Treatment of illness and disease Flashcards
1
Q
Belief of miasma
A
- The miasma theory meant that diseases were caused by the presence of a poisonous vapour in the air which was easily understood by its foul smell
- The theory originated in the Middle Ages
- It made sense to sanitary reformers as the dirtier the area (and by default more smelly) you tended to see a lot more disease.
- It did have its merits as by removing the causes of bad smells, you tended to remove bacteria inadvertently.
2
Q
Belief of spontaneous generation
A
- Microorganisms are very small and so could not be seen without a microscope. People did not know the link between microorganisms and disease.
- The theory claimed that rotting material (e.g. food, excrement or dead animals) created maggots, fleas and disease.
3
Q
Edward Jenner (1796)
A
discovered a small dose of cowpox protected humans from smallpox and called the technique vaccination
4
Q
Louis Pasteur and Germ Theory
A
- A French scientist in the late 1850s
- Experiments into milk, wine and vinegar
- Asked by a brewery company to look into why their beer was going sour.
- He took two flasks and drove the air out of one so that no more bacteria could grow. He sealed the flasks with some liquid inside - the cleaned flask was still sterile - the other was full of bacteria
- In 1860 the French Academy challenged scientists to prove or disprove ‘spontaneous generation’
- Pouchet argued for this
- Pasteur disproved this theory and showed that food went off because of contamination by microbes in the air and that this could cause disease (1861)
- His Germ Theory was controversial.
- Application published in 1878
- Silkworms
- In 1865 he was asked to investigate diseases in silkworms and proved that bacteria was spreading the diseases.
- This linked germs to disease
5
Q
Pasteurisation
A
- The method of heating and sterilising liquids
- Method paved the way for air-tight food storage
6
Q
Impact of Pasteur
A
- Surgery: His work led to an understanding of infection and why it often developed after operations
- Public Health: It helped to explain the link between hygiene and health.
- He disproved spontaneous generation
- Without his work, Koch would not have started his work
- He developed pastuerisation
- He thought of Germ Theory
7
Q
Limitations of Germ Theory
A
- It was not until 1878 that Germ Theory and its Application to Medicine was actually published
- Many scientists did not accept his ideas - there were healthy microorganisms so how would they differentiate?
- It was not clear how germ theory could actually help medicine
8
Q
Background on Koch
A
- Born in Germany
- A doctor that read Pasteur’s work
- Rivalry between Koch and Pasteur because of the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71)
9
Q
Koch and anthrax
A
- He wanted to find specific microbes/bacteria
- He investigated anthrax which affected farm animals
- In 1872, he set up a small lab in his home and spent his spare time researching
- He found that the anthrax microbe produced spores that lived for a long time after the animal had died
10
Q
Pasteur and chicken cholera
A
- Pasteur was spurred by his rivalry with Koch
- In 1879, he was researching chicken cholera
- One of his team accidentally injected a chicken with some old chicken cholera germs that had been exposed to air - the chicken did not die
- He realised that injecting a weakened form of the disease would stimulate the chicken’s natural defences
- This led to work within humans
11
Q
Pasteur and anthrax
A
- After experimenting, Pasteur’s team announced they had produced an attenuated (weakened) culture which could immunise against anthrax
- In 1881, he publicly displayed his findings
- Sheep were protected and Pasteur’s fame quickly spread
12
Q
Pasteur and rabies
A
- In 1882, Pasteur works on rabies
- He injected a boy who already had rabies with the rabies vaccine he had spent 2 years working on and he saved the boy’s life
- His fame grew and people flocked to him from all over Europe
13
Q
Koch and Bacteriology
A
- Koch wanted to work on germs that specifically affected humans
- In 1878, he identified the germ that caused blood poisoning and septicaemia
- He discovered that methyl violet dye showed up the germ under a microscope
- He took pictures of the germs so people could see them
- He devised a method of proving which germ caused an infection and he perfected the technique of growing pure cultures of germs
14
Q
Koch and TB (tuberculosis)
A
- In 1881, he gathered a team in Berlin to work on tuberculosis
- It was much smaller than the anthrax germ so it was difficult to look for
- In 1882, Koch announced that his team had found the germ
- It generated the ‘microbe hunters’ who were inspired by his work - one of those was Paul Ehrlich
15
Q
Koch’s legacy
A
- He finally laid to rest the belief of ‘bad air’ causing diseases
- He inspired younger researchers to build on his work
- By 1900, 21 germs had been identified in just 21 years - he had developed the correct methods that led to this
- His method of staining bacteria was incredibly effective
16
Q
Limitations to Koch and Pasteur’s vaccine work
A
- Both men published their work but it was some time before they were accepted into medicine
- The attitude of doubtful scientists and doctors meant that their work was largely unnoticed by the general public
- Vaccines can prevent a disease from developing but cannot treat a disease after a person has become ill
17
Q
First Magic Bullet
A
- Paul Erhlich, who worked under Koch, along with Emil Behring, developed an interest in the antibodies produced by the human body
- Ehrlich reasoned that he could find a chemical to attack specific germs, calling them magic bullets
- Magic Bullets would hit the specific germ but not damage anything else in the body
- In 1905, he was looking to treat syphilis using a variety of chemical compounds
- He tested over 600 of them
- In 1909, Sahachiro Hata began working with them and retested all compounds. The 606th compound worked.
