Penicillin
was discovered in 1928 by Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming. People began using
it to treat infections in 1942.
Starting in
World War II, DDT was used as
insecticide to combat insect vectors carrying malaria, which was endemic in
most tropical regions of the world. The first goal was to protect
soldiers, but it was widely adopted as a public health device. In Liberia, for
example, the United States had large military operations during the war and the
U.S. Public Health Service began the use of DDT for indoor residual spraying
(IRS) and as a larvicide, with the goal of controlling malaria in Monrovia, the
Liberian capital. In the early 1950s, the project was expanded to nearby
villages. In 1953, the World Health Organization (WHO) launched an antimalaria program
in parts of Liberia as a pilot project to determine the feasibility of malaria
eradication in tropical Africa. However these projects encountered a spate of
difficulties that foreshadowed the general retreat from malaria eradication
efforts across tropical Africa by the mid-1960s.
Eradication of infectious diseases is an international
effort, and several new vaccines have been developed
during the post-war years, against infections such as measles, mumps, several strains of influenza and human papilloma virus. The long-known vaccine against Smallpox finally eradicated
the disease in the 1970s, and Rinderpest was wiped out in
2011. Eradication of polio is underway. Tissue culture is important for
development of vaccines. Though the early success of antiviral vaccines and
antibacterial drugs, antiviral drugs were not introduced
until the 1970s. Through the WHO, the international community has developed a
response protocol against epidemics, displayed during the SARS epidemic in 2003, the Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 from 2004, the Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa and onwards.
As infectious
diseases have become less lethal, and the most common causes of death in developed
countries are now tumors and cardiovascular diseases, these conditions have received increased attention in medical
research. Cancer treatment had been developed
with radiotherapy, chemotherapy and surgical oncology.
Oral rehydration therapy has been extensively used since the
1970s to treat cholera and other
diarrhea-inducing infections.
X-ray imaging was the first kind of medical imaging, and later ultrasonic imaging, CT
scanning, MR scanning and other imaging methods
became available.
Genetics have advanced with
the discovery of the DNA molecule, genetic mapping and gene therapy. Stem cell research took off in
the 2000s (decade), with stem cell therapy as a promising
method.
Evidence-based medicine is a modern concept, not introduced to literature until
the 1990s.
Prosthetics have improved. In
1958, Arne
Larsson in
Sweden became the first patient to depend on an artificial cardiac pacemaker. He died in 2001 at age 86, having outlived
its inventor, the surgeon, and 26 pacemakers. Lightweight materials as well
as neural prosthetics emerged in the end of the 20th century.
Cardiac
surgery was
revolutionized in the 1948 as open-heart surgery was introduced for the first
time since 1925.
In 1954 Joseph Murray, J. Hartwell Harrison and others accomplished the first kidney transplantation. Transplantations of other organs,
such as heart, liver and pancreas, were also introduced during the later 20th
century. The first partial face transplant was performed in
2005, and the first full one in 2010. By the end of the 20th century, micro-technology had been used to
create tiny robotic devices to assist microsurgery using micro-video
and fiber-optic cameras to view
internal tissues during surgery with minimally invasive practices.[163]
Laparoscopic surgery was broadly introduced in the 1990s. Natural orifice surgery has followed. Remote surgery is another recent
development, with the Lindbergh operation in 2001 as a groundbreaking example.
Comments
The most important
improvement in medicine was the development of antibiotics with the discovery
of penicillin in 1928 to treat inflammation and infectious diseases. This
became available in 1945.
We have yet to see if
there are actually cures for the diseases that remain untamed. We are working
on eliminating post-op infections and patients seem more open to taking
responsibility for our own health. The healthcare industry needs to focus on
cost-effective treatments. Medicine continues to function using “trial and
error”.
The “bureaucracy” has
morphed into the “medical-industrial complex and unlimited government subsidies
have made medical treatment costs unsustainable. It will be a challenge to
reduce healthcare costs based on supply and demand, but it needs to happen.
The lethal cancer
treatments using radiation and chemotherapy have failed in most cases because
they destroy our immune systems.
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader
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