The Invention Of Modern Medicine

The Greeks went even further, introducing the concepts of medical diagnosis, prognosis, and advanced medical ethics. The Hippocratic Oath, still taken by doctors up to today, was written in Greece in the 5th century BCE. The germ theory of disease in the 19th century led to cures for many infectious diseases. Public health measures were developed especially in the 19th century as the rapid growth of cities required systematic sanitary measures. Advanced research centers opened in the early 20th century, mid-20th century was characterized by new biological treatments, such as antibiotics. These advancements, along with developments in chemistry, genetics, and lab technology led to modern medicine. Medicine was heavily professionalized in the 20th century, and new careers opened to women as nurses and as physicians. The 21st century is characterized by highly advanced research involving numerous fields of science.

Thesis: Immunizations are one of the most important medical advances in history. They have severely reduced the effects of dozens of viral infections and everyone should consider getting immunized.

The innate immune system is effective to a certain degree. That said, if the environment is regulated then the body is less likely to get ill. Innate immunity is effective as once the patient matures his immune system will mature due to the B and T memory cells. The memory cells will help the body prepare for the virus once it has arrived. The memory cells will send specialised lymph nodes to the invading pathogen. The B and T memory cells are key to immunity of a virus.

It hasn’t changed that the average person doesn’t like to feel pain or be ill. The evolution of medicine from 1776 to 1938 in the United States depended on the knowledge of current diseases and treatment at that time. The major diseases during this time were pneumonia, influenza, tuberculosis, gastrointestinal infections, heart disease and cerebrovascular disease.1 Ironically, much of those diseases still exist today. Over time, the world’s demand for drugs for any type of illness or disease drastically skyrocketed. Was the medicine really working or were people psyched into believing they had an illness? The diagnosis and treatment was incorrect many times, resulting in “shoulda, coulda, and wouldas” when dealing with diagnosis and medicine. Without a scientific basis, medical doctors, such as Benjamin Rush were ineffective with proper treatment, and quacks promoted strange treatments as to say: Yackedy Quack, Don’t Talk Back. By the end of the 20th Century, one could say American medicine was on the rise and researchers and physician were much more respected.

Vaccines have been used to prevent diseases for centuries, and have saved countless lives of children and adults. The smallpox vaccine was invented as early as 1796, and since then the use of vaccines has continued to protect us from countless life threatening diseases such as polio, measles, and pertussis. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2010) assures that vaccines are extensively tested by scientist to make sure they are effective and safe, and must receive the approval of the Food and Drug Administration before being used. “Perhaps the greatest success story in public health is the reduction of infectious diseases due to the use of vaccines” (CDC, 2010). Routine immunization has eliminated smallpox from the globe and

The immune system is made up of trillions of specialised cells (white blood cells) that detect and destroy pathogens or their toxins. Some white blood cells, which are

Vaccinations are produced by developing a live, but weakened or inactive form of a disease. This weakened form of the disease, is then introduced into the body via injection, inhalation, or ingestion. Providing the body with this inactive version of the disease, the body’s natural defense mechanisms are triggered and begin creating antibodies against the disease, which in turn, allows

The world has many problems. Society has trouble finding adequate protection against the elements, each other, and many other adversities. We cannot fix every problem. We fail to completely survive natural disasters, catastrophes, and even basic problems. We can’t even feed ourselves. However, there is one major problem that mankind is beginning to solve. Vaccines are changing the world. They are becoming vital to our well-being. Vaccinations should mandatorily be administered to all children, especially those in our school system.

Today, people do not really know how a vaccine works. For many illnesses, a person becomes immune once their body has fought off the infection. This is because the body can now fight the infection without suffering from

Measles. Polio. Smallpox. The flu. Imagine the world when vaccines were yet to be created. There was a time when people lived in fear of dreadful diseases. Thanks to the introduction of vaccines, many of those devastating diseases have been nearly or completely wiped out. Despite these results, for some people, the question remains: should we vaccinate? Today, I will be discussing the development of the first vaccine, global benefits, and the anti-vaccine movement.

Our current society is surrounded by the debatable usage of vaccines and its importance around the world. Since the introduction of immunizations, many diseases have been decreased and even eradicated from humanity. Even though this is true, serious side effects along with lifelong illnesses follow the temporary cure of viruses. A vaccine is a substance that delivers immunity against viruses and is used to stimulate the construction of antibodies. Vaccines are prepared from the disease itself treated to perform as an antigen without inducing the disease (Vaccines). These inoculations are used worldwide and various unknown infections have been speculated as the originations for them. Vaccines were originated as an alternative to cure viruses among people but the harmful symptoms, unknown links to incurable

Normally the body is protected by the immune system. When the immune system detects an unwelcome visitor such as fungi, bacteria and or viruses

When the pathogen replicates different components of immune system evolves to protect against various types of pathogens. However infection of an organism does not necessarily shows diseases, disease are only present when the bolus of infection, in terms of when immunity is comprised. All components of

Whilst this is occurring, memory B cells figure out the shape of the antigen and remember it. This allows the B cells to produce antibodies much faster if the pathogen reinfects the person. The problem with the human immune system is that it takes approximately three weeks to reach peak antibody concentration and remove all of the pathogens in the body. Many pathogenic diseases (tetanus, polio, meningococcal etc) will kill the individual before the 3rd line of defence has the chance to destroy them. Vaccination involves injecting antigens (in the form of attenuated pathogens or pathogen parts) into the body. This causes the same immune response that would occur if the individual was infected with the actual disease; however, because the pathogens have been weakened (or killed) and had their reproductive ability inhibited, they cannot kill. This means that If the individual is infected by the pathogen in the future, he/she is extremely unlikely to get the disease (RNA based viruses such as Influenza are exempt from this due to their antigenic shift/drift ability). The use of repeated vaccination (eg. vaccination for a particular disease at two, four and six years of age) enhances the immune system even more.

Our immune system is the second most complex system in our body. It is made up of organs, cells and proteins that work together to protect our bodies from harmful bacteria, viruses or other microorganisms that can cause diseases. Usually we don’t notice our immune system defending us against pathogens, but if the pathogen (harmful microorganism) is aggressive or if our body hasn’t ever come into contact with it, we can get sick. The jobs of our immune system are to recognise pathogens, as well as neutralise and remove them from our body. Our immune system also has to fight our own cells if they have changed due to an illness, for example, cancer. (1)