Modern

    Cards (56)

    • Alexander Fleming was working on a cure for staphylococcus and after he came home from holiday he noticed a large blob of mould in one of his dishes. He realises the germs had been killed by the penecillium mould
    • Fleming realised the capabilities of Penecillin and publishes his findings but very few people listened so he gave up
    • Florey and chain ( two scientists at Oxford university) got hold of flemings work and managed to produce enough penecillin to test on 8 mice. They turned their uni department into a penecillin producing factory
    • Florey went to US government who agreed to pay huge chemical companies to make gallons of penecillin. By 1944 there was enough to treat 4,000 soldiers
    • After WW2 penecillin was made available for doctors
    • Alexander Fleming was a bacteriologist who was working on discovering a cure for staphylococcus
    • Fleming left several Petri dishes of the staphylococcus germs alone and went on holiday. When he returned back he has realised that a mould has grown on his Petri dishes. The bacteria around the mould had gone. This was penicillin mould.
    • Fleming published his work in 1928. He concluded penicillin was a natural antiseptic but few people listened to his work and he lost interest in it
    • Florey and Chain used Flemings work on Penicillin and applied to the British government for some money to begin further research in Penicillin. They only got £25.
    • Florey and chain turned their university into a penicillin producing factor. They slowly collected enough to use on one human, Albert Alexander.
    • Albert Alexander had been scratched by a rose bush and an infection spread all over him. He was injected with penicillin and the infection cleared up. However, Florey and Chain ran out of penicillin and died. It was recognised penicillin worked it just needed to be mass produced
    • In 1941, Florey went to the US government. The government agreed to pay several huge chemical companies to make millions of gallons of penicillin. By 1944 there was enough to treat 40000 soldiers.
    • Thousands of injured soldiers returned to service much quicker with the penicillin treatment
    • The development of penicillin led to huge government sponsored programmes to develop and produce it
    • After the war penicillin became available for doctors to use as means of prevention and cure for their patients. It was classified as an antibiotic and has gone on to save millions of people
    • The need to produce huge quantities of penicillin was a key factor in the growth of the pharmaceutical industry. Today the pharmaceutical industry is one of the biggest in the world estimated at £200-300 billion
    • Penicillin was the first antibiotic and was developed in the years leading up to the war. The UK and US government realised how important it was in curing infections in deep wounds. By 1944, enough penicillin was produced to treat all the Allied forces in Europe
    • During WW2 posters were produced to encourage to keep people healthy. They warned people against poor hygiene. This was in a bid to keep Britain ‘fighting fit’
    • WW1 sped up developments in surgery, health and medicine. For example, scientists had been working on blood transfusions for many years, but the amount of blood needed by soldiers in the war meant scientists had to work even harder to make blood transfusions a success
    • Advances in sorting blood in the years after WW1 meant that it could be kept fresh and useable for longer. This led to the British National Blood Transfusion service opening in 1938
    • In 1914, Hustin discovered that glucose and sodium citrate stopped blood from clotting on contact with air. Other advances meant that blood could be bottled, packed in ice and taken to where surgeons needed it when operating on soldiers.
    • X-rays were discovered a bit before the war but became really important during WW1. Mobile x-rays were used near battlefields to find out exactly where the wounded soldiers body the bullets or pieces of shrapnel had lodged without cutting the solider open.
    • Harold Gillies developed plastic surgery and he set up a special unit to graft skin and treat men suffering severe facial wounds.
    • The mental strain of war could cause psychological damage. Some had panic attacks and some were unable to speak or move. By the end of the war there were so many cases of sheer shock it became officially recognised and is known today as PTSD
    • During WW2 the shortages of some foods meant that the government encouraged people to grow their own food. This improved people’s diets because it was encouraged or grow healthy food like fresh vegetables
    • Warfare disrupted towns and cities and sometimes destroyed libraries and places of learning which may have disrupted medical advancements because these places were destroyed and research was lost
    • A US army surgeon in London cut into bearing hearts and used his bare hands to removed bullets and hits of shrapnel. His findings helped heart surgery develop massively after the war
    • Battlefields were dirty places and lethal wound infections like gangrene were common. Surgeons worked out the best way to prevent this was to cut away flesh and soak the wound in salty solution which saved many lives
    • The army leg splint was developed which elevated and extended the broken leg. This helped the bones knit together more securely
    • Two role wars meant that government spent a fortune on research and testing so that the latest drugs and surgical techniques were available. Doctors had to find better ways to treat casualties
    • Between 1948 and 1987 many vaccines were created like tuberculosis, whooping cough, polio, measles and rubella
    • New ideas spread quickly due to increased use of television, news, media and the internet
    • 1990 the human genome project is launched. Its aims to decode all the genes in the human body and identify their roles. It provided a huge breakthrough in understanding how genes help determine a persons characteristics
    • British government invested in a huge breast and cervical cancer screening programme which aims to identify illness before it develops
    • New technologies such as keyhole surgery and MRI scanning have helped doctors and surgeons to develop new techniques for identifying illnesses and operating on them
    • Crick and Watson discovered DNA im 1953. This led to the development of gene therapy, genetic screening and DNA analysis
    • The British Red Cross set up the first voluntary blood donor scheme and this was copied throughout the world. this was achieved as different blood groups had been discovered and transfusions became more practical
    • One of the biggest problems faced by doctors was antibiotic resistance seeing bacteria to become increasingly resistant this resulted in wide range of treatments: hypnotherapy, homeopathy, aromatherapy and acupuncture
    • The Boer war (1899-1902)highlighted the poor health of the working class. Many men that came forward to fight weren’t deemed fit enough. Most had medical conditions related to poor diet and living conditions
    • Charles Booth and Seebohm Rowntree‘s reports into the conditions of the working class revealed that many people couldn’t afford food despite working full time
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