion, to escape a magical disease that was preventing him from using his sorcerer magic. Also, they were prisoners of a powerful druid and had little other options for escaping.
** He also happily notes that becoming undead has cured his arthritis (he became undead at about age 80).
*** ...Then he discovers that he can no longer taste food. Now his only pleasure is making people suffer. Which he proceeds to do non-stop.
*** He didn't mind losing a ''certain body part'', however. According to him prior to the transformation, [[TheLoinsSleepTonight "it hasn't moved on its own for 16 years."]]
* Happens in [[http://comic.nodwick.com/?comic=2001-11-14 this]] ''{{ComicStrip/Nodwick}}'' strip. Apparently, Yeagar, Artax, and Nodwick are so ''dumb'', that when the EvilSorceress She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed turns them into her {{brainwashed}} slaves, it makes them ''smarter''.
* In WebComic/DanAndMabsFurryAdventures, Mab needs to shield one of her friends from possible death at the hands of many possible assailants so that [[spoiler: he can live long enough to bring about a revolution]]. However, she finds [[http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Vol_1029.php one possible solution]] unappetizing...
-->'''Albanion:''' Ooh! You know what you could do! Let him get killed and then arrange him to be brought back as an undead! That would totally work!
-->'''Mab:''' No! Ew ew ew! No! Friends don't let friends become zombies!

[[folder: WesternAnimation]]

[[folder: Real Life ]]

* In the late 1700's, it was discovered that milk-maids, farmers and cattle workers who had been previously infected with cowpox or horsepox were resistant to deadly smallpox infections. Thus, inoculation, the first form of vaccination (which even now is named for cows): people were deliberately infected with cowpox, survived and recovered from it (which humans normally survive, although it's pretty nasty to live through), and came out immune to smallpox -- the beginning of the end for that disease.

* Happens in [[http://comic.nodwick.com/?comic=2001-11-14 this]] ''{{Nodwick}}'' strip. Apparently, Yeagar, Artax, and Nodwick are so ''dumb'', that when the EvilSorceress She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed turns them into her {{brainwashed}} slaves, it makes them ''smarter''.

* In ''Film/{{Daybreakers}}'', becoming a vampire, like 95% of the population has already done, cures cancer and any other illnesses one had as a human, in exchange for not being able to go out in the sunlight and becoming dependent upon consuming human blood to survive. Too bad they're running out of humans to give blood.

* In one ''Literature/MercyThompson'' book a werewolf talks his father into getting infected, to save him from cancer. It does cure the disease but the father fears his werewolf side, which ironically only gets him more unstable (since he doesn't even try to get in tune with his animal side, he can't control his rage)

* This is how Edward views vampirism in ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' - on the bright side, he was saved from a horrible, wasting death from Spanish flu and is now [[TheBeautifulElite impossibly beautiful]]. On the negative side, he is hard as rock, dead, can't go out in direct sunlight, constantly thirsts to kill people and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking has to go to high school for the rest of his life]] ([[{{Immortality}} which is forever]]). This is why he is unwilling to make Bella a vampire, despite the fact that she wants to be one.

[[folder: Film ]]

* In ''Film/{{Daybreakers}}'', becoming a vampire, like 95% of the population has already done, cures cancer and any other illnesses one had as a human, in exchange for not being able to go out in the sunlight and becoming dependent upon consuming human blood to survive. Too bad they're running out of humans to give blood.

* One of the reasons Gerald Tarrant from ''[[ColdfireTrilogy the Coldfire Trilogy]]'' turned to TheDarkSide and become a [[EmotionEater vampire]]-equivalent was because of a congenital heart defect that would have cut short his illustrious life. [[spoiler:It comes back and nearly kills him when he becomes human again in ''Crown of Shadows''; it leaves him weakened for the rest of the book.]]

* ''Series/StargateSG1'': This is how Colonel O'Neill views blending with a Tok'ra to cure himself of a fatal disease. Initially, he refuses vehemently and repeatedly, but finally gives his consent. Turns out he had good reason to refuse since the symbiote completely took over his body like a Goa'uld instead of sharing with the host as the Tok'ra usually do. By contrast, Jacob Carter takes finding out about the stargate...and aliens...and the idea of sharing his body with an alien parasite very much in stride and views it as kind of an adventure, in addition to being a necessity.

