Health and Medicine During The 20th Century Up To Present Day (1900 - Present Day) Flashcards
Who discovered Penicillin?
Alexander Flemming
When and how was Penicillin discovered?
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
What is Penicillin?
Kills dangerous bacteria, not viruses
What are Superbugs?
Resistant bacteria created from overuse of antibiotics
What was the MMR Debate?
When Dr Andrew Wakefield published a paper linking the MMR vaccination to autism, causing a dramatic decline in child vaccination.
When did Spanish Influenza reach Britain? How many people did it kill?
In 1918, killing 20-40 million people worldwide
How did the following developments that took place during WW1 help to improve health and medicine in Britain? -
X-rays
- Changed the care of pregnant women and their babies
- Allowed doctors to see inside their patients
- It became an essential diagnostic tool
How did the following developments that took place during WW1 help to improve health and medicine in Britain? -
Blood Transfusions
- 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
How did the following developments that took place during WW1 help to improve health and medicine in Britain? -
Shell Shock Therapy
- 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.
How did the following developments that took place during WWI help to improve health and medicine in Britain? -
Skin Grafts
- Howard Gillies developed ground-breaking techniques to treat facial injuries
- Over 5,000 service men were treated
How did the following developments that took place during and after WWII help to improve health and medicine in Britain? -
Ultrasound
- 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
How did the following developments that took place during and after WWII help to improve health and medicine in Britain? -
MRI and CT Scans
- Helped doctors investigate the workings of the human body
- Helped doctors see organs and tissues in the body, helping them make a diagnosis
How did the following developments that took place during and after WWII help to improve health and medicine in Britain? -
Transplant Surgery
- 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
How did the following developments that took place during and after WWII help to improve health and medicine in Britain? -
Keyhole Surgery
Surgery was now preformed operations through very small cute using miniaturised instruments and fibre-optic cameras that are linked to computers
When was DNA discovered?
1953
Why is the study of DNA important to the development of health and medicine?
It helped people know if they’re more likely to have a certain disease
What was the Beveridge Report? When was it created?
1942, it identified ‘5 evil giants’ that needed to be tackled by government intervention, these were:
- Want
- Disease
- Ignorance
- Squalor
- Idleness
What is the NHS? When was it created?
- The National Health Service provides free health care to all British citizens.
- It was announced in 1946 but created in 1948
How did the Liberal governments of 1906 - 1914 improve public health?
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
What did the Booth and Rowntree reports discover? When did they happen?
- 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.
What is Rickets? Why was it such a problem during the early 20th century?
- 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.
What was the ‘Great Smog’? When did it happen?
- 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
What are the biggest public health problems of the 20th century up to present day?
- Smoking
- Lack of exercise
- Poor diets
- Not enough or poor housing
- Environmental problems
What are the causes of AIDs?
- Spread by bodily fluids such as blood
- Also through the sharing of used needles
- AIDS is the most advanced stage of HIV infection.
Approximately, how many people have died from AIDs?
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.
