Modern Medicine Flashcards
What did Alexander Fleming discover in WW1?
- that antiseptics seemed unable to prevent infection in deep wounds
- he wanted to find something to kill microbes that caused infection
What was the most dangerous microbe?
- staphylococci
- it caused septicaemia (blood poisoning)
What did Fleming notice when he returned from holiday in 1928?
- that mould (Penicillin) that had grown on one of his petri dishes had killed the staphylococci in the dish
- a spore from this mould grown in a room below him had floated into his lab and killed the germs
What did Fleming call Penicillin?
-an antibiotic (“destructive of life”)
Why didn’t many people hear of his work?
- he didn’t inject penicillin into animals to prove it
- he published his findings in articles but no one would fund further research
Who began to research penicillin further in 1937?
How did they prove that penicillin killed infection?
-Howard Florey and Ernst Chain at Oxford uni
-they tested it on 8 mice in 1940 and on humans in 1941
-when a patient was injected with penicillin the infection cleared up but if the penicillin ran out, they died
E.G it was tested on policeman but he died after 5 days when the drug ran out
What factors helped in the mass development of penicillin?
World War II: huge quantities were needed to treat soldiers with infected wounds. In 1943 it was used for the first time on allied soldiers in North Africa
Government funding:Florey met with the US Govt who agreed to pay several huge chemical companies to make gallons of it
What short term impact did penicillin?
- by 1945 250,000 soldiers were treated
- around 15% of British and US soldiers would’ve died without it
- after the war it helped to treat illnesses like pneumonia and tonsillitis
What other antibiotics followed?
- streptomycin 1944 (treated TB)
- tetracycline 1953 (skin infection)
- IVF treatment 1978
What other drugs followed in the 20th century?
-new vaccines to treat polio,tranquilisers and birth control pill
What has been the long term impact of the discovery of penicillin?
- led to new antibiotics being discovered
- huge Govt sponsored programmes
- pharmaceutical industry had more finance to fund research
What negative impact has this had?
- drug companies had sometimes taken short cuts and not tested drugs properly
e. g thalidomide (led to babies being born with deformities)
What examples of alternative medicine are there?
- hydrotherapy, aromatherapy, hypnotherapy and acupuncture
- based on old traditional treatments
How has the BMA reacted to alternative medicine?
- described homeopathy as ‘witchcraft’
Why are more antibiotic-resistant bacteria increasing?
Give example of one?
- overuse (doctors prescribe them for minor illnesses
- effectiveness (bacteria evolve)
- patients pick up superbugs in hospitals
MRSA
How did technology help improve surgery in the early 20th century?
- x -rays (mobile x-ray machines used in WWI-allowed surgeons to identify location of bullet wounds without having to cut them open)
- splints (for broken legs)
- blood transfusions
Who discovered x-rays and what impact did this discovery have?
Wilhelm Roentgen 1895
- led to x-ray film being used by 1918
- CT scans allowed surgeons to see tissues and bones in 3D
Who helped in the area of blood transfusions and what impact did this have?
- Karl Landsteiner discovered blood groups (1900) allowing transfusions
- once anti-coagulants were added to blood it could be stored for 28 days
How did WWI impact surgery?
- mobile x-rays units were used
- Harold Gilles (pioneer of plastic surgery)set up a skin graft unit to treat facial wounds,over 5,000 service men were treated
- first blood banks set up in 1915
- army identified 80,000 men with shell shock and hospitals were set up
- new techniques (splints)
How did WWII impact surgery?
- Govt set up British Blood Transfusion Service to use blood donors in WWII
- blood plasma developed in 1940 making it easier to store and transport blood
- penicillin used to prevent infection
- Dwight Harken made improvements to heart surgery by cutting into beating hearts to remove shrapnel
- cataract surgery (Harold Ridley)
- healthy diets
- war sped up developments in surgery as Govt spend money on research and techniques
How has war hindered medical progress?
- doctors are taken away from normal duties to treat war casualties
- medical research stopped
How did surgery progress after WWII?
- radiation therapy to target cancer
- 1952 first kidney transplant
- 1961 first heart pacemaker
- 1967 Dr Barnard undertook the first heart transplant operation (patient lived for 18 days)
- keyhole surgery (operations through small cuts and using fibre optic cameras)
- laser surgery (1987)
Other medical developments post WWII?
- CAT and MRI scans help to aid diagnose
- discovery of DNA (1953) led to research
Was the Govt worried about the health of the nation?
- 40% of soldiers who had signed up for the Boer War had been unfit to enlist
- Govt worried that this evidence of poverty would harm the economy and strength of nation
