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
What is a spore?
A cell or small organism which can grow into a new organism in the right conditions
What lucky event had occured which led to Fleming’s discovery of the penicillin mould’s germ-killing properties?
A spore from a penicillin mould grown in a room below Fleming’s had floated into his laboratory
What is the difference between an antiseptic and an antibiotic?
An antiseptic is a chemical mostly used outside the body to kill germs. An antibiotic is sent inside the body and kills germs as it travels around
When did Fleming publish his findings on the effects of the penicillin mould?
1928
When did Alexander Fleming, Howard Florey and Ernst Chain win the Nobel Prize and why?
1945 for the “discovery of penicillin and its curative effect”
What did Fleming wrongly conclude penicillin was?
A natural antiseptic
What test was missing from Fleming’s work on penicillin which resulted in few people regarding it was a major breakthrough?
Fleming did not inject penicillin into an infected animal
When did an Oxford University research team begin compiling a list of all natural substances that could kill germs?
1930s
Which two scientists applied to the British government for money to begin further penicillin research following Fleming’s discovery?
Howard Florey and Ernst Chain
How much money did the British government give Florey and Chain for further penicillin research and was this enough?
£25, not nearly enough
What was a difficulty Florey and Chain faced in their penicillin research?
Penicillin is extremely difficult to grow and extract from the mould
How many mice did Florey and Chain test penicillin on?
8 mice
How much more penicillin did Florey and Chain need to test on a human than they did on mice?
They needed 3000 times the amount of penicillin they had injected into the mice to test on a human
How did Florey and Chain gather enough penicillin for a human?
They turned their university department into a penicillin-producing factory and gathered enough for 1 human
When did Florey and Chain inject Albert Alexander with penicillin and what happened to him?
Albert Alexander, a 43-year-old policeman, was injected with penicillin in 1941. After 5 days, despite his infection beginning to clear up, the penicillin ran out and he died
When did Howard Florey travel to America to meet with the US government?
June 1941
Why did the US government want to produce so much penicillin?
The growing number of soldiers with infected wounds meant more penicillin was needed quickly
How much penicillin had been made by the start of 1943
Enough to treat just 100 patients
How much penicillin had been made by 1944
Enough to treat 40,000 patients
By the end of WWII in 1945, which two nations were working together to produce how much penicillin?
Britain and the USA were working closely together and enough penicillin was being produced to treat 250,000 people a month
Who generally produced drugs and medicines in the early 1800s?
Small-scale businesses
Which companies that we know today had been former towards the end of the 19th century?
GlaxoSmithKline, Hoffmann-La Roche and Pfizer
How much is the pharmaceutical industry estimated to be worth today and how many people does it employ in the UK?
History book published in 2021
£200 billion to £300 billion and it employs nearly 80,000 people in the UK
When did pharmaceutical drug production become industrialised?
Late 19th century
When was the gelatine pill capsule inveted?
1875
When was the first tablet-making machine invented and where?
1843 in England
What estimated percent of wounded British and American soldiers during WWII would have died without being given penicillin?
12 - 15 percent
What percentage of people have an allergy to penicillin?
Book published in 2021
Around 10%
What was streptomycin and when was it discovered?
It was an antibiotic discovered in 1944 and was an excellent treatment for tuberculosis
What was tetracycline and when was it discovered?
It was an antibiotic very useful for clearing skin infections and was discovered in 1953
What was mitomycin and when was it discovered?
It was an antibiotic discovered in 1956 and has been used as a chemotherapy drug for treating different types of cancer.
What was the life expectancy for men in 1900 and 1945?
46 in 1900, 60 in 1945
What was the life expectancy for women in 1900 and 1945?
50 in 1900, 65 in 1945
What has life expectancy increased to for men and women?
Book published in 2021
79 (men), 83 (women)
What did a recent UK government article claim about life expectancy?
Book published in 2021
1 in 2 babies born today is expected to live until its 100th birthday
When did the Tuberculosis (TB) vaccine become free in the UK?
1948
When was the first open-heart surgery performed?
1950
Who performed the first open-heart surgery and how?
Canadian surgeon William Bigelow performed the first open-heart surgery to repair a “hole” in a baby’s heart
When did the Mexican company Syntex develop the first human-made hormone that prevented women ovulating and what was its name?
Syntex developed norethisterone in 1951
What was the result of the development of norethisterone?
The production of the first contraceptive pill
When was the first miniature hearing aid produced?
1952
When was the first kidney transplant carried out and when was the first in the UK?
The first kidney transplant was carried out in 1952, the first in the UK in 1960