1900s Disease and Infection Flashcards
What did Flemming do?
Discovered a mould that killed bacteria by chance.
One day in 1928 Fleming came to clean up some old culture dishes he had been growing bacteria for his experiments on. By chance, a fungal spore had landed and grown on one of the dishes.
He noticed that colonies of bacteria around the mound had stopped growing. The fungus was identified and the substance given the name penicillin. It produced a substance that killed bacteria.
Produced a paper on it that was picked up by Florey and Chain.
What were the limitations of Flemming
The paper had an obscure name
Could not produce it industrially, because he had no funding
What factors helped Flemming discover Penicillin
Chance, by chance the mould flew thorugh the window and landed on his Petri dish.
S & T, Flemming had the equipment in his lab to study the mould including a microscope and bacteria growing mediums (e.g. agar jelly).
Enquiring Attitude, Flemming wanted to investigate what was killing the bacteria.
Government, the English Government funded Florey’s research.
What did Florey and Chain do?
Picked up on Flemmings paper.
They firstly experimented on mice, then penicillin was first tested on a human being in Oxford.
Assembled a team that could mass produce penicillin.
The english government would not help fund it but the Americans did.
Fleming, Florey and Chain were awarded the Nobel Prize in 1945.
What was the impact of mass producing penicllin?
It was used during WW2 to treat wounded soldiers with infections and helped treat all the allied forces wounded in the D-Day invasion of Europe. It has saved millions of lives
What factors helped Flory and Chain to mass produce penicillin
S & T, scientific testing on mice and human trials.
Government, American government funded the production as they saw potential for wounded soldiers.
War, the growing casualties of World War Two added to the urgency to mass produce penicillin.
Individuals (Genius’) - Florey andChain were skilled scientists supported by a skilled team of researchers.
Give three new problems that face doctors in the late 1900s
New diseases like AIDs
Superbugs that are resistance to antibiotics
Illness caused by lifestyle choices like diabetes
What did Crick and Watson do?
Set up the human genome project which included mapping the human DNA
Was incredibly expensive as it required the best scientists in the world to come together
Now allows future procedures like making drugs specifically for one person and curing genetic diseases
What is the World Health Organisation
International cooperation that work together to stop disease, for example eradicating smallpox and then now HIV, TB and Aids
Who was Florence Nightingale and what did she do?
- Nightingale brought discipline and professionalism to a job that had a bad reputation at the time.
- From a wealthy background, she became a nurse despite the opposition from her family.
- Went out to the Crimean War to sort out nursing care in the English camp.
- She made huge improvements in the death rate, due to improvements in ward hygiene.
- When she returns home, she writes a book ‘Notes on Nursing’ and sets up a hospital in London.
Who was Mary Seacole and what did she do?
- From a poor background in Jamaica. Seacole volunteers to help as a nurse in the Crimean War, she is rejected, but goes anyway , self-financing her journey.
- She nursed soldiers on the battlefields and built the ‘British Hotel’.
- Goes bankrupt when she returns to England - but receives support due to the press interest in her story and she writes an autobiography.
What impact did the Second World War have on disease and infection in the 1900s?
- Drugs - penicillin was developed as the first antibiotic.
- Hygiene - government posters educate people about health and hygiene.
