I continue with brief descriptions of the main discoveries that marked the evolution of medical sciences during the first half of the 20th century.
In 1933, English doctor Wilson Smith (1897-1965) was the first to demonstrate that influenza is caused by a virus. The research he then conducted on ferrets proved that influenza is an infectious disease common to animals and humans and that the respective causal agent was not retained in porcelain filters, due to their small size. Or, to put it another way: the flu virus passes through porcelain pores due to their tiny diameter.
A few years later, in the era of electron microscopy, developed from the beginning of the 1940s, it was found that the flu virus measures, on average, 100 nanometers (therefore, it is ten thousand times smaller than a millimeter).
Interestingly, as early as 1937, American physician Joseph Stokes, Jr. (1896-1972) prepared the first flu vaccine and insisted on the importance of inducing seasonal immunization in order to limit flu complications during the cold season of the year.
Also in 1937, South African scientist Max Theiler (1899-1972) discovered the vaccine against yellow fever, and for this he received the Nobel Prize. The yellow fever vaccine represented an end to the risk of travelers acquiring yellow fever, named after the skin color characteristic of jaundice.
In 1939, Swiss chemist Paul Müller (1899-1965) announced the use of DDT as an insecticide, which is why he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine. DDT was, at the time, widely applied as a pesticide, both to control agricultural pests and infectious diseases transmitted by mosquitoes, namely malaria and dengue.
In 1943, Ukrainian biochemist Selman Walksman (1888-1973) announced the discovery of the first truly effective antibiotic for the treatment of tuberculosis: streptomycin. A huge difference in tuberculosis control. He would rightly receive the Nobel Prize for Medicine.
Even before the end of the first half of the century, two essential discoveries would boost the progress of Public Health, worldwide.
Necessary.
From 1947 onwards, the widespread use of chloroquine for the prevention and treatment of malaria, which had been synthesized in 1934 by the German chemist Hans Andersag (1902-1955).
In 1949, the American scientist John Enders (1897-1985) cultivated the polio virus (infantile paralysis) in the laboratory and made it possible to prepare the respective vaccine in the future. The era of modern vaccines has begun.
(Continues)
franciscogeorge@icloud.com
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