1. A Short History of Medicine

2. The war between disease and doctors fought out on the battleground of the flesh has a beginning and a middle but no end Plagues and pestilences are largely of mankind’s own making

3. Epidemics arose with society, and sickness has been and will remain a social product no less than the medicine that opposes it

4. Homo sapiens appear around 150,000 BC

5. Hunters and gatherers face harsh conditions and dangerous environments They had short lives There were no plagues

6. Infectious disease were unknown since the population densities needed by these microorganisms did not exist Since they were constantly moving around they never polluted their water or deposited filth which attracts disease causing insects

7. Lacked the tamed animals that made civilization possible but also proved a continued and often devastating source of sickness

8. 12,000 – 10,000 years ago after the last ice age animals become scarce and humans settle down and begin to farm Free from the threat of starvation New problem – infectious disease

9. Pathogens exclusive to animals evolved into human forms (we share 60 organisms that cause disease in dogs) Faecally polluted water spreads polio, cholera, typhoid, hepatitis, whopping cough, diphtheria

10. Granaries become infested with bacteria toxic fungi, rodent excrement and insects Agriculture also led to excessive reliance on starchy monocultures like corn Poor nutrition leads to deficiency diseases

11. The most momentous event for human health was Columbus’s landfall in 1492. The discovery allowed contact between two human populations that had been isolated for 1000’s of years.

12. The biological consequences were devastating unleashing the worst health disaster there has ever been and precipitating the conquest of the New World by old world diseases

13. Emerging in a disease ridden environment people sought to stop disease

14. Early times – “magic” Greece 5 th century BC – the beginning of medicine occurs with the Hippocratic doctors