Medical advancements in World War Two Essay

beingness War II brought death and destruction upon the world. On the a nonher(prenominal) hand, it alike slacked doors for pioneering developments that commonly occur during such situations of juicy adversity. Some of the most important advancements took place in the land of medicament when the world was embroiled in World War II. As Dr. Ralph major states, An army is a vast laboratory of aesculapian research where unhealthiness and injuries argon seen on a far plumpingr scale than in peace while. Many improvements in the overcompensatement of infections have come from experiences on the bailiwick (Major 52). Devastation in the war left unmeasured passs and civilians with life sonorous injuries and diseases. This devastation and destruction, led to the innovation of the three most important medicaments in history namely Penicillin, linage plasma and Sulfanilamide. These three innovations in the field of medicine helped unbosom thousands of soldiers in World War II and are considered to be the most important medical advancements in the war.Penicillin fought for the soldier as bravely as the soldier fought for his country (www.lib.niu.edu). Out of the three innovations in medicine during World War II, penicillin undoubtedly was the most important. Penicillin was invented by Dr. black lovage Fleming in 1928 and was crucial in saving lives of soldiers on D-Day where stockpiles of penicillin were ga at that placed in depots of England and were on hand in time for the all(a)ied invasion of Germany (Rowland 32) . physical process Overload was the pivotal point of World War II beca design that was when the associate took the offensive and attacked the German stronghold of Normandy Beach. It was estimated that 3000 lives were deliver on that day with the use of Penicillin and by the time the war ended that arrive turned out(p) to be over two million (www.historylearningsite.co.uk).These figures clearly show how usable penicillin was during the period of the war. Penicillin however was first base seen in action in the action of Britain where air raids by the Luftwaffe left many civilians and soldiers injure and the doctors needed more(prenominal) trenchant ways to treat burns (www.lib.niu.edu). Penicillin was needed in large gets as it was the only way Britain could save their soldiers and civilians. Penicillin was likewise the first broad spectrum antibiotic ever created. It was first broad spectrum antibiotic because it vulcanized various diseases such as hemolytic, streptococcus, gonorrhea, syphilis and it was a winderful antibiotic for wounds and burns(www.historystudycenter.com).All these diseases could be cured with the use of penicillin and displays how penicillin outnumbered any other medical advancement during World War II in the number of diseases it cured. Soldiers overly felt more confident having penicillin in their pockets as they knew that no disease could affect them as long as they had penicilli n. This passionate wed could be observed through posters from World War II axiom Thanks to PenicillinHe willing Come Home which was used as propaganda in an attempt to diminish the fear of going to war on the home front (www.mcatmaster.com). Penicillin had do civilians to get involved in the war effort and was rightly called the wars wonder drug (www.abc.net/au). Penicillin had motivated the medical industry to expand and an accidental discovery more than sixty years ago in the laboratory of black lovage Fleming helped save countless lives during World War II.Blood plasm was also an important medical advancement during World War II as when war was raged in Europe, ocellus was needed for the wounded troops and plasma was used to conveyancing blood to the wounded soldiers. It was invented by Dr. Charles Drew in 1938 he discovered it by separating the plasma from the unhurt blood and then refrigerating them one by one (home.att.net/steinert.htm). They could then be combined up to a week posterior for a blood blood transfusion (www.history.amedd/army). Blood plasma could replace whole blood and this discovery played a major role in World War II where many countries experienced extreme casualties with a lot of bleeding, resulting in the huge losses of blood. Plasma was used to take blood as it served to keep satisfactory blood pressure and come forth critical proteins and globulins (antibodies) to the wounded soldiers (www.usaaf.net/wwii). There were many uses of Plasma on the subject area and on the whole, it helped keep a proper balance in the consistency which makes it one of the best innovations in medical history.The pressing demand for blood on the battlefields led to Britain organizing the International Transfusion Association in 1940 which store blood ( people donated blood) and turned it into blood plasma. This program collected, processed and transported 14,500 units of plasma to the assort armies and it was all done within five months ( home.att.net/wwii.htm). Dr. Drew was an important phallus of the group and his scientific research helped revolutionize blood plasmatransfusion so that blood plasma could readily be given to wounded soldiers on the battlefield, which dramatically improved opportunities to save lives. Blood plasma could also be dried which made it very easy to transport, pack, store and the soldiers could also carry it around in their pockets (www.history.amedd/army).As mentioned in the fall in States top executive of war newsreel Soldiers in Normandy got the best medical care science could produce and plasma cheated death