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First to observe the human body and the effects of disease – led to modern medical
sciences.
Believed illness is a result of natural causes
Used therapies such as massage, art therapy, and herbal treatment
Average life span 25-35 years -
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 -
Physicians were priests
Bloodletting or leeches used as medical treatment
Average life span 20 years -
Established first hospital (caring for solders in their homes)
First public health and sanitation systems by building sewers and aqueducts
Average life span 25-35 years -
Began after the fall of the Roman Empire
Emphasis on saving the soul and study of medicine was prohibited
Monks and priests treated patients with prayer
Average life span 20-30 years -
Cause of disease still not known – many people died from infections
Invention of the microscope allowed physicians to see disease-causing organisms.
Apothecaries led to development of pharmacies
First vaccination developed – smallpox
Average life span 35-45 years -
Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686-1736) created the first mercury thermometer
John Hunter (1728-1793), established scientific surgical procedures and introduced tube feeding
Benjamin Franklin invented bifocals
Average life span 40-50 years -
Infection control developed once microorganisms were associated with disease
Viruses discovered in 1892
Women became active participants in health care
Average life span 40-60 years -
Increased knowledge about the role of blood in the body
ABO blood groups discovered
Found out how white blood cells protect against disease
New medications were developed
o Insulin discovered and used to treat diabetes
o Antibiotics developed to fight infections
o Vaccines were developed
New machines developed
o Kidney Dialysis Machine
o Heart Lung Machine
o Surgical and diagnostic techniques developed to cure once fatal conditions
Organ Transplants
Test tube babies -
The first totally implantable artificial heart was placed in a patient in Louisville, Ky. In 2001
The threat of bioterrorism lead to smallpox vaccination of the military and first responders
in 2002
The Netherlands became the first country in the world to legalize euthanasia in 2002
The Human Genome Project to identify all of the approximately 20,000 to 25,000 genes in the
human
Stem cells were used in the treatments of disease early in the 2000’s and lead to increased. -
Illness and diseases were a punishment from the Gods
Tribal witch doctors treated illness with ceremonies
Herbs and plants used as medicines (morphine and digitalis)
Trepanation or trephining to create a hole in the skull
Average life span 20 years
