Antibiotics Are Never Discovered

The Point of Divergence ... In the early years of the 20th Century, scientific advancements were made in the discovery of antibiotics. Several drugs were developed to help curb the spread of germs, bacteria and diseases. One of the most prominent examples would be penicillin. As a result, people have lived longer and healthier lives. The population on our planet has boomed from 1 Billion in 1900 to over 7 billion in today's times.

But it begs the question. What if the research that was being done into antibiotics had never taken off? What if those researchers in the early 20th century had simply been dismissed by the general medical community as a bunch of science hoopla? What if we still lived in a world where we relied on medicinal folklore vs science?
 
A shitload more people would have died from disease in WWII, probably in WWI. Imagine a worse Spanish flu as well. No way does humanity reach seven billion at that rate.
 
I can't imagine antibiotics not being discovered with ASB changes to biochemistry or cataclysmic regression of human civilization.

A shitload more people would have died from disease in WWII, probably in WWI. Imagine a worse Spanish flu as well. No way does humanity reach seven billion at that rate.

World War I would be unaffected by a concealment of antibiotics because antibiotics were not discovered until after World War I in OTL. The Spanish Flu would be unaffected by altering the discovery date of antibiotics for the same reason AND because influenza cannot be treated by antibiotics. I suppose some of the mortality from the Spanish Flu was from bacterial superinfection, and antibiotics would help that, but that's really besides the point.
 

trurle

Banned
The Point of Divergence ... In the early years of the 20th Century, scientific advancements were made in the discovery of antibiotics. Several drugs were developed to help curb the spread of germs, bacteria and diseases. One of the most prominent examples would be penicillin. As a result, people have lived longer and healthier lives. The population on our planet has boomed from 1 Billion in 1900 to over 7 billion in today's times.

But it begs the question. What if the research that was being done into antibiotics had never taken off? What if those researchers in the early 20th century had simply been dismissed by the general medical community as a bunch of science hoopla? What if we still lived in a world where we relied on medicinal folklore vs science?
The world will be crazy about hygiene and vaccination. If you cannot treat effectively bacterial infections, the only workable strategy is prevention. I imagine hygiene being the major school subject, and lifelong lethality from vaccine side effects on 1% level been considered an acceptable risk. Not much of excess deaths, but a lot of hard work to prevent deaths.
 
I can't imagine antibiotics not being discovered with ASB changes to biochemistry or cataclysmic regression of human civilization.

I agree. So long as anybody cares at all about communicable disease, antibiotics will eventually be discovered. The sulfa drugs are quite easy to make and I do not think it's realistic to postpone their discovery much past OTL (discovered 1908, used therapeutically 1935).

But it is realistic to delay the discovery of penicillin until after WW2. Take out Fleming and wait for someone else to discover that certain molds kill bacteria, and delay the isolation of penicillin. In OTL penicillin was only possible to manufacture during WW2 and only in the West. Just a few delays in research could easily make it unavailable during the war.

The result would be thousands more fatalities among the WAllies in WW2.
 

Wimble Toot

Banned
A shitload more people would have died from disease in WWII, probably in WWI. Imagine a worse Spanish flu as well.

No antibiotics available in WW1, and would completely ineffective to counteract Spanish flu (no anti-virals either), so those would be as bad as OTL in terms of excess deaths.
 
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