Modern Medicine Flashcards

1
Q

What did Alexander Fleming discover in WW1?

A
  • that antiseptics seemed unable to prevent infection in deep wounds
  • he wanted to find something to kill microbes that caused infection
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2
Q

What was the most dangerous microbe?

A
  • staphylococci

- it caused septicaemia (blood poisoning)

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3
Q

What did Fleming notice when he returned from holiday in 1928?

A
  • that mould (Penicillin) that had grown on one of his petri dishes had killed the staphylococci in the dish
  • a spore from this mould grown in a room below him had floated into his lab and killed the germs
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4
Q

What did Fleming call Penicillin?

A

-an antibiotic (“destructive of life”)

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5
Q

Why didn’t many people hear of his work?

A
  • he didn’t inject penicillin into animals to prove it

- he published his findings in articles but no one would fund further research

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6
Q

Who began to research penicillin further in 1937?

How did they prove that penicillin killed infection?

A

-Howard Florey and Ernst Chain at Oxford uni
-they tested it on 8 mice in 1940 and on humans in 1941
-when a patient was injected with penicillin the infection cleared up but if the penicillin ran out, they died
E.G it was tested on policeman but he died after 5 days when the drug ran out

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7
Q

What factors helped in the mass development of penicillin?

A

World War II: huge quantities were needed to treat soldiers with infected wounds. In 1943 it was used for the first time on allied soldiers in North Africa

Government funding:Florey met with the US Govt who agreed to pay several huge chemical companies to make gallons of it

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8
Q

What short term impact did penicillin?

A
  • by 1945 250,000 soldiers were treated
  • around 15% of British and US soldiers would’ve died without it
  • after the war it helped to treat illnesses like pneumonia and tonsillitis
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9
Q

What other antibiotics followed?

A
  • streptomycin 1944 (treated TB)
  • tetracycline 1953 (skin infection)
  • IVF treatment 1978
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10
Q

What other drugs followed in the 20th century?

A

-new vaccines to treat polio,tranquilisers and birth control pill

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11
Q

What has been the long term impact of the discovery of penicillin?

A
  • led to new antibiotics being discovered
  • huge Govt sponsored programmes
  • pharmaceutical industry had more finance to fund research
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12
Q

What negative impact has this had?

A
  • drug companies had sometimes taken short cuts and not tested drugs properly
    e. g thalidomide (led to babies being born with deformities)
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13
Q

What examples of alternative medicine are there?

A
  • hydrotherapy, aromatherapy, hypnotherapy and acupuncture

- based on old traditional treatments

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14
Q

How has the BMA reacted to alternative medicine?

A
  • described homeopathy as ‘witchcraft’
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15
Q

Why are more antibiotic-resistant bacteria increasing?

Give example of one?

A
  • overuse (doctors prescribe them for minor illnesses
  • effectiveness (bacteria evolve)
  • patients pick up superbugs in hospitals

MRSA

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16
Q

How did technology help improve surgery in the early 20th century?

A
  • x -rays (mobile x-ray machines used in WWI-allowed surgeons to identify location of bullet wounds without having to cut them open)
  • splints (for broken legs)
  • blood transfusions
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17
Q

Who discovered x-rays and what impact did this discovery have?

A

Wilhelm Roentgen 1895

  • led to x-ray film being used by 1918
  • CT scans allowed surgeons to see tissues and bones in 3D
18
Q

Who helped in the area of blood transfusions and what impact did this have?

A
  • Karl Landsteiner discovered blood groups (1900) allowing transfusions
  • once anti-coagulants were added to blood it could be stored for 28 days
19
Q

How did WWI impact surgery?

A
  • mobile x-rays units were used
  • Harold Gilles (pioneer of plastic surgery)set up a skin graft unit to treat facial wounds,over 5,000 service men were treated
  • first blood banks set up in 1915
  • army identified 80,000 men with shell shock and hospitals were set up
  • new techniques (splints)
20
Q

How did WWII impact surgery?

A
  • Govt set up British Blood Transfusion Service to use blood donors in WWII
  • blood plasma developed in 1940 making it easier to store and transport blood
  • penicillin used to prevent infection
  • Dwight Harken made improvements to heart surgery by cutting into beating hearts to remove shrapnel
  • cataract surgery (Harold Ridley)
  • healthy diets
  • war sped up developments in surgery as Govt spend money on research and techniques
21
Q

How has war hindered medical progress?

