18th + 19th

• new ideas about the cause of disease were coming through like the spontaneous generation theory.
• theory of miasma was still accepted but was becoming less popular
• microscopes developed and by 1850 tiny images could be seen clearly this enabled a breakthrough
• people social attitudes started changing and more rational explanations to diseases were needed
• when was germ theory published?

  1861
• germ theory showed that the theory of spontaneous generation was wrong, Pasteur showed that microbes in the air caused decay. He theorized about germs causing disease but wasn't able to prove this
• who wrote germ theory?

  Pasteur
• Koch read Germ theory and began to study microbes himself proving Pasteur ideas to be correct, he then identified specific microbes that caused TB and cholera
• when was the specific TB microbes identified

  1882
• when was the specific cholera microbes identified

  1883
• Koch also developed a new way of growing bacteria and discovered stains and dyes this lead to other scientists using his method as a blue print for their work
• what impact did Koch discoveries have?

  they lead to more accurate prevention and cure of many diseases
• Pasteur germ theory didn't have a big impact at first in Britain because he wasn't a doctor. It took time for the British government to accept his work
• Nightingale was significant in the changes of hospital care, she emphasised of hygiene, fresh air and good supplies and nurses. After taking the Scutari hospital death rate from 42% to 2% the public started to accept her ideas and way of working
• Nightingale changed the way many hospitals were designed, she preferred the pavilion plan. This meant separate isolated wards with one corridor linking them together. The design stopped disease to spread around wards
• Hospitals before Nightingale

  1)not sanitary

  2) hospitals would not treat everyone

  3) didn't turn away infectious patients
• Nightingale also changed the way nurses were trained and their reputations. She made nursing an actual trained profession and gave them a more central role for caring and assisting patients
• specialists hospitals such as asylums and fever houses were developed
• fever house - isolation ward for people suffering from contagious diseases
• how did the development of anaesthetics impact surgeries

  anaesthetics made surgeries more popular, saving many people from their disease. Anaesthetics also took the level of surgeries up, more complex ones became possible
• anaesthetics had oppositions from people not trusting it because of the unknown long-term risks to the religious belief that God inflicted pain for a reason and this was altering his plan
• who discovered chloroform 


  Simpson
• before 1800 alcohol and opium was used, not very successful
• laughing gas was introduced in 1844 but it didn't ease all pain and patients remained conscious
• Ether was discovered and used from 1846, this made patients unconscious for a very long time but the sides effects were to big to kept as a permanent solution
• in 1847 Simpson discovered Chloroform, it worked perfectly but had some negatives the dose administered had to be carefully controlled as too much could be deadly, and the chemical affects the heart which caused some people to die straight after inhaling it
• It was after Queen Victoria used Chloroform to give birth that is started becoming more popular around Britain
• what was the impact of antiseptics to surgeries?

  reduced the number of infections and allowed for more deeper and complex surgeries to be completed. The total death rate went down quickly and it allowed for aseptic surgeries to be invented
• who was the first to use carbolic acid

  Lister
• Lister realised by studying infected wounds that the flesh was rotting, he then compered this to Germ theory and identified that microbes were causing the rotting, He knew about carbolic acid and decided to operated on a patient with it in 1865. It worked, from this he created a series of step to ensure that wounds didn't become infected
• how was carbolic acid used in surgeries

  1. It was sprayed into the air during operations
  2. Used as soap from surgeons
• what reasons did the government have to pass the public health act

  the several epidemics, e.g. cholera, and the scientific evidence that diseases were cause by poor living standards. The increasing number of men who could vote also influenced this decision
• what did the public health act include

  1. clean water
  2. sewers and public toilets
  3. employment of a public officer of health to monitor diseases
• when was the public health act published

  1875
• what did Jenner discover

  vaccine to smallpox
• when did Jenner discover the vaccine

  1790s
• in the 1790s Jenner used scientific methods to carry out experiments to test his theory. He infected subjects with cow pox and then infected them with small pox and none of them caught it.
• Jenner published his findings and by 1800 more than 100000 people were vaccinated against small pox
• what were the limitations of Jenner's work ?

  he didn't understand how it worked

  the link between cowpox and small pox was unique so it didn't lead to new vaccinations
• what opposition did Jenner face?

  people thought it went against God's plan

  doctors didn't like how they were losing money when the government offered free vaccinations

  some doctors vaccinated people wrong so it didn't work

  people disagreed to give people animals diseases