- In 1911, Salvarsan 606 was used for the first time on humans
Limitations: Side effects such as rashes, liver damage and ‘risks of life and limb’, some denounced 606 leading to the ‘Salvarsan wars’
18
Q
Marie Curie and radioactivity
A
- She and her husband, Pierre were research workers in Paris
- They began work on invisible rays given off by uranium (a phenomenon discovered by Henri Becquerel)
- Curie noticed samples called pitchblende were more radioactive than pure uranium and managed to separate the different elements present
- In 1898, polonium was discovered
- They realised another, more radioactive element, was present in the pitchblende and managed to separate radium in 1902
- She helped to set up the first radium institute which helped to research the treatment of cancer using radium
- Helpful to treat cancers and use in x-rays
- First woman to win nobel prize (1903 for discovery), first person to win 2 nobel prizes (1911 for isolating radium)
Limitations: It continued to be difficult for women to enter scientific research, only one other woman has joined Marie Curie in winning the physics Nobel Prize
19
Q
Problems with treatment of disease during WW1
A
- Conditions such as trench foot were common, as were new injuries by the high velocity gun fire.
- Shell shock was considered as a physical condition or a sign of mental instability
- Trench foot was treated with clean socks. If gangrene set in, it was amputation
- Trench fever was caused by contact with lice and caused flu like symptoms. Delousing stations were set up
- Dysentery was caused by infected food, water and people and chloride was used to purify water
20
Q
Limitations to treatment during WW1
A
- The money for research teams from the government was not always forthcoming
- Salvarsan 606 was the only magic bullet and only effective against syphilis, not the wide range of bacterial diseases from WWI
21
Q
Second Magic Bullet
A
- Gerhard Domagk was inspired by Erhlich. He and Klarer were interested in using chemical dyes as antibiotics.
- In 1932, Domagk tested Prontosil against a strain of streptococcus bacteria
- He infected mice with streptococcus - the mice that did not receive Prontosil died
- Prontosil gained widespread recognition when it was used on President Roosevelt’s son
- They found it could be used against tonsillitis, puerperal fever and scarlet fever
Limitations: It could damage the kidney, liver and are ineffective against highly virulent microbes
22
Q
Fleming and the development of Penicillin
A
- Fleming worked on staphylococcus germ
- In 1928, he observed that mould had developed accidentally on a staphylococcus culture plate and that a mould had a bacteria-free circle around itself.
- He found that the mould prevented the growth of staphylococci even when diluted 800x. He named it penicillin.
- He grew more and experimented, finding that it acted against anthrax and diphtheria
- It was the first time that an antibiotic drug had been developed
- In August 1942, he successfully treated a friend that had meningitis
- Limitations: He did very little with his own discovery and wasn’t until 1935 and Florey and Chain developed it further that it could help people further
23
Q
Florey, Chain and the development of penicillin
A
- In 1939, Florey and Chain assembled a team of pathologists
- They asked the British government for funding into research
- They used thousands of milk bottles, milk churns, a dog bath and a hand pump to gather a few micrograms of pure penicillin
- They tested it on mice - the mice that were given penicillin were healthy with no traces of the streptococci bacteria. The ones that were not injected with penicillin, died.
- In 1941, police officer Albert Alexander was given penicillin to combat bacteria - with penicillin he was able to recover but they did not have enough and he died a few weeks later. It showed that, with enough penicillin, it could be a powerful drug
- In 1942, the US gave $80 million to 4 drug companies to mass produce penicillin
- It was used at D-Day
- By 1945, the US Army was using 2 million doses of penicillin a month
Impact:
- It is estimated that 12-15% more allied soldiers would have died without penicillin
- It halved the amount of time an Allied soldier spent in hospital
- We still use penicillin and penicillin-type drugs today
