Health and the People part 4: Modern medicine

Health and the People part 4: Modern medicine

1. Treatment of disease

   • New treatments
     • Penicillin
       • Targetted staphylococcus bacteria
         • Hard to get rid of
         • Killed many
       • Discovery - 1928
         • Had been discovered previously
           • Lister
           • Sanderson
           • Nobody said anything about it
             • Lack of communication hindering medical progress
         • Alexander Fleming
           • Had some samples of staphylococcus lying around
             • Came back from holiday to find some of it had been killed
               • Realised it was penicillin fungus that had somehow gotten in
           • He wrote about the discovery but did nothing else
             • Bad public speaker - couldn't deal with critics
         • Rediscovery - 1930s
           • Florey and Chain
             • Stumbled upon Fleming's paper
               • Happened to have some mould in the building so why not try it out?
                 • It was a success
                   • Tested it on mice
                     • They survived!
             • After their discovery, they wanted to be able to mass produce it
               • It would undoubtedly save many lives
                 • WWII was going on
                   • Soldiers would have benefitted a lot
               • But they encountered many problems
                 • War meant very limited funds
                   • Given £25 by the Government
                     • Equivalent to £1500 today
                 • Very difficult to purify
                 • Didn't want it falling into German hands
                 • However, they managed to overcome these
                   • Went to US
                     • Joined Pfizer - pharmaceuticals company
                       • They had the means to mass-produce penicillin
                         • Made it inexpensive
                   • Got enough to prove it works on a human
       • Significance
         • Helped many soldiers survive in WWII
         • Started the major production of antibioics
           • Saving many lives to this day
           • Still going on
         • Allowed people to focus on other things rather than this simple infection
         • Pharmaceutical companies became big
         • Became available to civilians quickly

2. The effect of the wars

   • WWI
     • Problems caused
       • Less funding at home
       • Lots of injuries
       • New, horrible wounds
       • Hospitals bombed
     • Where were the wounded cared for?
       • On the field
         • Stretcher-bearers
   • WWII