HI 102: Modern World Civilization

Handout Ten

Topic: The Fourth Horseman

 OUTLINE:

 X. The Fourth Horseman: Magic Bullets and the Super Organism.

A. Introduction.

B. Malaria: A Constant Problem/

C. Smallpox: Plagues Replacement.

D. The Coming of Cholera.

E. The Microbe Hunters in the Nineteenth Century.

F. Tuberculosis and the Search for Magic Bullets.

G. Polio and the Fear of Infantile Paralysis.

H. Typhoid Mary.

I. The Plague of the Spanish Lady.

J. Syphilis

K. HIV: An Old, Old Virus.

QUESTIONS:

1. Malaria is an old disease and Bill Gates has made an effort to defeat the illness. What causes the disease and how can it be prevented?

2. Where did smallpox come from and how were the first victims treated? How was this pestilence defeated? Explain.

3. Who was Louis Pasteur and what contribution did he make in understanding disease?

4. Tuberculosis has been called the White Plague. How is tuberculosis spread and why was it so difficult to defeat? What were the first treatments like? When did the world get a handle on the illness? Why was the battle against TB lost?

5.  What is infantile paralysis? When did it become a problem? Why was the disease feared?  Explain.

6. What is AIDS? How did AIDS arrive in the West? How dangerous is the illness? Explain.

7. How dangerous is both Cholera and Typhus? How is it caused and what is the key to prevent that scourge from spreading?

8. Rats have always been a serious problem for public health officials. What diseases are associated with rats and how can they be controlled?

9. Public health officials have been warning about the probability of another killer flu outbreak sometime in the foreseeable future. Often those experts point to the flu pandemic in 1918, what happened at that time? What did public health officials know about the flu in 1918 and 1919? Who were victimized by the flu? How lethal was that strain of the flu? Explain.

10. Who was "Typhoid Mary?" What was the problem with typhoid? What caused the spread of the disease among people who were not visibly infected by the illness? Explain.

11. How did Cholera spread in Victorian London in the mid-nineteenth century? What was the prevailing theory that explained the disease? How was it eventually defeated?

12. What are the major theories that explain the introduction of syphilis to Europe? What theory is the best in your opinion that explains the origins of the disease?

13. What were the first treatments for Syphilis like? How was the disease finally controlled and almost defeated? Who were the scientific and medical heroes in the battle against the infamous Pox? Explain.

 TERMS:

Magic Bullets       Leeuwenhoek    RNA/DNA                  Photosynthesis

Rhinoviruses        Viruses             Robert Sutton             Edward Jenner

Inoculation           Vaccination      Louis Pasteur              Joseph Lister

Attenuation          Leprosy           Minimal Lethal Dose    Schaudinn

Paul Ehrlich         Salvarsan         Scrofula                       King’s Touch

Microbacterium   Tuberculosis     Neosalvarsan               Jonas Salk  

Alexander Fleming                       Lupus Vulgaris            Cholera          

Consumption                               Albert Sabin                 Typhus 

George Boddington                      Selman Waksman       Black Rat                           

George Domagk                          Protosil                       Brown Rat

Basil O’Connor                            Polio                          Alexandre Yersin  

March of Dimes                           Warm Springs            Lady Mary Whortley Montagu

PAS                                           Thiosemicarbonzones  Variolation

Mary Mallon                                Miasma                     Dr. John Snow

T. Palladium