Medicine Flashcards
What was the old theory about what causes disease?
People had known some diseases were infectious.
Greek and Roman times, due to bad air influenced by stars.
When did people start questioning the old theory of what causes disease?
1800s but bad air seemed a reasonable cause as ever even though the stars did not influence health.
What did people used to think cause decay?
Since ancient times- worms and maggots found in decaying meat grew out of the meat.
Scientists could see through improved microscopes- living and decaying matter full of microscopic living creatures (microbes/ germs)
Spontaneous generation.
What was the new theory proposed by scientists of the early 19th century?
Microbes were not a cause of decay but perhaps were the result. They could float about in air thus cause decay thus also causing disease. Meant that ordinary air which everyone breathed was full of tiny living creatures that could cause decay and disease. Difficult to persuade people anything as unlikely as that could be true.
What did Louis Pasteur do?
Professor of Chemistry at Lille, approached by a local brewer- fermentation process to make alcohol was going wrong.
Found harmful micro organisms in large numbers in the vats.
Proved through experiment that microbes cause things to go bad float about in the air.
What did Pasteur go on to do after the brewery?
Published results 1861- could be replicated no one could argue for long germs were cause of decay.
Went on to show some diseases of plants and animals were caused by germs- not a doctor so could not prove they cause disease in humans.
1865- cholera epidemic, could not identify germ. Robert Koch went on to establish germ theory.
What did Robert Koch do?
German doctor and scientific researcher.
Read of Pasteur, 1872- looked for microbes in diseased animals and people.
Found a way to stain them so he could see clearly and takes photos through microscope.
Through careful experiment, proved microbe he suspected did in fact cause disease he was studying.
What did Koch do after finding the microbe that caused the disease he was studying?
1878- discovered microbes that cause wounds to go septic.
1880- given official post in German lab.
By 1900, him and students had identified germs causing 21 diseases.
Define spontaneous generation.
The supposed production of living organisms from non living matter.
Who was Edwin Chadwick?
Secretary of the Poor Law Commission set up in 1834. He soon became convinced that one main cause of poverty was sickness.
What did Edwin Chadwick do?
Organised research by a group of doctors to prove his belief that a good water supply and a clean sewage system was the best way to prevent sickness. He compiled a report on the Sanitady conditions of the Working Population.
What did Chadwick say in his report about the sanitary conditions of the working population?
Central government in London should organise a proper public health system all over the country.
What happened in 1848?
First public health act and the general health board in london being set up, of which Chadwick became a leading member.
What did Chadwick try to do with the general health board?
Force local boards and town councils to make improvements but people strongly didn’t like being ordered around by a civil derv ant.
Who was William Farr?
Doctor who worked for the Registrar General of Births, Marriages and Deaths from 1839-1879. He brought in a system of accurate recording of the causes of death in all districts in 1840. This meant by 1850s, plenty of statistics showing disease was far worse where water and sewage systems were bad.
