Cancer Is The Father Of Medicine

Health Models An Overview Before the advent of microscopes and the technology to see the very small, many people thought that illness was caused by divine intervention, lack of faith, or random and unexplained "vapors" or smells. For the most part, there was no understanding that certain organisms caused anything; in fact, while it seems ridiculous to us now, we must remember that for hundreds of years, even many historical figures believed in using leeches or draining blood to help heal the body (Kennedy, 2004, pp. 3-11). After the discovery of bacteria and the use of the microscope, the "Bio-Medical Model" (BMM) moved into prominence, believing that specific illness were linked to specific bacteria, viruses, or pathogens. Many of the more common diseases that killed so many in history were mitigated by using the BMM: measles, chicken pox, tuberculosis, etc. Still, many questions even into the 20th century seemed to not really fit with this pathogen-based model (Porter, 1999). For most of the West, the idea of categorizing everything came out of the Enlightenment and was expressed as a "germ" model. The European mind could then find, define, analyze and kill the germ therefore healing the person. In fact, the whole idea of vaccination came out of this model, and changed the health of society (James, 1992).

The germ theory was proposed by Robert Koch and Louis Pasteur in the 1870s, on the basis that microorganisms were the cause of many diseases.

Cancer is a term used for diseases in which irregular cells divide without any control and have the capability to penetrate and infect normal body tissue through the blood and lymph system. Cancer is the second leading cause of mortality in the United States, exceeded barely by heart disease. According to the CDC Cancer Statistics and Data, there were more than 1.45 million people diagnosed with various kind of cancer between 1999 and 2007 and out of those more than 562,000 people died due to cancer (cdc.gov, 2012). Currently there are more than 200 different types of cancer that have been discovered. Cancer could be

The CDC estimates that each year, more than eight million people are diagnosed, and consequently died from cancer, and this statistic was even higher in the 1950s. During this period, little was known of cancer’s effects on the

136). The germ theory can be defined as “microorganisms, which are too small to be seen without the aid of a microscope, can invade the body and cause certain diseases” (Kusinitz).

(Starr.) Germ theory or “filth theory”, as coined by Charles V. Chaplin, was established in order to help define how environmental health impacts infection was transmitted. Personal hygiene and modern sanitary science became radically popular outlook in the early 19th century that helped aid and control diseases like tuberculosis and veneral disease, improving the health of infant, and other health problems. This growing emphasis created the need for individual health

-This theory created the concept of disease specificity; each disease has its own microbial cause and can be classified and localized in a specific spot in the body.

I believe that the Disease theory is the one that caused the trials in Salem 1692. I believe this one was the cause of the trials because the rye grain the people

Paleopathological findings indicate the presence of tumors through animals well before prehistoric times. Steven Hajdu explains that written descriptions of cancer date back to the Egypt, Byzantine and other Indo-European civilizations where medicine men attempted to cure it using herbal remedies and did not hesitate to use concoctions of iron, copper, sulfur and mercury (1), elements known for its toxic nature. Failing to treat the diseases because of both the lack of knowledge of the human anatomy and DNA or proper equipment, they would claim that the wrath of God had struck upon the ill patient. Medicine Men of this time also did not strive to further study cancer since mortality rates were low due to lack of food, clean water and constant

Trying to understand these hypotheses, and motivated by his religious principles, he then discovered the germ theory. It didn’t start with a whole theory in the beginning. At first, he was studying the diseases of milk and vinegar, which led him to show

These three theories differ because they all covered different barriers when it came to treating and understanding diseases. The Humoral theory began with the four-elements and the anatomical theory allowed us to take a deeper look into the functioning of the bodies systems. This helped us to learn what was happening in the body, in the body systems and in the organs. Without these two studies we would not have come to the Germ Theory. Even though each theory is different in concept each theory was important and we would not have been able to progress along to the next theory. If we would not have had the germ theory we would not have discovered the need for vaccines or discovered antiseptics. These theories also allowed physicians to learn to look at diseases on a micro (small scale) instead of just a macro scale or “big” picture.

Cancer is a disease of an uncontrolled growth and spread of abnormal cells in the body, which produces tumours known as neoplasms. It is the second most leading cause of death

Cancer has been one of the biggest killers in the world for the past 100 years. Previously, before science advanced to the point that it’s at today; no one really understand where cancer came from or why it would suddenly generate inside a human’s body. But, since finding out the reasons behind all of the hundreds of different cancers, there’s almost always a cause/health defect.

They are able to grow and interfere with the digestive, nervous, and circulatory systems, and they can even release hormones that change body function. More serious is that cancer cells do not experience programmatic death and instead continue to grow and divide, thus they are difficult to be killed. [3] After some basic understanding, I learned more about cancer by a book called The Emperor of All Maladies, written by Siddhartha Mukherjee (a cancer physician and researcher). The author said that the book is a history of cancer, but I think that it also contains the medical knowledge, author's and patients' experience and even the influence of cancer in the political and national domains, which interests me to research more deeply about cancer. For instance, Rudolf Virchow (a German physician, anthropologist, prehistorian, biologist) observed and researched a series of abnormal increase in white blood cells in the bodies of patients, and identified this as blood disease correctly. Initially, he regarded this phenomenon as "suppuration of blood", however, he corrected it himself and "neoplasia of blood" was more

“The Emperor of All Maladies” captured the whole essence of cancer. This book gave a very good narrative of the historical record of cancer, the scientists and important public figures who contributed to the fight against a disease that has so much caused despair, pain, disfiguring of the body and worst of all, death. Cancer is seen as the abnormal growth of cells. A normal cell becomes cancerous when there is a defect in the regulation of its growth. Cancerous cells also tend to be elusive and resistant to treatments. Numerous attempts have been channeled into demystifying the nature of cancer. Some of these attempts proved abortive while a few served as a harbinger of hope. Cancer have proved to be part of our genetic makeup, hence, total eradication of it remains a future accomplishment.