Chapter 10 Modern treatment of disease Flashcards
What is the est. average number of pills a person in the UK takes in their lifetime according to an exhibition at the British Museum in London?
History book was published in 2021, exhibition is “recent” in book
14,000
What is an antibiotic?
A medicine digested or injected into the body which kills certain germs as it travels around
What is the pharmaceutical industry?
Businesses that develop and produce drugs for use in medicine and healthcare
What were two important lines of medical research?
Preventing people from getting diseases; curing people who already had diseases
When did Louis Pasteur publish his Germ Theory?
1861
When did Edward Jenner carry out his smallpox-cowpox experiment?
1796
What diseases were vaccines created to prevent (examples)?
Diphtheria, tuberculosis (TB), rabies and anthrax
Who discovered the first chemical cure for a disease, which chemical was used, which disease was cured and when did the discovery occur?
Paul Ehrlich discovered that Salvarsan 606 cured syphilis in 1909
What was prontosil?
A red chemical which worked against the germs that caused blood poisoning
What was prontosil’s active ingredient and where did it come from?
Sulphonamide, a chemical from coal tar
What were magic bullets or “sulpha drugs”?
Treatments which specifically destroyed a harmful germ without hurting the rest of the body
Which diseases had magic bullets developed for them?
Meningitis, pneumonia and scarlet fever
By the 1920s, what was a germ which remained undefeated by any magic bullet?
Staphylococcus
What was staphylococcus?
A highly resistant form of bacteria that had over 30 strains and caused a range of illnesses including different types of food and blood poisoning
What is a mould?
A type of fungus which grows in thin threads, usually in warm, moist conditions
Since when had scientists known that some moulds could kill germs?
1870s
What was a type of mould which was particularly good at killing staphylococcus?
Penicillin
Mould
What factors were involved in the development of penicillin?
War, role of the individual, luck, role of the government and science (possibly role of pharmaceutical or chemical companies too)
When was Alexander Fleming born and when did he die?
Fleming was born in 1881 and died in 1955
What was one of Alexander Fleming’s professions?
Fleming was a bacteriologist
What did Fleming do during the First World War and what caused this?
During World War I, St Mary’s Hospital in London sent Alexander Fleming to study the treatment of wounded soldiers
What were many wounded soldiers of WWI suffering from?
Staphylococcus
What was Fleming working on by 1928?
Staphylococcus germs
How did Fleming discover the germ-killing abilities of the penicillin mould and when did this occur?
In 1928, Fleming returned from holiday and noticed a mould in one of several dishes of germs he had left. He saw that the staphylococcus germs next to it had been killed and identified the mould as penicillin