20th Century Medicine: new treatments Flashcards
What is a magic bullet?
A chemical cure that attacks the microbes in the body causing a specific disease, while leaving the body unharmed
Whose work did magic bullets build on, and how?
Robert Koch - he discovered the individual microbes causing specific diseases, so they could be targeted
What was the name of the first magic bullet?
Salvarsan 606
Who discovered the first magic bullet?
Paul Ehrlich
What disease was Salvarsan 606 used to treat?
Syphilis
What medicine was used in the early 1900s as a painkiller?
Aspirin
What was the problem with Salvarsan 606?
It killed the patient
Who discovered the second magic bullet?
Gerhard Domagk
What was the name of the second magic bullet?
Prontosil
What bacteria did the second magic bullet target?
The bacteria causing blood poisoning
What was the name of the active ingredient in Salvarsan 606 and Prontosil?
Sulphonamide
How is penicillin different to a magic bullet?
It was created using microorganisms, not chemicals
In what year was penicillin discovered?
1928
Who discovered penicillin?
Alexander Fleming
How was penicillin discovered?
Alexander Fleming came back from holiday to find that Petri dishes on his laboratory bench had grown a mould causing bacteria around it to disappear
What were TWO limitations of Alexander Fleming’s discovery of penicillin?
Any two from:
It did not work on deeper infections
It took a very long time to create enough penicillin to use
Nobody thought his article about penicillin in a medical journal was important
Fleming did not use penicillin on animals, let alone humans
Who read Fleming’s article on penicillin in 1938?
Howard Florey and Ernst Chain
How much funding did the British government offer Florey and Chain to further develop penicillin?
£25
How many years of research could Florey and Chain undertake with funding from the US government?
5 years
How many times more penicillin was needed to treat a human compared to a mouse?
3,000 times
In what year did Florey and Chain have enough penicillin to test on one person?
1941
Who was the first human to receive penicillin?
Albert Alexander - a policeman with septicaemia
How many days did it take until Florey and Chain ran out of penicillin to use on Albert Alexander?
Five days
What happened to Albert Alexander when Florey and Chain ran out of penicillin? Why was this important?
He died
It showed penicillin could keep people alive
How did the US government help the mass production of penicillin from 1941?
They made interest-free loans to US companies to buy the expensive equipment needed for making it
How many doses of penicillin did British companies make for D-Day in 1944?
Over 2.3 million doses
How many units of penicillin were being produced in June 1943?
425 million units
In what year was the first heart transplant carried out?
1967
In what year was the first lung transplant carried out?
1982
What treatment can now be achieved thanks to microsurgery?
Rejoining blood vessels and nerves
How were anaesthetics improved in the 1930s by Helmuth Wesse?
They could be injected into the bloodstream, enabling precise doses and greater safety
