Key medical discoveries

Question 1

What theory was developed in 1546 which developed thinking about disease?

Answer 1

Fracastro’s theory of Contagion- disease could be passed between people-

Question 2

How did Fracastro’s idea influence people’s behavior?

Answer 2

Public bathing began to become less fashionable as people believed they could catch syphilis

Question 3

What was Thomas Sydenham’s big idea that he wrote about in 1676 and how was it different to the Four Humours theory?

Answer 3

Disease attacked the body and was not based on the four humours.

Disease would be better understood if we saw how they were connected. And certain diseases belonged to families.

Question 4

How did Sydenham’s idea influence belief and discoveries about the cause, prevention and treatment of disease?

Answer 4

During the Great Plague-1666- people believed that if they caught syphilis (Great pox) they would not catch the Bubonic plague as they were similar

Edward Jenner used this theory to see similarities between cowpox and smallpox, and develop the vaccine for smallpox using cowpox

Louis Pasteur would have been influenced by Sydenham’s idea
Robert Koch used Germ Theory to find the different bacteria for different types of diseases

Question 5

What was discovered about syphilis in the early 1900s?

Answer 5

The specific germ that caused the disease

Question 6

How did this discovery influence the work of Paul Ehrlich?

Answer 6

By 1907 he had tested hundreds of chemical compounds to find the cure for syphilis

The scientist Hata retested them to find Salvarson 606. This was called the Magic Bullet as it only attacked the syphilis bacteria, and was the first successful chemical cure