admin @ Sat, 2006-03-04 09:00
The use of mercury as a treatment for syphilis, applying maggots to wounds and much else besides, most of which were largely or completely ineffective. Before antibiotics, pneumonia killed one third of those who contracted it. Surgery came with a huge risk of contamination, TB was a major killer and death from sepsis in childbirth was relatively common.
Prior to the discovery of penicillin, scientists had experimented with the idea of using harmless bacteria to cure harmful, infection-causing bacteria. Louis Pasteur, for example, had used soil bacteria to cure anthrax in animals.
However, it was not until 1939 that his discovery was put into action when scientists Howard Florey, Ernst Chain and Norman Heatley used penicillin to cure bacterial infections in humans and animals. The British scientists than joined with others in the US to mass-produce the drug. Other antibiotics were soon to follow.
Antibiotic resistance has been a concern since penicillin was discovered and has now become a serious problem. As a result, doctors are becoming more wary about prescribing them.
The ancient Egyptians recommended a course of water, ground earth, bones, wheat and lead for diabetics. Later treatments also involved diets, from fad ones like the milk diet, the rice cure and potato therapy, to less eccentric strict, high fat, low carbohydrate regimes that prolonged life a little. Starvation diets were also advocated, which led to some hospitalised children reportedly stealing birdseed to eat. With these the only treatments available, type 1 diabetes, which affected two per cent of the population, was a major killer.
Although diabetes has been recognised for thousands of years, its causes were to remain unknown until the workings of the pancreas were better understood. In 1869, German medical student Paul Langerhans identified islet cells in the pancreas, although their function – producing insulin – was not yet known.
The following year, the first human patient, 14-year-old Leonard Thomspon, was treated, and within the next few years insulin derived from cattle and pigs was being commercially produced.
Human insulin was synthesised in 1978 and now several varieties are available. At the moment, insulin still has to be injected because the body's digestive juices would destroy it if swallowed, but an inhaled version has been extensively tested and may be a viable alternative for some individuals in the relatively near future.
People have been using contraception since ancient times and some methods were probably quite effective – for example, a mixture of dates, acacia bark and honey placed in the vagina would have produced lactic acid, which is a spermicide.
Other methods, such as jumping backwards seven times after sex, must have been less reliable. During the Middle Ages condoms, often made from animal gut, were already known, and the first rubber ones arrived in the mid-1800s.
By the 20th century, several methods of contraception, such as the condom, the diaphragm and the cervical cap were established but their availability was restricted by social and medical attitudes. It was up to contraceptive pioneers, such as Marie Stopes, to legitimise the idea of birth control, laying the groundwork for the arrival of the Pill.
At the turn of the 20th century, Ludwig Haberlandt carried out experiments showing that hormones can inhibit ovulation. Several scientists further explored the link. The Pill was eventually developed by Gregory Pincus, along with colleagues Min Chuh Chang and John Rock, with funding provided by Margaret Sanger, founder of the American Planned Parenthood Association.
In 1956, Pincus conducted the first trials with female volunteers. The Pill became available in Britain 1961, but at first it was highly controversial and only prescribed to married women. Today an estimated 11 million women worldwide use it.
There have been various health scares around the Pill, and the contraceptive's hormone levels have been lowered. It is believed to be safe for healthy women who do not smoke, and it is even thought to have some health benefits.
Treating erectile dysfunction. Viagra, the brand name for sildnafil citrate, works by increasing the blood flow the penis, but it isn't an aphrodisiac.
Erectile dysfunction affects an estimated five million UK men. Other treatments, such as injections or pumps inserted into the penis, are still in use and help many men.
The advantage of Viagra is that it is non-surgical and non-invasive. It can be taken shortly before sex and lasts about four hours – but it isn't suitable for everyone.
Viagra, which is made by drug company Pfizer, was actually discovered when scientists were researching a pill to treat angina. They found that sildenafil citrate had the side effect of causing erections. In 1991, development began in earnest, and Viagra hit the pharmacies in 1998.
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