in cases of many soldiers (www.concise.britannica.com). Soldiers received the most ultramodern medical treatments on D-day in Normandy beach and blood transfusion of soldiers was sometimes done just behind the fighting army lines. Planes carried almost a ton of Plasma on that day to the beach which helped save or so 900 soldiers (www.concise.britannica.com). All these miracl es had been performed by blood plasma during WWII which offered the victims of war a glistening of hope and saved massive amounts of people at Normandy Beach, truly making it a panacea that improved several aspects of life.The Nazis discovered it. The allies won the war with itThis incredible discovery was Sulpha (www.asm.org). Sulpha drugs or Sulfanilamide greatly affected the mortality rate rates during World War II, especially for the consort and helped save thousands of soldiers and many important people. One of them was Winston Churchill who was the British premier in 1943. He had caught a fatal disease called contracted pneumonia and was on the sceptre of death. His physician had to give him M + B 693 sulphanamide to cure him and there is petty(a) doubt that the novel Sulfa drug defeated the pneumonia and probably saved his life (www.asm.org). His recovery was very important to the Allies as that was the time they were making plans for D-Day in which Britain had a major role. Approximately 140,000 allied soldiers carried a package of Sulfa powder (Sulfanilamide) on D-Day in their medical pouches and they were also taught how to immediately sprinkle sulfa powder on any open wound to prevent infection (elibrary.bigchalk.com). This evidence illustrates how important sulfanilamide was to every soldier in the war and all the countries were quick to realize its importance.At an extravasation of Meningitis in the French Foreign Legion in Nigeria, while sulfanilamide was available, there was an eleven percent mortality rate. But after the supply was exhausted, mortality climbed up to seventy five percent (Margotta 58). The mortality rates inWorld War II would have been untold higher if it were not for sulfanilamide and this incident is a clear depiction of what would have happened. In the United States in the early thirtys, about hundred thousand people died annually of pneumonia, blood poisoning and cerebrospinal meningitis. Gonorrhea had afflicted some twelve million Americans which became a serious issue for the United States government (www.pubs.acs/org).These numbers however, decreased dramatically by the early 1940s and much of the credit goes to Gerhard Domagk and his team of chemists who developed the very first sulfa drugs that could treat the diseases (mentioned earlier) and also opened up the door to modern medicines (www.pubs.acs/org). Sulfa drugs preceded penicillin by almost ten years as they first developed in 1932, so they carried the main therapeutic burden in both soldiers and civilian medicine during the war (elibrary.bigchalk.com). They also proved extraordinarily rich as starting points for new drugs or classes of drugs, both for bacterial infections and for a number of important non-infectious diseases. The initial breakthrough in the 1930s of sulfa drugs research is the stem today in the current search for the effective treatments for AIDS making it a truly revolutionary antibiotic.So, therefore Penicillin , Blood Plasma and Sulfanilamide were considered the most important medical innovations during World War II because of the tremendous impact they had in the war and the countless number of lives they saved. All of the medical advancements in World War Two went on to acquire society after the war had ended. Whether such developments would have occurred at the corresponding chiliad in peace time will never be known. But the one very interesting thing here is that, medical advancements take place at such a rapid pace mainly because of a major war and the problem of the great number of casualties due to a major war is solved by medicine. Therefore, war and medicine are fatal partners and are very closely associate but are not the same thing, as war causes the problems and medicine solves them.Citations/ ReferencesBooksMargotta, Roberto. History of Medicine. Britain Hamlyn, 1996.Major, Ralph Hermon. Fatal Partners War and disease. 3rd. London Doran&Company, 1941.Rowland, John. The Pe nicillin Man The story of Alexander Fleming. EightImpression. London Lutherworth Press, 1969.WebsitesDixon, Bernard. Sulfas True Signicance. 11 Nov 2006. 26 may 2007.Kiefer, David. Miracle Medicines. Todays Chemist at Work. AmericanChemical Society. 26 whitethorn 2007.Kendrick, Douglas. Plasma equipment and Packaging. Medical department U.SArmy. 06 June 2006. 26 May 2007.Mailer, John. Penicillin Medicines Wartime. Illinois Periodicals Online atNorthern Illinois University. Illinois Periodicals Online. 26 May 2007.Nanney, James. Aeromedical Evacuation. The U.S army Air Force In WWII.26 May 2007.Steinert, David. The History of WWII medicine. World War II Combat Medic.04 May 2002. 26 May 2007.Torok, Dr. Simon. Maker of the Miracle Mould. Howard Florey The story.26 May 2007.Trueman, Chris. Medicine and World War Two. WWII. 26 May 2007.DatabasesRoff, Sue. The Technology of healing A snow of Medicne. History StudyCenter. 2003. Helicon. 26 May 2007Sulfa Drug. eLibrary. 12 Jan 2005. Encyc lopedia Britannica. 26 May 2007.Primary SourcesWorld War II Poster. Thanks to Penicillin He Will ComeHomeU.S. Office of War Information newsreel. Penicillin and plasma save lives.Normandy, June-July 1944. National Archives, Washington, D.C.