The impact of never discovering Penicillin or inventions in medical science
- Thread starter zeezack
- Start date
I was being a bit simplistic. The end result is that the bacteria are destroyed by the viruses.
HueyLong
Banned
Have penicillin resistant super-bugs pop up a bit sooner. Its not too implausible.
Its an idea worth exploring. Penicillin and modern medicine are not the end-all and be all of medical science. The disinfectant and bacteriophage ideas are interesting, and homeopathy could just be a little stronger in such an environment- enough to prevent advances towards traditional medicine.
Veering from OTL's tech progression is too often overlooked. Tech often goes right to where we are today with little variation.
Its an idea worth exploring. Penicillin and modern medicine are not the end-all and be all of medical science. The disinfectant and bacteriophage ideas are interesting, and homeopathy could just be a little stronger in such an environment- enough to prevent advances towards traditional medicine.
Veering from OTL's tech progression is too often overlooked. Tech often goes right to where we are today with little variation.
Some very technical ideas here. I will try and include bits of them...I like the idea of selling poisons and possibly other illnesses in large vat - vaccine forms. Fight poison with poison as to speak...
the observer of this strange world feels it best to bring about the discovery of penicilin then try the societie's trusted and commercial alternatives
the observer of this strange world feels it best to bring about the discovery of penicilin then try the societie's trusted and commercial alternatives
Some Quick Thoughts...
-Consider that the military campaigns of the British in Malaysia, the U.S. in Vietnam and the situation in China would have been ever more tenuous without the presence of antibiotics like penicillin. Just remember that the French were unable to contain Haiti in 1802 due to bouts of yellow fever. In OTL, in 1946 an outbreak of influenza in 1946 amongst U.S. troops in Japan and Korea took place,. An influenza outbreak in Hong Kong in 1957 was contained by readily available antibiotics and penicillin. A second, plague hit Hong Kong in 1968 but was contained through the availibility of drugs. IN 1977, there was even fears that the outbreak of "red flu" was part of a biological attack against China and the Soviet Union.
-Consider that the military campaigns of the British in Malaysia, the U.S. in Vietnam and the situation in China would have been ever more tenuous without the presence of antibiotics like penicillin. Just remember that the French were unable to contain Haiti in 1802 due to bouts of yellow fever. In OTL, in 1946 an outbreak of influenza in 1946 amongst U.S. troops in Japan and Korea took place,. An influenza outbreak in Hong Kong in 1957 was contained by readily available antibiotics and penicillin. A second, plague hit Hong Kong in 1968 but was contained through the availibility of drugs. IN 1977, there was even fears that the outbreak of "red flu" was part of a biological attack against China and the Soviet Union.
These are interesting ideas...I may throw in a surveillance society into this world...where people WATCH for potential health hazards and diseases.
https://www.alternatehistory.com/Discussion/showthread.php?p=1142634#post1142634
https://www.alternatehistory.com/Discussion/showthread.php?p=1142634#post1142634
pacifichistorian
Banned
Why retard medical science? Suppose you get earlier exposure to malaria, Ebola, or HIV? Say 1860, Lenoir's IC engine is used in a powered trike, cars & airships are created, & exploration into Africa, CAm, SEA happens, where Europeans meet diseases they can't cope with. In response, science figures out ways to kill viri (or boost the immune system, or both...). This could also improve CBW, which militaries might like... And you conceivably butterfly away nukes as needless. OTOH, you make minor powers much more a threat, since lo$ CBW's much easier than nukes...
Hapsburg
Banned
re: penicillin in particular. I'm surprised it wasn't discovered and harnessed far, far earlier. Going all the way back to Romans times, people used to use bread moulds in wounds to heal, though they had absolutely no idea why. When the microscope was invented, penicillin should have followed within a century. For whatever reason, it lagged.
I suspect it was a result of the medical establishment's fascination with hygiene. They had just learned - at a huge cost in lives - that cleanliness mattered a lot when you are fighting infections. The idea that putting mould - which is basically ick and in medical terms a dangerous parasitic organism - into a patient must have seemed completely counterintuitive. Add to that the fact that the mould treatment was frequently hit-or-miss and usually a folk remedy (19th century doctors as a group had an unbelievable superiority complex vis-a-vis the uneducated layman) and you have a powerful reason not to investigate. It would be like putting crocodile shit on an open wound - would anyone in his right mind do that? (It actually has some beneficial effects if you can't get anything better, but the mental block against it today is probably broadly comparable to that felt against mould at the time).
No antibiotics? A lot of people die far more quickly from commonplace ailments that degenerate - in that it wouldn't be newsworthy if someone died of a bacterial infection.
Btw, the anti-bacterial properties of what's termed penicillin supposedly was first noted by a French army doctor in N Africa in the 1890s - the shepherd boys used mold growing on saddles to rub into chafed thighs (I can imagine Abdul drifting off into realms of filthiness...) to prevent inflamation, but he didn't isolate it and died soon afterwards.
Btw, the anti-bacterial properties of what's termed penicillin supposedly was first noted by a French army doctor in N Africa in the 1890s - the shepherd boys used mold growing on saddles to rub into chafed thighs (I can imagine Abdul drifting off into realms of filthiness...) to prevent inflamation, but he didn't isolate it and died soon afterwards.