Three outstanding contributors
There are many contributors who have done something significant in the field of medicine. Thus let us consider the contributions of Edward Jenner, Louis Pasteur, Fleming, Florey and Chani.
Jenner is remembered for his smallpox vaccine. Before his time thousands upon thousands of people became a victim to this scourge. Besides those who died, there were people who were deformed and those who lost their eyesight. Now with vaccination, the disease has been defeated completely. Smallpox is a viral, airborne disease and very difficult to control. The best way to combat is to build an immunity within the body.
Jenner noted that people who were dealing with the cows with pox did not suffer much even when they had smallpox. So he concluded that the cowpox had something to do with the lowering of the rigor of smallpox. He drew the lymph from the sores of the cow affected with cowpox and vaccinated ordinary persons. The result was wonderful. Those who were vaccinated had some fever and that was all. When they were exposed to smallpox, they never got it. So vaccination with small pox lymph has become universal and all countries have made vaccination, especially of babies, compulsory. Since vaccination as such cannot give lifelong immunity, periodical vaccination is recommended. The civic bodies who are also responsible for the health of the people have been authorized to vaccinate.
Louis Pasteur is remembered for his antihydrophobic vaccine. Hydrophobia or rabies is caused by the bite of a mad dog or wolf. It is a dreaded disease. The victim develops a fear of water and in extreme cases howls like a mad dog and finally dies. The poison is passed through the saliva of the biting animal. Now Pasteur discovered that by injecting the brain tissues of a mad dog in small measured doses, the body can overcome the effects of a dog bite. Pasteur took the calculated risk and tried his vaccine on a boy and for fourteen feverish days he examined the blood of the boy. It did not show any positive indication of the presence of hydrophobia. Now Pasteur vaccine is available in big hospitals and none need to suffer from hydrophobia.
No medicine in recent times has made such headway as Penicillin which is the forerunner of many antibiotics. This has ushered in a new world of medicines and has become almost a household word. Alexander Fleming found a sort of a moss like substance in his culture dish. Where this mould was formed, the culture was clear. He separated it and found it to have a very powerful effect on organisms by deterring their growth. He named it penicillin. But this knowledge was kept private for nearly ten years or more and only during the Second. World War of 1939 – 1945, was penicillin thought of and in 1940 Florey and Chani tried it on persons suffering from Syphillis and other similar diseases. They found excellent results and penicillin was used in the treatment and control of diseases caused by organic infection. At first it was found difficult to manufacture and preserve. Now alternate methods of manufacture have been found, so it costs almost nothing and refrigeration is not required. It is not an exaggeration to say that penicillin has opened a new era of medicine and for this discovery Fleming and his associates were awarded the much coveted Nobel Prize.
