We derive the two-particle fluctuation correlator in a thermal gas of
pi-mesons to the lowest order in an interaction due to a resonance exchange. A
diagrammatic technique is used. We discuss how this result can be applied to
event-by-event fluctuations in heavy-ion collisions, in particular, to search
for the critical point of QCD. As a practical example, we determine the shape
of the rapidity correlator.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, RevTe