Britain's Health Revolution: 1000-Present PDF

Britain: Health and the people: c1000 to the present day (Revision 6-A Revolution in Health Part 1) From the Specification: - The development of Germ Theory, the work of Pasteur and Koch, the impact on the treatment of disease, Microbe Hunting and the work or Paul Erlich What did people think cause...

Britain: Health and the people: c1000 to the present day (Revision 6-A Revolution in Health Part 1) From the Specification: - The development of Germ Theory, the work of Pasteur and Koch, the impact on the treatment of disease, Microbe Hunting and the work or Paul Erlich What did people think caused disease? Louis Pasteur's work : In 1677, the first basic microscope was invented, which allowed scientists Pasteur was the biggest challenge to spontaneous generation and miasma. to see tiny micro-organisms moving. Scientists even identified microbes in the blood of sick people, but no link was found between microbes and Between 1857 and 1860 he investigated why wine and beer often went disease back then. sour. 1699 – Francesco Redi boiled up a liquid and sealed it against the air. No He designed a series of experiments to show that if air was kept out of the microbes appeared, so he concluded the infection came from outside. swan neck flask, the liquid inside would not go off. He identified the specific microbe responsible for souring wine, and showed that heating it at the 1748 – John Needham repeated Redi’s experiment and found microbes. right temperature would kill microbes. The Swan Necked Flask Experiment People did not realise that the results depended on how clean the equipment was. He proved that germs did not come alive on their own. 18th century – spontaneous generation was a key concept that scientists Pasteur concluded that bacteria – or germs – were the real cause and that it believed in. was a biological, not chemical, process. The Germ Theory had been born. Koch built on Pasteur's work :  1876 – Koch became famous for his work on anthrax.  Koch found a way of staining and growing the particular germ that was responsible for anthrax. He then proved that it was this bacterium that caused the disease by injecting mice and making them ill. This is called Specificity—Specific bacteria will cause specific disease.  For the first time he was able to apply Pasteur’s theory to prove that germs caused diseases in humans.  Using similar methods, Koch was able to identify germs that caused the deadly diseases, cholera and tuberculosis (TB). Opposition to Germ Theory : Convincing the critics : Roberts and Cheyne: in the end, the acceptance of the Germ Theory was down to two key individuals. William Roberts was a doctor from Manchester who support- ed Tyndall’s criticisms of spontaneous generation and he developed a doctor’s However, the dominant view in Britain was still ‘spontaneous Role of Tyndall: In the mid-1870’s the Germ Theory was finally starting version of the Germ Theory of disease: he linked all the laboratory research work generation’. Disease “suddenly” appeared, maybe because of to be accepted in Britain. A number of British studies between 1873 with the practical evidence of surgeons and public health doctors. He used Koch’s reacting to bad air—miasma and 1875 used microscopic evidence and answered questions about work to draw attention to germs and their role in human infections. In 1879 Wil- germs. Cattle Plague in 1866 was discovered to be caused by bacteria. Charlton Bastian – was a leading surgeon, he wrote books and Tyndall continued to promote Pasteur’s work and in 1876, lectured to liam Cheyne translated Koch’s work into English. He also wrote a paper based on lectured against Germ Theory. He was a good public speaker Koch’s findings. He explained that some microbes were present in healthy tissue British doctors on Koch’s discoveries on anthrax. Tyndall was an excel- and wounds were harmless and did not always produce disease. and well respected. lent public speaker and very highly respected. Designing Vaccines Luck—Pasteur’s assistant forgot to inject Chicken with Government—the government was providing money for Magic Bullets Pasteur next turned his hand to cholera, when he did it had weakened and protected. Pasteur to set up labs and do his research There was now a huge rush to find chemical cures that would kill bacteria curing disease / killing bacteria. but leave the body/person unharmed. Genius—Pasteur worked out how the weakened bacte- Science—Pasteur rigorously repeated his experiments He worked on Chicken Cholera and The first successful Magic Bullet was Salversan 606 developed by Paul ria protected people from a full version. again and again, he proved his work through testing. then Rabies. Erhlich. He found a compound that would kill the syphilis bacteria but not harm the person. To find this hundreds of compounds were tried—the one Using Koch’s discoveries he was Communication—Pasteur wrote books and gave lec- War—The Franco-Prussian War caused Pasteur and that worked was the 606th! able to identify specific microbes tures, his work was translated and spread worldwide. Koch to be rivals and pushed them to be better. and create vaccines to cure the This paved the way for increased research and led to the development of