medicine 1900 present

• lifestyle factors 


  Understanding that our lifestyle has an impact on our health is not new. Doctors in medieval England advised rest, exercise and a good diet to remain healthy. However, since c.1900 there has been a greater understanding of how our lifestyle choices affect our health. Research has shown how specific aspects of our lifestyle cause health problems and illnesses.
• lifestyle factors

  The following aspects of our lifestyle can lead to some forms of cancer, heart disease and mental health problems:

  • poor diet
  • lack of exercise
  • smoking
  • drinking alcohol
  • stress
• government 


  It is now widely accepted that the government’s role is to fund medical research and treatment, pass legislation to help prevent disease and illness, and educate people about dangers to their health. This can be seen in the government’s response to the increase in deaths from lung cancer over the past 50 years. Scotland was the first of the four UK nations to ban smoking in public places, through legislation passed in 2006. Across the UK, the administrations have supported advertising campaigns to educate the British people about the dangers of smoking.
• advances in science

  Advances in science, such as the discovery of DNA, have led to a greater understanding of the causes of disease. It is now accepted that germs can cause disease and illness.

  By the end of the 20th century, it was also understood that some diseases, conditions or disorders are hereditary - which means they are passed from parents to children in genes.
• advances in science

  This has been proven for:

  • Down’s syndrome - the extra chromosome that causes this condition was discovered in 1958
  • cystic fibrosis - the gene that causes this condition was discovered in 1989
  • sickle cell anaemia - the genetic understanding of this disorder developed from the 1940s onwards
• developments in technology

  Rapid developments in technology led to huge advances in the diagnosis and treatment of disease and illness after c.1900. Medicines such as magic bullets and antibiotics can now be mass produced to destroy disease and infection inside the human body.

  Machines became more commonly used in hospitals. For example, X-ray machines, CT scans and heart rate monitors enable quick and accurate diagnosis and monitoring of illness.
• salvarsan - first magic bullet

  • Paul Ehrlich worked with Robert Koch in Germany.
  • In 1900, Ehrlich put forward the concept of a magic bullet when he argued that a chemical could deliberately target bacteria in the human body and kill those bacteria.
  • Ehrlich tested arseniccompounds to find a cure for syphilis.
  • In 1909, a Japanese scientist called Sahachiro Hata retested all of the compounds and discovered the first magic bullet, Salvarsan 606.
  • Salvarsan 606 was able to kill the bacteria that cause syphilis
• prontosil - second magic bullet

  • The second magic bullet was called Prontosil.
  • In the 1930s, Gerhard Domagk used experiments on mice to discover that Prontosil killed the bacteria that cause blood poisoning.
  • When his daughter developed blood poisoning after cutting her finger on a rose bush, Domagk was able to test Prontosil on a human being. She was the first human cured by a magic bullet.
  • Scientists carried out a series of experiments and realised that Salvarsan 606 and Prontosil contained sulphonamide. drug companies went on to develop sulphonamide cures for diseases such as scarlet fever.
• discovery of penicilin

  • In 1928, Alexander Fleming was studying the wounds of soldiers and infections caused by staphylococci bacteria in his laboratory in London.
  • He left some dishes on the windowsill containing the bacteria and went on holiday. Above his laboratory, a scientist was working with penicillin mould.
  • penicillin mould landed on the dishes
  • Fleming inspected the dishes and noticed that the penicillin mould had killed the staphylococci bacteria underneath.
• Howard Florey and Ernst Chain’s development of penicillin

  In 1938, Howard Florey and Ernst Chain read Fleming’s article on penicillin. They realised it could be effective and got £25 in funding from the British government (which would be worth approximately £1,300 today). However, with World War Two approaching, the government had other priorities and did not support the project further than this.
• Howard Florey and Ernst Chain’s development of penicillin


  Instead, Florey and Chain secured money from America to enable them to carry out more research. They discovered that penicillin was able to cure infections in mice. However, in order to run tests on humans, they needed a way of making a lot of pure penicillin. They started work using bedpans to build a home penicillin factory in which to create pure penicillin.
• By 1941, Florey and Chain had made enough pure penicillin to test it on a human. They used it on a policeman called Albert Alexander, who had cut himself and was dying from a bacterial infection called septicaemia. The treatment worked and Alexander’s infection began to clear up. Unfortunately, Florey and Chain ran out of pure penicillin after a week and Alexander died.

  However, Florey and Chain had shown that penicillin could be successful in treating bacterial infections.
• better access to care

  In 1900, most sick people were still cared for at home. This was generally done by women as it was traditionally viewed as their role to look after members of the family. Additionally, doctors were too expensive for most families.

