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4000 BCE
Primitive Times
- Illness and diseases were caused by evil spirits/demons and were punishments from the Gods
- Tribal witch doctors treated illness -Herbs and plants were used as medicine
- Trepanation was used which was when they would remove a piece of bone from the skull
- The average life span was 20
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3000 BCE
Ancient Egyptians
- Physicians were priests
- Health records were first recorded
- Bloodletting was used as medical treatment
- Average life span was 20-30 years
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1700 BCE
Ancient Chinese
-Believed they needed to treat the whole body by curing the spirit and nourishing the body
- Recorded a pharmacopoeia based on the use of herbs
- Used acupuncture
- The search for medical reasons for illness began
- Average life span was 20-30 years -
1200 BCE
Ancient Greeks
- Hippocrates was the father of medicine
- First to observe the human body and the effects of disease
- Illness was a result of natural causes
- Used therapies like massage, art therapy, and herbal treatment -Ways to prevent disease were diets, hygiene, and exercise
- Average life span was 25-35 years
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753 BCE
Ancient Romans
- Organized medical care by providing for injured soldiers
- Hospitals were religious and charitable institutions
- Built sewers and aqueducts for public health and sanitation systems
- Galen established that the body is regulated by four body humors which are blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile
- Average life span was 25-35 years
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400
Dark Ages
- Saving the soul and and the study of medicine was prohibited
- Prayers were used to treat illness
- Priests provided care for sick people
- Medications were herbal mixtures -Average life span was 20-30 years
- Still no understanding of diseases
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800
Middle Ages
- 1100: Arabs began requiring physicians to get a license
- 1346-1353: Bubonic plague killed 75% of Europe and Asia's population
- 1220- 1255: Established medical universities
- Average life span was 20-35 years
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1350
Renaissance
- Science of Medicine
- Body dissections increased the understanding of anatomy and physiology
- 1440: The printing press allowed medical knowledge to be shared
- 1543: Andreas Vesalius published the first anatomy book
- Average life span was 30-40 years
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1500
16th and 17th Centuries
-1500's: Ambroise Pare (Father of Modern Surgery) established the use of ligatures to stop bleeding
-1600's: Apothecaries made, prescribed, and sold medication
- 1670: The microscope was invented which allowed doctors to see diseases
- Average life span was 35-45 years -
18th Century
- 1714: Gabriel Fahrenheit created the first mercury thermometer -1760: Bifocals invented by Benjamin Franklin
- 1778: Scientific surgical procedures and tube feeding were introduced by John Hunter
- 1798: Smallpox vaccine
- Average life span was 40-50 years
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19th Century
- Discoveries of microorganisms, anesthesia, and vaccinations
- 1895: X-Ray machine
- 1893: First open heart surgery
- 1816: Stethoscope invented
- 1860: training for nurses began
- Average life span was 40-60 years
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20th-21st Century
- 1910: Laparoscopic Surgery
- 1970's: Cancer Therapies
- 1990: Smoke free laws
- 1996: HIV medication advances
- 1999: Advances in Stem Cell Research
- 2001: First implantable artificial heart was placed
- 2003: Completed the Human Genome Project
- 2005: First face transplant
- Vaccines: HPV (2006), Malaria (2015), and Ebola (2015).
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20th Century
- 1901: Discovered ABO blood groups
- 1922: Insulin used to treat diabetes
- 1928: Antibiotics used to fight against infections
- 1943: Kidney Dialysis machine developed
- 1953: heart Lung machine developed
- DNA structure discovered
- 1956: First Bone Marrow transplant
- Embryonic Stem Cell Research -1978: test tube babies
- Organ transplants: Kidney (1960), Liver (1963), Heart (1967), Artificial Heart (1982).
- Vaccines- Chicken Pox, Influenza, Pneumonia, etc.