* An interesting variation is seen in Marvel's [[{{ComicBook/SecretWars2015}} SpiderIsland2015]]. A certain virus has turned everyone in Manhattan in humanoid spiders (superheroes included, up to Captain America, Iron Man and ''Hulk''). So main characters come up with desperate scheme of neutralising the virus - infect them further with similar curses that tend to transform people in werewolves, giant lizards and [[{{ComicBook/NormanOsborn}} green goblins]]. This decision brings its own obvious problems, [[spoiler: but still works]].
* Used as the setup for the graphic novel Harriet the Invincible, where the titular Harriet is cursed to fall into a Sleeping Beauty style sleep when she turns 12. However the same curse must keep her alive until her 12th birthday in order to come true; effectively rendering her invincible. She uses this loophole to follow her true passions of cliff-diving, monster-slaying and adventuring.

* At least one person with severe allergies has deliberately given himself hookworm, which distracts his immune system enough to free him of his allergies, with the downside being that he does, after all, have a hookworm infection.
* Legend has it that the discoverer of acupuncture used to suffer chronic pain, much as you yourself may, whereupon he took an arrow to the knee. The older pain disappeared, and he deemed the new wound well worth it.

* There have been cases where people suffering from syphilis were cured by getting malaria, or similar diseases that cause a very high fever; the higher temperature kills the syphilis.

* In the late 1700's, it was discovered that milk-maids, farmers and cattle workers who had been previously infected with cowpox or horsepox were resistant to deadly smallpox infections. While unpleasant, discovering and replicating this was one of the first recorded instances of successful vaccination and an important milestone in eradicating one of the most deadly plagues in mankind's history.

* ''VisualNovel/HustleCat'''s [[spoiler:Landry]] had an unfortunate run-in with [[spoiler:a bratty teenage witch, landing him with a curse he believed would cause his heart to explode. In his panic, Landry willingly allowed another witch to place a protective counter-curse which would turn him into a cat - the only time he can temporarily reclaim his human form is while on the second witch's property.]]

* ''VisualNovel/HustleCat'''s [[spoiler:Landry]] had an unfortunate run-in with [[spoiler:a bratty teenage witch, landing him with a curse he believed would cause his heart to explode. In his panic, Landry willingly allowed another witch to place a protective counter-curse which would turn him into a cat. ]]

* ''VisualNovel/HustleCat'''s [[spoiler:Landry]] had an unfortunate run-in with [[spoiler:a bratty teenage witch, landing him with a curse he believed would cause his heart to explode. In his panic, Landry willingly allowed another witch to place a protective counter-curse which would turn him into a cat. ]]

* ''VideoGame/HustleCat'''s [[spoiler:Landry]] had an unfortunate run-in with [[spoiler:a bratty teenage witch, landing him with a curse he believed would cause his heart to explode. In his panic, Landry willingly allowed another witch to place a protective counter-curse which would turn him into a cat. ]]

* ''VideoGame/Hustle Cat'''s [[spoiler:Landry]] had an unfortunate run-in with [[spoiler:a bratty teenage witch, landing him with a curse he believed would cause his heart to explode. In his panic, Landry willingly allowed another witch to place a protective counter-curse which would turn him into a cat. ]]

* Subverted in ''[[Literature/BloodBooks Blood Price]]'' by TanyaHuff. Victoria is slowly going blind from Retinitis Pigmentosa. But she refuses to allow Henry to turn her into a vampire.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Hakuouki}}'', Kaoru encourages Okita to take the water of life and become [[OurVampiresAreDifferent a fury]], telling him that the fury HealingFactor would cure his terminal [[IncurableCoughOfDeath tuberculosis]]. [[spoiler:It's a subversion: Kaoru is lying, all just part of his dedicated campaign to torment Okita in order to make Chizuru suffer. Although the HealingFactor does buy Okita time, his tuberculosis continues to take a toll on his body, and in the anime adaptation it's a major factor in his death via TheLastDance.]]

* In Creator/PatriciaCWrede's short story "The Sixty-Two Curses of Caliph Arenschadd", a curse is used to cure [[spoiler:another curse--a local boy realizes the family's curse-induced lycanthropy can be cured by inciting the Caliph to curse them with something else, since there's a limit on how many curses one person can have at a time]].