History of Medicine Flashcards
What has decreased the early signs of diseases ?
Clean water and sanitations have decreased the incidence of most infectious diseases and death rates.
What are Ancient Civilizations : Egyptian Medicine
Between the 4000 and 1000 BC
had many remedies for illness: spells, incantations and magic. Illness and death: actions of the gods and demonic possession. -
-Despite that, some of the treatments were effective and still used today. -They treated disease based on what was perceived as the cause, a principle used today
Who were the first to treat infectious diseases ?
It was Egyptians were the first to treat diseases systematically.
They recognized that weather and ingestion of noxious substances affected the body •
They used drugs: castor or olive oil, opium, saffron. • Pulse and body temperature were measured. Diet and cleanliness were prescribed. •
Heart was considered a vital organ, and respiration the most important function. •
Severe penalties for letting a patient die. Compound fracture was considered a fatal condition. •
Physicians specialized: eye, head, intestines, etc.
What also contributed to Ancient Cilvillation ?
Chinese’s Medicine
- Chinese medicine also contributed to remedies used today.
- An early Chinese emperor identified over 100 herbal remedies and invented acupuncture.
- Magic and superstition was also part of Chinese medicine.
- However, they discovered the use of iron to treat anaemia or opium as a narcotic to reduce pain.
Traditional Chinese herb therapies are evaluated today for the development of new therapeutic strategies.
What is Ancient Cilvialltion :Biblical Times consist of ?
-Disease was thought of as coming from gods. Treatments were used without any understanding as to why they worked. -
Basic notions about preventative medicine and the transmission of infectious diseases can be found in the Bible: relationship between rats and the plague or the segregation of the lepers
The Mosaic law also prescribed fumigation, decontamination of buildings, protection of water supplies, disposal of wastes, protection of food and sanitation of campsites.
What were the Greece Hippocrates interested in ?
Hippocrates was interested in determining the cause and treatment of disease.
Hippocrates believed in the healing power of nature, he prescribed diets, rest, fresh air, etc. He separated medicine from religion.
-His approach to disease and clinical observation were the basis of the prevention and control of infectious diseases.
What did the Greece Hippocrates specifically believe in ?
However, he believed in maintaining the balance of 4 types of humours or fluids: blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile.
However, he believed in maintaining the balance of 4 types of humours or fluids: blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile.
Disease was induced when these fluids were not in balance.
Bloodletting was based on this theory and persisted well into the early 19th century.
What did Rome do in terms of Public health and what did they adopt ?
Romans adopted from Greeks the search for scientific knowledge and public health measures:
Aqueducts were built to supply cities with clean water •
Sewers prevented spread of infectious diseases •
Street cleaning was required •
Public baths were available everywhere
• Physicians were educated at public expense, and their services were available to the poor
Who contributed in Rome :Public Health ?
Marcus Terentius Varro (116-217 BC) described “small creatures, invisible to the eye” that filled the air, were breathed in, and caused dangerous diseases.
What happened when the roman empire collapsed ?
The collapse of the centralized Roman government led to the downfall of aqueducts and sewer systems, which influenced the spread of disease.
The rise of new religions also affected the search for new scientific knowledge > early Christians reacted against the GrecoRoman emphasis on physical health and beauty.
The
The rise of the Islamic Empire ?
Muslim scholars collected, translated and supplemented classical Greek works as well as texts from India and Northern Africa.
Among the most prolific and influential scholars of this period are Al-Razi (e.g. father of paediatrics) and Ibn Sina (first medical encyclopaedia).
These texts were archived at the House of Wisdom in Baghdad and other centres of study.
Emerging from the early medieval period, Europe remained ignorant of much of this knowledge.
After the collapse of the Roman Empire ?(Middle Ages)
Pilgrimages helped in the transmission of infectious diseases like cholera.
Christian reaction to Islam, the Crusades, contributed to the spreading of cholera and leprosy.
What occurred as a result of the collapse of the Roman Empire ?
The most deadly of all pandemics were the waves of disease caused by bubonic plague: the “Black Death”
20% of Europe’s population perished from a combination of the plague and pulmonary anthrax. .
What occurred in the Middle ages as a result collapse of the roman empire ?
Syphilis spread rapidly through Europe shortly after the return of Columbus from America.
Other diseases known to exist during this period include: typhoid, typhus, diphtheria, streptococcal infections, and dysenteries. Isolation and quarantine were the only control methods, but they were practiced unevenly.
What also happened after the Roman empire ?
The Renaissance intellectual revolution stimulated scientific enquiry in all areas of human knowledge. -Leonardo da Vinci and Andreas Vesalius dissected the human body and founded the modern anatomy.
