Medicine in the Modern World Continued

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Medicine in the Modern WorldContinued
By Mr Day Downloaded from SchoolHistory.co.uk
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Lesson Objectives

• To examine the role of the World Health
  Organisation in fighting disease and ill health.
• To look at and identify modern issues in medicine.

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• WHO's goal is the attainment by all peoples of
  the highest possible level of health
• The World Health Organization is the United
  Nations specialized agency for health. It was
  established on 7 April 1948.
• Health is defined in WHO's Constitution as a
  state of complete physical, mental and social
  well-being and not merely the absence of disease
  or infirmity.

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• WHO is governed by 192 Member States through the
  World Health Assembly
• 4 February 2005South Asia slashes polio cases by
  nearly half.
• 26 January 2005700 000 people living with AIDS
  in developing countries now receiving treatment

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• 13 January 2005African health leaders vow to
  meet polio eradication goalDespite spread of
  virus to Sudan and Saudi Arabia, ministers
  optimistic about wiping out paralysing disease
• One of the WHOs aims is to encourage vaccination
  programmes on a global scale.
• Today 8 out of 10 children in the world have been
  vaccinated against the killer diseases.

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Modern Issues Concerning Medicine Today

• Doctors discover new HIV strain  By Marc Santora
  and Lawrence K. Altman The New York Times
  Saturday, February 12, 2005
• Virus is resistant to nearly all drugs
•  
• A previously unknown strain of HIV that is highly
  resistant to virtually all known drugs and
  appears to lead to the rapid onset of AIDS was
  detected in a man last week, New York health
  officials said Friday.
• While the extent of the spread of the disease is
  unknown, officials said the situation was
  alarming.
• "We consider this a major potential problem,"
  said Dr. Thomas Frieden, commissioner of the New
  York City Department of Health and Mental
  Hygiene. The department issued an alert to all
  hospitals and doctors in the city to be on the
  lookout for the new strain.

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Modern Issues Concerning Medicine Today

• While HIV strains that are resistant to some drug
  treatments have been on the rise in recent years
  throughout the United States, city officials said
  this case was unique and worrisome for several
  reasons.
• First, they said, the strain of the disease was
  resistant to three of the four classes of drugs
  used to treat HIV from the moment the patient got
  sick. of drugs.
• But the resistance comes in combination with its
  rapid transformation into AIDS. Each of those
  things has been seen before, but never together.
• In this case, the patient developed AIDS from 2
  to 10 months after being infected. Usually, it
  takes 10 years for the average person infected
  with HIV to develop AIDS.

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Superbugs

• One serious issue that has affected modern
  medicine if the over use of antibiotics.
• Many people often insist that their doctors
  prescribe them antibiotic to cure whatever
  illnesses they believe they have.
• In the short term they may benefit from a cure.
• However there are serious long term implications.

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Superbugs

• With the over use of antibiotics bacteria are
  developing immunity.
• Stronger antibiotics are needed all the time.
• Farmers also use antibiotics in animal feed to
  prevent illness in their livestock herds.
• Many scientists are concerned that they are
  running out of weapons to fight bacteria. They
  warn of the danger that these new superbugs pose.

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Superbugs in the News

• Super-Resistant SuperbugsMay 2, 2004
• CBS) It's been 60 years since Dr. Alexander
  Fleming discovered a drug called penicillin, the
  first antibiotic. Since then, doctors have
  prescribed the drugs to cure everything from
  pneumonia to scarlet fever. But now, scientists
  are sounding the alarm that we have been
  overusing antibiotics - and that the germs have
  figured out ways to become resistant to them.
  Correspondent Lesley Stahl reports. Infections we
  thought we had conquered once and for all are
  coming back because of a new breed of germs that
  doctors call "superbugs" -- bacteria that are
  resistant to almost all antibiotics. The latest
  culprit is called MRSA, a staph bacteria that
  triggers infections so virulent they can - and
  have - turned deadly within days.

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AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome)

• AIDS is probably the most serious health danger
  facing the world today.
• A massive amount of time, money and research has
  been spent trying to find a cure, however there
  is still no cure or magic bullet.
• As with epidemics that took place hundreds of
  years ago e.g. (Black Death) certain groups of
  people have been blamed or made a scapegoat.
• Aids has been blamed on Africa and homosexuals -
  some people claimed it was a punishment from God
  .

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The Fight Against AIDS

• The HIV virus has been found to cause AIDS.
• Many drugs have been developed that slow HIV down
  from developing AIDS although there is evidence
  that other strains of HIV are developing.
• Up to 2001 17.5 million people have died of aids.
• In 2005 the number of people living with AIDS was
  37.2 million.

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Genetic Engineering

• With advances in medical technology scientists
  have been able to study cells, genes and
  chromosomes in microscopic detail.
• Scientists are now able to alter or destroy
  damaged or diseased cells. This has become known
  as genetic engineering.
• This is very controversial work. Critics have
  argued about the creation of designer babies.
• Cloning is now a possibility. Clones could be
  used to produce organs or tissue. This raises
  many ethical issues.