Prevention Flashcards
Black Death- Middle Ages
Church orders processions to pray for forgiveness
Others whipped themselves to purify themselves
Don’t eat too much, no sex, drink urine once a day, bathe in urine once a week, blood letting
Edward III ordered London’s streets cleaned, no contact with those infected, houses boarded up
Alchemy+soothsayers- medieval
Alchemy: Were paid a lot to make medicines
Mixtures of distilled vinegar and poisons such as mercury, made people sick to clear the systems
Soothsayers: supposedly saw the future and if you got ill, could create special charms to stop this
e.g. Mother Shipton
Other medieval methods
Medieval doctors gave advice
Monks before dissolution of the monasteries
Apothecaries sold herbal remedies
Barber surgeons pulled teeth/ set broken limbs
Physicians trained in Italy and Paris
Early modern
John Dee, famous mathematician, spent time communicating with angels to help his search for a long life
Vegetarianism/teetotalism
Buxton, Bath, Bognor Regis, Brighton - cold water treatment, drink the water or swim in the sea. Eat cold foods and cold water baths
Early modern scientists
Alexander Gordon noticed rural women suffered less post-childbirth infections than in cites- doctors was clothes /hands in chlorinated water. Published 1705
Microscope, stethoscope, kymograph, printing press
Scientific papers e.g. James Lind- scurvy, give people lime juice/fresh fruit
19th century- snow and cholera
1854- plotted every case in the local area of cholera and noticed a connection to the Broad Street water pump
Took the handle off- people couldn’t use it
He Didn’t know why but it worked
Smallpox
Eradicated 1980
Killed 30-60% of all who caught it
Could Leave survivors blind, most had scarring
An epidemic in 1796 killed 35,000, 42,000 from 1837-40
Thought it was caused by miasma
Jenner (late 18th century)
Milkmaids with cowpox never got smallpox
Chose 9 year old James Phipps, injected him with cowpox and then smallpox when he recovered- immune to smallpox
Couldn’t prove why but developed first vaccination
Published 1797, needed more proof, published 1798 after more experiment, even own son, he was given £100,000 in 1802
Vaccination development in 19th century
Some believed it was god’s punishment for sin- shouldn’t interfere
Some disliked humans getting an animal disease
Government shouldn’t get involved
Anti-vaccination league set up in 1866
Made compulsory, 1852, free to all infants, not strictly enforced
Pasteur and Koch (19th century)
Pasteur- 1860s: bacteria called rabies, destroying that kills rabies
Vaccine in 1880
Koch- bacteria for specific diseases, antibodies
Tuberculosis, typhoid, pneumonia, tetanus, whooping cough, plague
Vaccines later developed
Impact after germ theory (19th century)
1871- fines if you don’t vaccinate
Great fall in death rate
1887- parents offered right to refuse
Vaccinations in 20th century
Mostly eliminated polio (vaccine from 1955), measles (1963), diphtheria, whooping cough. Supported by WHO
Vaccines for MMR (1988), hepatitis B (1994)
Infant mortality rate 170/1000 in 1900, 4/5 per 1000 today
MMR debate
1988- dr Wakefield published a paper saying the MMR vaccine increased the likelihood of autism
Proven to be incorrect and the sample size was too small
UK saw first major outbreak of measles in 2012-13, overall vaccination rates 93%- not enough for immunity
