Health and Medicine During The 20th Century Up To Present Day (1900 - Present Day)

Question 1

Who discovered Penicillin?

Answer 1

Alexander Flemming

Question 2

When and how was Penicillin discovered?

Answer 2

1929, when he went on holiday and left a petri-dish on his window sill full of bacteria that grew a mould that killed it

Question 3

What is Penicillin?

Answer 3

Kills dangerous bacteria, not viruses

Question 4

What are Superbugs?

Answer 4

Resistant bacteria created from overuse of antibiotics

Question 5

What was the MMR Debate?

Answer 5

When Dr Andrew Wakefield published a paper linking the MMR vaccination to autism, causing a dramatic decline in child vaccination.

Question 6

When did Spanish Influenza reach Britain? How many people did it kill?

Answer 6

In 1918, killing 20-40 million people worldwide

Question 7

How did the following developments that took place during WW1 help to improve health and medicine in Britain? -

X-rays

Answer 7

• Changed the care of pregnant women and their babies
• Allowed doctors to see inside their patients
• It became an essential diagnostic tool

Question 8

How did the following developments that took place during WW1 help to improve health and medicine in Britain? -

Blood Transfusions

Answer 8

• It allowed the set up of the blood donor scheme that was set up during the war.
• It lead to the discovery that if an anti-coagulant was added to the blood, it could be stored for 28 days before use

Question 9

How did the following developments that took place during WW1 help to improve health and medicine in Britain? -

Shell Shock Therapy

Answer 9

• The British Army identified that 80,000 men had the same symptoms later identified as shell shock
• Later in the war, the condition was accepted and could be treated in the hospital.

Question 10

How did the following developments that took place during WWI help to improve health and medicine in Britain? -

Skin Grafts

Answer 10

• Howard Gillies developed ground-breaking techniques to treat facial injuries
• Over 5,000 service men were treated

Question 11

How did the following developments that took place during and after WWII help to improve health and medicine in Britain? -

Ultrasound

Answer 11

• After the war, it was realised you could use sound to see inside the body by using high frequency sound waves.
• It’s now used for images of organs in the body and monitoring the development of babies

Question 12

How did the following developments that took place during and after WWII help to improve health and medicine in Britain? -

MRI and CT Scans

Answer 12

• Helped doctors investigate the workings of the human body

- Helped doctors see organs and tissues in the body, helping them make a diagnosis

Question 13

How did the following developments that took place during and after WWII help to improve health and medicine in Britain? -

Transplant Surgery

Answer 13

• The first transplant of a whole organ (a kidney) in 1960
• First heart transplant in 1968
• Roy Calne develops a drug to stop the body from rejecting the new organ

Question 14

How did the following developments that took place during and after WWII help to improve health and medicine in Britain? -

Keyhole Surgery

Answer 14

Surgery was now preformed operations through very small cute using miniaturised instruments and fibre-optic cameras that are linked to computers

Question 15

When was DNA discovered?

Answer 15

1953

Question 16

Why is the study of DNA important to the development of health and medicine?

Answer 16

It helped people know if they’re more likely to have a certain disease

Question 17

What was the Beveridge Report? When was it created?

Answer 17

1942, it identified ‘5 evil giants’ that needed to be tackled by government intervention, these were:

• Want
• Disease
• Ignorance
• Squalor
• Idleness

Question 18

What is the NHS? When was it created?

Answer 18

• The National Health Service provides free health care to all British citizens.
• It was announced in 1946 but created in 1948

Question 19

How did the Liberal governments of 1906 - 1914 improve public health?

Answer 19

1906 - Workman’s Compensation Act along with providing free school meals

1908 - Children and Young Person’s Act made it illegal to sell Alcohol, Tobacco and Fireworks to children

1908 - Pensions Act

1909 - Housing and Town Planning Act made it illegal to build back to back housing

1911 - The National Insurance Act was passed

Question 20

What did the Booth and Rowntree reports discover? When did they happen?

Answer 20

• Booth published reports which were very influential in changing attitudes towards the poor.
• Rowntree was inspired by Booth and investigated poverty in York and found that nearly half the working class population were living in poverty. He became influential in government circles and changed their attitudes toward poverty forever.

Question 21

What is Rickets? Why was it such a problem during the early 20th century?

Answer 21

• Rickets causes the bones to become weak and
  twisted.
• It affected so many in 1900 because the poor were changing their diets and were living in dark houses and dark cities.

Question 22

What was the ‘Great Smog’? When did it happen?

Answer 22

• Between the 4th and 12th December 1952.
• It killed about 12,000 Londoners and 100,000 were taken ill.
• This lead to the government passing the Clean Air Act in 1956

Question 23

What are the biggest public health problems of the 20th century up to present day?

Answer 23

• Smoking
• Lack of exercise
• Poor diets
• Not enough or poor housing
• Environmental problems

Question 24

What are the causes of AIDs?

Answer 24

• Spread by bodily fluids such as blood
• Also through the sharing of used needles
• AIDS is the most advanced stage of HIV infection.

Question 25

Approximately, how many people have died from AIDs?

Answer 25

By 1995,
around 25,000 had been diagnosed with HIV,
12,000 of those people had developed AIDs
and 8,500 of these people had died.