20th Century Health Flashcards
When and by who had penicillin been discovered?
19th century
Lister
What had Lister used penicillin for?
To treat a wound but had never published his notes
Where was Alexander Fleming sent to study the treatment of wounded soldiers?
St Mary’s Hospital, London
What did Alexander Fleming observe at St Mary’s Hospital? What did he decide to do?
Antiseptics were unable to prevent infection
To look for something which would kill the microbes which caused infection
What was one very dangerous germ? What did it cause?
Staphylococci
Septicaemia
What did Fleming notice when he returned from holiday in 1928?
A mould on one of his Petri dishes
What did the mould tell Fleming?
It was penicillin
The staphylococci germ had been killed by the mould
What did Fleming conclude from the Petri dish?
It was a natural antiseptic
Today we call it an antibiotic
When did Fleming publish his results?
1929
Why didn’t Fleming develop the drug?
He didn’t have the funds
What test was missing from Fleming’s work?
Injecting penicillin into the blood
What would injecting penicillin into the blood have shown?
It was a medicine
Would’ve sparked further interest
Who began to research penicillin after reading an article by Fleming?
Howard Florey and Ernst Chain
When did Howard Florey and Ernst Chain begin to research penicillin?
1937
What did Howard Florey and Ernst Chain have? What did this allow them to do?
Funds
Begin to experiment on mice
When did Howard Florey and Ernst Chain begin to experiment on humans?
1941
What did Howard Florey and Ernst Chain do to their laboratory?
Turned it into a penicillin producing factory
What was Howard Florey and Ernst Chain’s first trial with the penicillin?
On a policeman with an infection from a scratch
Why did the policeman die 5 days after the trial started?
They ran out of the drug
They had seen success
What sped up the production of penicillin?
World War Two
Why did World War Two speed up penicillin production?
US government paid drug companies to make it in large quantities
When was penicillin first used in World War Two? Who was it used on?
1943
Troops in North Africa
What two counties produced huge quantities of penicillin?
USA
Great Britain
Between what years did penicillin help save thousands of lives?
1944
1945
How much penicillin was there to treat soldiers in 1943? By 1945 how many soldiers were helped?
In 1943 there was enough to treat 1000 soldiers
By 1945, 250,000 soldiers were helped
% of soldiers in World War Two who would’ve died without the penicillin
15%
After the war, what was introduced to research and develop the “wonder drug” penicillin?
A huge government sponsored programme
What diseases was penicillin used to widely treat after World War Two?
Bronchitis Impetigo Pneumonia Tonsillitis Syphilis Meningitis Boils Abscesses wounds
When did Fleming, Chain and Florey revive the Nobel Prize for Medicine?
1945
An example of another antibiotic which followed penicillin
Streptomycin in 1944
Tetracycline in 1953
Mitomycin in 1956
Cortisone in 1950
What was streptomycin used to treat?
Tuberculosis
What is tetracycline good for?
Skin infections
What has mitomycin been used for?
Fighting cancer
What was cortisone used to treat?
Arthritis
New vaccines emerged after WW2 to treat what diseases?
Polio
Measles
What came on the market after WW2?
Tranquiliser
Birth control pill
What were there new pills for after WW2?
Depression
Psychosis
Hypertension
What did it seem that medical and scientific medicine could solve after WW2?
All medical issues
What became a big business after WW2? What did this mean?
Medicine
Fortunes could be made so testing could be rushed
What led to much tougher testing and approval processes for new drugs?
A drug called thalidomide, for sleeping, resulted in the birth of babies with poorly formed limbs
What did the GP become central to?
The delivery of medical services
