Lesson 3: Health Care and Epidemics
3. What are some examples of traditional and modem medicine?
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Context Clues
The words in bold print are from this lesson. Use context clues to guess the meaning of each word.
1. A man named Hippocrates concluded that people became sick for natural reasons, not because the gods were angry. He also believed that there was a connection between diet and health.
2. During the time of Hippocrates, doctors prescribed
massage, special diets, and baths as medical treatments for their patients.
3. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, many remarkable discoveries were made in medicine. These discoveries saved the lives of millions of people around the world.
4. Hospitals now have large computers and machines that help doctors diagnose medical problems.
4 Medicine: From Leeches to Lasers
What do lasers, leeches, tree bark, and old bread have in common? They are all things that people use to make medicine or to help sick people feel better. Throughout history, people have searched for ways to live healthier s and better lives. As early as 8000 B.C., people were
experimenting with methods of helping sick people.
Today, we have very modern technology, yet we continue to look for ways to improve medicine and our system of health care.
1 o The history of medicine extends back thousands of years. We know that, from the earliest times, people used plants as medicine. Scientists have also found evidence that people experimented with surgery 10,000 years ago.
People haven't always gone to doctors to get medical 1 s help. In Egypt around 3000 B.C., people went to their
a type of worm th atsucks,ortakes in, blood
opening up the body to fix it
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Lesson 4. Medicine: From Leeches to Lasers
priests when they felt sick. That was because many Egyptians believed that the gods made people sick when they were angry with them. Common remedies in Egypt at this time included garlic and 20 onions to prevent epidemics and moldy bread to heal
wounds. Around this time, however, people in Egypt were also learning more about sanitation.
Archaeologists there have found the ruins of elaborate bathrooms and sewerage systems.
25 In Greece in 410 B.C., a man named Hippocrates concluded that people became sick for natural reasons, not because the gods were angry. He also believed that there was a connection between diet and health.
During his time, doctors prescribed massage, special
30 diets, and baths as medical treatments for their patients.
In China and other Asian countries, doctors developed acupuncture as a method of treating sickness and pain.
Acupuncture uses needles to help the human body fight pain and disease. Doctors have used this method for
35 thousands of years, and many still use it today.
During the Middle Ages (400-1500 A.D.), a few medical schools and hospitals opened in Europe. At this time, however, doctors considered themselves to be primarily observers of patients. For them, surgery was a
40 menial task, something a barber should do. One
common medical treatment during the Middle Ages was the use of leeches to remove "bad blood" from people.
Doctors thought this "bloodletting" was good for many illnesses. Unfortunately, many plagues spread through
45 Europe at that time. Doctors could not cure these diseases, and one quarter of the population of Europe died. It didn't help that, in the Middle Ages, many people believed that bathing could be fatal. It wasn't uncommon for people to bathe just once a year!
50 After the invention of the printing press in the mid- fifteenth century, books on health and medicine became available. Leonardo da Vinci's drawings of the human body, including all the muscles, helped doctors
tremendously. Understanding the human body helped
55 doctors treat sicknesses and make people feel better.
having a fungus ways to keep things clean and germ-free for the removal of waste
low-skill
deadly; causing death
2_6_o _T����--�--- Unit 5: Medicine and Health
In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, many remarkable discoveries were made in medicine. These discoveries saved the lives of millions of people around the world. For example, in 1895, a German doctor named
60 Roentgen developed the X-ray machine. In 1928, the English scientist Sir Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin, the first antibiotic. Fleming discovered penicillin growing in mold on an old piece of bread!
Great advances in the technology of medicine
65 continue to be made. Today, doctors can save people's lives by giving them a new heart or a new kidney.
Hospitals now have large computers and machines that help doctors diagnose medical problems.
Although modem medicine is making many new
70 treatments possible, doctors are learning that some of the old ways are useful too. For example, doctors are now paying more attention to the connection between diet and health. Even the leech has found a place in modem medicine. In certain kinds of surgery, up-to-
7 S date surgeons are using leeches to prevent a patient's arteries from getting plugged up.
Some people believe that nature has all of the cures for human problems. Others believe that technology is more helpful. It just might be that, together, tradition
BO and technology will help people everywhere live better and healthier lives.
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