Medical discoveries
Medical discoveries
1.
Alexander Fleming, a Scottish scientist,
discovered penicillin, the first
antibacterial drug to combat a wide range
of bacterial infections, in 1928. One day he
observed a mould fungus growing in a bowl
containing bacteria. He also found that the growth
of the bacteria had been impeded in the vicinity of
the fungus. He concluded by saying that the mould
released a substance that affected the growth of
bacteria and named it penicillin.
2.
Edward Jenner was the pioneer of the
smallpox vaccine and coined the term
vaccine'. In 1796, he injected eight-year-old
James Phipps with pus from a cowpox pustule,
which made him immune to the smallpox virus.
He based this experiment on the assumption that
milkmaids who contracted cowpox, a mild disease,
were immune to smallpox.
His idea faced resistance and
he was asked to give more
proof. He experimented on
several children including
his 11-month-old son and
his work was finally
published in 1798.
3.
Louis Pasteur
was a French scientist who
developed the vaccines for fatal
diseases, namely, anthrax and rabies.
He claimed that he had immunized 31
animals against the bacteria causing anthrax,
which was discovered by Robert Koch. Also the
man-made vaccine for
rabies was trialled on
a human, a boy called
Joseph Meister, for
the first time by
Louis Pasteur.
Max Theiler
discovered the vaccine for
yellow fever, a disease that claimed
several lives in tropical areas. Caused by
a virus, this disease is spread by insects and
infected people. He successfully transferred the
virus to mice and obtained a weakened form to
immunize apes. In 1937, he succeeded in isolating
the weaker variant of the virus which later
became a human vaccine against yellow fever.
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