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- Illnesses and disease caused by evil spirits and demons, or they were punishment from the gods.
- Herbs and plants were used as medicines
- Trepanation is surgically removing a piece of bone from the skull
- Average life span was 20 years.
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- Physicians were priests
- Health records were first recorded by the Ancient Egyptians
- Leeches were used as a medical treatment
- Average life span was 20-30 years
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- Believed in the need to treat the whole body by curing the spirit and nourishing the body
- Recorded a pharmacopoeia of medications based mainly on the use of herbs
- Used therapies such as acupuncture
- Began to search for medical reasons for illness
- Average life span was 20-30 years
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- Hippocrates (Father of Medicine) and other physicians was the first to observe the human body and the effects of disease which led to modern medical sciences.
- Hippocrates believed illness is a result of natural causes and used therapies such as massage, art therapy, and herbal treatment Stressed diet, hygiene and exercise as ways to prevent disease
- Average life span was 25-35 years
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- First to organize medical care by providing care for injured soldiers
- Later hospitals were religious and charitable institutions in monasteries and convents
- made the first public health and sanitation systems by building sewers and aqueducts
- Galen established belief that the body was regulated by four body humors; blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile
- Life span was 25-35 years
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- Emphasis on saving the soul and study of medicine was prohibited
- Prayer was used to treat illness & disease
- Monks and priests provide care for sick people
- Medications were mainly herbal mixtures
- Average life span was 20-30 years
- There was still no understanding of disease
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- Renewed interest in medical practices of Greek and Romans
- 1100: Arabs began requiring physicians pass examinations and obtain licenses
- 1346-1353: Bubonic Plague killed 75% of population in Europe and Asia
- Major diseases were, smallpox, diphtheria, tuberculosis, typhoid, the plaque, and malaria
- 1220-1255: Medical Universities were established
- Average life span was 20-35 years
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- Rebirth of Science of Medicine
- Body Dissections led to increased understanding of anatomy and physiology
- 1440: Invention of printing press made medical knowledge shareable
- 1543: First anatomy book was published by Andreas Vesalius
- Average life span was 30-40 years
- Disease cause was still a mystery
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- 1500’s: Ambroise Pare established use of ligatures to stop bleeding
- 1600’s: Apothecaries made, prescribed, and sold medications
- 1670: Invention of the microscope which allowed physicians to see disease-causing organisms.
- Average life span 35-45 years
- Cause of disease still not known – many people died from infections
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- 1714: Gabriel Fahrenheit created the first mercury thermometer
- 1760: Benjamin Franklin invented bifocals
- 1778: John Hunter established scientific surgical procedures and introduced tube feeding
- 1798: Smallpox vaccine discovered
- Average life span 40-50 years
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- Rapid advancements due to discoveries of microorganisms, anesthesia, and vaccinations
- 1895: X-Ray Machine Developed
- 1893: First Open Heart Surgery
- 1816: Invention of the stethoscope
- 1860: Formal training for nurses began
- Women became active participants in health care
- Average life span 40-60 years
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- 1901: ABO blood groups discovered
- Found out how white blood cells protect against disease
- 1922: Insulin discovered and used to treat diabetes
- 1928: Antibiotics developed to fight infections (penicillin)
- 1943: Kidney Dialysis Machine
- 1953: Heart Lung Machine
- Surgical and diagnostic techniques developed to cure once fatal -conditions
- 1953: Structure of DNA discovered
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- 1956: First Bone Marrow Transplant
- Initiated Embryonic Stem Cell Research
- 1978: Test tube babies
- Kidney, Liver, Heart, and Artificial heart could be transplanted
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- 1910: Laparoscopic Surgery
- 1970’s: Targeted Cancer Therapies
- 1990: Smoke Free Laws
- 1996: Advances in HIV Medication
- Turned a “death sentence disease” into a manageable chronic disease – Normal Life Span
- 1999: Rapid advances in Stem Cell Research
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- 2001: The first totally implantable artificial heart was placed
- 2003: Human Genome Project Completed
- 2005: Face Transplants
- 2006: HPV vaccine
- 2015: Malaria vaccine
- 2015: Ebola vaccine