A
  • doctors are taken away from normal duties to treat war casualties
  • medical research stopped
22
Q

How did surgery progress after WWII?

A
  • radiation therapy to target cancer
  • 1952 first kidney transplant
  • 1961 first heart pacemaker
  • 1967 Dr Barnard undertook the first heart transplant operation (patient lived for 18 days)
  • keyhole surgery (operations through small cuts and using fibre optic cameras)
  • laser surgery (1987)
23
Q

Other medical developments post WWII?

A
  • CAT and MRI scans help to aid diagnose

- discovery of DNA (1953) led to research

24
Q

Was the Govt worried about the health of the nation?

A
  • 40% of soldiers who had signed up for the Boer War had been unfit to enlist
  • Govt worried that this evidence of poverty would harm the economy and strength of nation
25
Q

What dod Charles Booth discover?

A
  • published “Life and Labour of the people” in 1889
  • it found 35% of London lived in abject poverty
  • began to change people’s attitudes towards the poor
26
Q

What did Seebohm Rowntree find?

A
  • study “Poverty,A study in Town Life” in 1889
  • showed that nearly 1/2 the working class people in York lived in poverty
  • he coined the term “poverty line”
27
Q

Which political party passed reformed to help the poor?

A

The Liberal Party

28
Q

Why did this political party pass reforms?

A
  • they were worried about the strength and power of the country
  • some politicians like DAVID LLOYD GEORGE believed in direct action from the Govt and they were worried about the appeal of the labour party
29
Q

What were the limitations of these reforms?

A
  • poor families couldn’t afford to pay for medical treatment
  • pensions were limited to those who had worked all their lives
  • many Conservatives objected to pay for these reforms
30
Q

What reforms were passed?

A

1906: Free School Meals
1907: Education Act
1908: Children and Young Person’s Act (protected children from neglect)
1908: Old Age Pensions Act (over 70s received pension provided they had worked all their lives)
1911: National Insurance (sick and unemployment pay if you paid into the scheme)

31
Q

What report was introduced during WWII?

What did it state?

A

The Beveridge Act 1942

  • it set out proposals for welfare state and the need to eliminate the five “Giant Evils” of Want, Disease,Ignorance, Squalor and Idleness
  • Govt should help people “from the cradle to the grave”
  • people were shocked at the health of some of the evacuated children
32
Q

Which political party did introduce a welfare state in Britain?

A

Labour (Clement Attlee was PM)

33
Q

What was the NHS?

A

1948: brought together hospitals,doctors, nurses,opticians,pharmacists and dentists under one umbrella organisation
- healthcare was free at the point of delivery
- Aneurin Bevan was in charge of overseeing the NHS

34
Q

Who opposed the NHS?

A
  • many doctors and Winston Churchill who said it was a “curse on the country”
  • 10% of doctors were in favour of it
35
Q

What happened in 1952 to make the Govt realise that towns needed cleaning up?
What did the Govt do to deal with this?

A

Killer smog over London

passed the Clean Air Acts 1956 and 1968

36
Q

What other measures did the Govt pass in the 1960s to improve towns and cities?

A
  • new towns built such as Milton Keynes

- slum clearance (poor housing was replaced by ‘modern’ tower blocks with central heating, bathrooms and fitted kitchens

37
Q

What are the main health problems that affect people today?

A
  • cancer
  • heart disease
  • dementia
38
Q

Why are people more likely to die of these diseases?

A
  • unhealthy lifestyle (diet/exercise)
  • people living longer
  • obesity
39
Q

How could the NHS solve these problems?

A

Targeting prevention rather than cure

For example educating people on smoking and exercise

40
Q

What advances in drugs have been made recently?

A

The Medical Research Council has set up funds to develop new products such as new drugs for AIDS

41
Q

What are the pressures facing the NHS today?

A
  • cost (technology becoming more advanced,operations and treatment become more expensive)
  • not completely free now (prescriptions,dental treatment and dentistry have to be paid for)
  • drug companies sell drugs too expensively and the NHS can’t afford them leading to increasing prices