Categorising and classification of microbes (he linked specific disease to the microbes that caused them)
Found the causes of many diseases such as, typhoid, pneumonia, whooping cough, plague, etc.
What did Edwin Chadwick do?
Reported on poverty
Introduced the Public Health Act to the government
What did John Snow do?
Proved the link between cholera and water
What was the name of the theory that stated illness was caused by foul air?
Miasma Theory
How did Pasteur come up with Germ Theory?
He was employed to figure out why beet soured after being fermented for alcohol.
His answer was germs (sterilsed water in closed flask stayed sterilised whereas with an open flask the water would breed germs)
In 1861 he published his Germ Theory which stated that germs caused disease
Why did it take a long time for Pasteur's theory to be accepted?
People couldn't believe that tiny microbes caused disease and every germ had to be identified individually
What was used before chloroform as an anesthetic and by who?
Nitrous Oxide
Humphry Davy discovered it in 1799
Horace Wells did a public demo with it in 1845
Ether
Crawford Long discovered its properties in 1842
William Morton did a public demo of it in 1846
Why did early anesthetic lead to a rise in death rates?
They led to longer more complex operations but this became more dangerous because it left the wounds more open to infection because surgeons didn't have hygienic methods of surgery
What was James Simpson known for?
He was a Professor of Midwifery who tried to find safe alternatives to make childbirth less painful
He discovered the effects of chloroform
What was Jospeh Lister known for?
He realized that using carbolic acid sprays would reduce infection rates as it would kill the germs in the air, on the surgical equipment and on peoples hands
He created the first antiseptic (1865)
Who invented surgical gloves?
William Halsted in 1889
What is aseptic surgery??
When all of the equipment used in surgery (including hands) has been carefully sterilised
How did John Snow link cholera to contaminated water?
He realized that all the victims that would get the disease woud share the same water pump, so he removed the handle and it ended the outbreak of cholera in that area.
When was the first Public Health Act, and what did it do?
1848
It reported that the living conditins in the city were much worse than the living conditions in the countryside It also reported that the government should pass laws to improve sewage and drainage The Board of Central Health was made as a result
When was the second Public Health Act?
1875
The Government made councils appoint health and sanitary inspectors to make sure that laws on water supplies and hygiene were followed. They also bought slums and rebuilt them into good housing estates
Who was Joseph Bazelgette?
He was apointed in 1859 to build a new sewer system for London
His design became the blueprint for most cities in Western Europe
When was the Great Stink in London?
1858
What did doctors use before anaesthetics?
Opium and mandrake
What did people believe before the Germ Theory was made?