industrial medicine

• Germ Theory


  Pasteur's theory that micro-organisms cause disease
• Pasteur's development of Germ Theory

  1. Examined samples under a microscope and found micro-organisms growing in liquids

  2. Published his Germ Theory in 1861

  3. Carried out experiments to prove his theory, showing that boiling kills bacteria and preventing germs from entering a liquid prevents it from going off
• Not everyone accepted Pasteur's findings, and he struggled to identify specific bacteria which caused individual diseases
• Impact of Germ Theory


  • Vaccines were developed
  • Acts to improve public health were passed, including building sewers
  • Surgery became safer with antiseptic and aseptic techniques
  • Treatments improved with the development of chemical drugs and antibiotics
• Robert Koch


  Breakthrough scientist who identified specific germs causing specific diseases
• Pasteur had not proved that there were different germs which caused different diseases, his work was a broad theory on the cause of disease in general
• Germ Theory


  The theory that germs/bacteria cause disease
• Germ Theory


  • It ended ideas of miasma and spontaneous generation, although nearly 50 years went by until accepted
  • It allowed the study of bacteria by Koch to have an enormous impact on our understanding of causes of disease
• Germ Theory was critical to establishing the work of Pasteur and Koch
• Antiseptic surgery

  Using chemicals like carbolic acid to kill germs and prevent infection during surgery
• Aseptic surgery


  Eliminating all germs from the operating room before surgery begins
• Antiseptic surgery reduced infection rates from 50% to 15% in just four years from 1867
• Aseptic surgery continued to this day, with doctors wearing scrubs, washing their hands and using sterilised instruments in operating theatres
• Blood groups were discovered in 1901 by Karl Landsteiner, leading to the development of blood transfusions
• Impact of Germ Theory

  • It proved that germs/bacteria cause disease, ending ideas of miasma and spontaneous generation
  • It allowed the development of vaccinations
  • It led to improvements in hospital care and hygiene, with doctors and nurses washing hands, using sterilised equipment, etc.
• Public health improvements


  1. Overcrowded and dirty towns

  2. Chadwick's report on sanitary conditions

  3. 1848 Public Health Act (voluntary, so mostly ignored)

  4. 1866 new sewer system in London

  5. 1875 Public Health Act (compulsory, required clean water, sewers, etc.)
• Cholera


  A feared disease that killed thousands, previously thought to be caused by miasma
• John Snow identified the link between cholera and contaminated water, removing the handle of a pump to stop an outbreak in 1854
• The 1875 Public Health Act eradicated cholera from Britain for good
• Pasteur's Germ Theory in 1861 proved that bacteria/germs caused disease, though it took a long time to be accepted
• The 1875 Artisan Dwellings Act led to the demolition of slums and construction of cleaner tenement blocks, though the poorest could not afford to live there
• Anaesthetics


  Substances used to dull pain and allow deep surgery
• Vaccinations


  Substances to protect against diseases, developed after the identification of specific germs causing specific diseases
• The development of antibiotics such as penicillin in the 20th century was a long-term impact of Germ Theory
• Now people knew how disease spread, though it took a long time to be accepted
• Working men got the vote in 1867, so politicians tried to win votes by introducing the Public Health Act of 1875
• Public Health Act of 1875

  • As a result cholera did not break out again in London
  • It was compulsory
  • Local Authorities could pull down slums
  • They had to provide sewers, fresh water and clean streets
  • They had to appoint a Medical Officer to organise this
• The 1875 Artisan Dwellings Act: Octavia Hill campaigned for better housing for workers. Slums were pulled down and replaced with clean tenement blocks. But the poorest people could not afford to live there