  However, the role of the government in medicine increased throughout the 20th century. The government began to fund treatment, encourage mass vaccination and lead education programmes.
• 1911 national insurance act

  The Liberal government of 1906-1914 introduced the National Insurance Act in 1911. This enabled workers to access medical care. Workers, employers and the government would pay into a fund from which medical care and treatment would be paid for. However, this support did not include the families of workers.

  In 1919 the Ministry of Health was set up. This was the first government department to have an overview of health across the country. However, by the 1930s, there were still a lot of people who could not afford medical care and treatment.
• the national health service

  World War Two led to a change in access to health care in Britain. During the war many people were able to get free health care, and they wanted this to continue. In 1942 William Beveridge, a government civil servant, published a report that became known as the Beveridge Report. It recommended:

  • a National Health Service that would be free for everyone
  • access to medical care and treatment that would be paid for from taxes
• national health service

  However, there was some opposition to a National Health Service (NHS) from doctors. Previously they had worked privately, and some did not want to lose any income. Aneurin Bevan, the Minister of Health, overcame this by agreeing that doctors could continue to treat private patients.

  The NHS was introduced in 1948 and marked a significant change in government involvement in medicine. Its aim was to provide free health care for all. It was paid for by taxes and showed that the British government had taken complete responsibility for health care.
• gov lifestyle campaigns

  The government has also focused on education to help people prevent disease themselves. It has done this by promoting a healthy lifestyle. Its measures have included:

  • advertising campaigns against smoking, binge drinking and unprotected sex
  • encouraging people to eat more healthily and exercise
• improvements in the diagnosis of illness

  New methods of diagnosing illness have sometimes removed the need for surgery. This has often made the process quicker and more comfortable for patients. For example:

  • X-rays are used to diagnose broken bones.
  • CT scans are used to diagnose tumours and growths in the body.
  • Blood tests are used to test samples of blood and diagnose a range of illnesses.
  • An endoscope is a tiny camera on the end of a flexible cable that can be swallowed and used to diagnose problems with the digestive system.
• medical and surgical treatments in hospitals

  • Radiotherapy is used to shrink tumours growing inside the body. It is an effective treatment for cancer.
  • Small machines are used in the treatment of illness and during surgery. For example, when a patient has a heart bypass, a machine performs the functions of a heart.
  • Prosthetic limbs are used to replace amputated limbs.
  • Keyhole surgery uses tiny cameras and surgical instruments to perform an operation with just a tiny cut. This enables the patient to heal much quicker.
• discovery of the structure of dna


  Advances in technology enabled the discovery of the structure of DNA in 1953. It was discovered by the scientists Francis Crick and James Watson. They worked with X-ray photographs taken by Rosalind Franklin and powerful microscopes to build a model of DNA.
• human genome project


  The project was completed in 2003 and scientists were able to use the collected information to identify differences in the DNA of different humans that indicate genetic disease. For example, scientists have now been able to identify that some people carry a gene that leads to breast cancer, which has led to better treatments.
• smoking and lung cancer

  Medical evidence suggests that cigarette smoking is the main cause of lung cancer. In some cases, lung cancer is a result of passive smoking, where people have inhaled the smoke from other people’s cigarettes.

  However until the mid-20th century, when attitudes started to change, smoking was incredibly common and very few people would have regarded it as a dangerous activity. Indeed, smoking was even allowed in doctors’ surgeries and many medical professionals smoked. During World War Two, cigarettes were provided as part of a soldier’s rations.
• diagnosis and prevention

  the government tries to educate people about the dangers and prevent the disease in the first place. It does this in various ways:

  • Anti-smoking campaigns warn people of the dangers of smoking.
  • Advertising campaigns highlight the symptoms of lung cancer.
  • Advertisements for cigarettes have been banned. Previously, tobacco companies even sponsored sporting events.
  • Laws have been passed that have raised the legal age of buying tobacco from 16 to 18. Since the early 21st century, smoking has been banned in public places.
• treatments

  Treatments for lung cancer have progressed throughout the 20th and early 21st centuries following advances in science and technology and government funding. Currently, some of the treatments for lung cancer include:

  • Radiotherapy - radiation is used to attack and kill the cancer cells.
  • Chemotherapy - powerful chemicals are used to attack and kill the cancer cells.
  • Immunotherapy - the patient’s immune system is boosted using this treatment so that it can attack and kill the cancer cells.
  • Transplant - damaged lungs are replaced with lungs from an organ donor.
• Medical research into the causes, diagnosis, prevention and treatment of lung cancer continues today. Further advances in scientific knowledge and technology will lead to improved understanding and more treatments.