Medicine of the twentieth century

LESSON № 4.

"Medicine of the twentieth century"

During the last third of the 19th century, the transition from pre-monopoly capitalism to monopoly capitalism took place. Monopoly capitalism, or imperialism, is the highest stage of capitalism. In the late XIX - early XX century, monopoly capitalism has developed completely. In his work “Imperialism as the Highest Stage of Capitalism”, V. I. Lenin gave an exhaustive scientific analysis of the economic and political essence of imperialism, its laws and insoluble contradictions. According to the classical definition of V.I. Lenin, the main economic features of imperialism are as follows:

“... 1) the concentration of production and capital has reached such a stage of development that it has created monopolies that play a decisive role in economic life;

2) the merger of banking capital with industrial capital and the creation on the basis of this "financial capital" of a financial oligarchy;

3) the export of capital, in contrast to the export of goods, becomes especially important;

4) international monopolistic unions of capitalists are formed, dividing the world;

5) the territorial division of the land by the largest capitalist powers has been completed ... "

The basic economic law of monopoly capitalism is to maximize capitalist profits by exploiting, ruining and impoverishing the majority of the population of a given country, by enslaving and systematically robbing the peoples of other countries, especially backward countries, and finally by wars and militarization of the national economy.

During the period of imperialism, the medicine of the capitalist countries experienced complex influences. On the one hand, the development of the natural sciences, technological advances, and the raising of the material standard of living of the population in the main countries of the capitalist world have led medicine to a number of achievements. However, in a capitalist society, many of these achievements remain accessible only to the ruling elite of the rich minority of the population and do not affect the poor majority of the population. This is especially pronounced in colonial and dependent countries. On the other hand, the ideology of the ruling circles of imperialist states involves many doctors in these countries in their sphere of influence. Under her influence, doctors move away from progressive materialistic views and forget the basic tasks of medicine. In modern medicine in the capitalist countries, ideological distortions are noted, which are deservedly assessed as the phenomena of the crisis of bourgeois medicine in the era of imperialism.

Achievements of medicine in the 20th century

In the 20th century, in the main capitalist countries, the overall and child mortality rates decreased significantly, especially mortality from infectious diseases. This was most pronounced in those countries where workers obtained medical care in the form of social insurance or in other forms. To a lesser extent, this is noted in the former colonial and underdeveloped countries and the situation in the colonial countries has hardly improved.

In the first half of the 20th century, great success was achieved in medicine with respect to the recognition of diseases, understanding of their pathogenesis, their treatment and prevention. The development of the physiological and pathophysiological experiment allowed doctors to deepen their understanding of the pathogenesis of a number of diseases. Microbiology contributed to further clarification of the etiology and pathogenesis of many infectious diseases. In 1915, the Czech scientist S. Provachek discovered the causative agent of typhus, named in his honor Rickettsia Provacheka. In 1917, the Austrian neuropathologist K. Economo described epidemic encephalitis. In the same year, the Canadian bacteriologist D'Erell studied in detail the phenomenon of bacteriophagy. During the war of 1914-1918. pathogens of hemorrhagic spirochetosis, gas gangrene were studied.

The capture of colonies and the penetration of European capital into the colonies was hampered by the presence in countries of a hot climate of numerous so-called tropical diseases of infectious and parasitic origin. The colonizers and their troops suffered from these diseases, which were widespread among the local population of the colonies. The development of colonies led to the need to study these diseases, in particular diseases caused by animal parasites. Most attention was drawn to malaria, from which the population of most colonial countries suffered. In 1898, in North Africa, the French doctor A. Laveran discovered the causative agent of malaria. In 1898, the English parasitologist R. Ross showed that mosquitoes are carriers of malaria in birds and studied the development cycle of parasites in the mosquito body.

Italian zoologist D. B. Grassi showed that malaria parasites in humans go through the same developmental cycle as in birds. In this way, the etiology of malaria was established and the direction of both therapeutic and preventive measures in the fight against malaria was determined. In 1894, the trypanosome of the African Nagan disease was discovered, in 1904, the trypanosome of sleeping sickness. In 1898, the Russian doctor P.F. Borovsky in Central Asia discovered the causative agent of Pendin ulcer, in 1903 the English doctor W. B. Leishman again described these parasites, called leishmanias. In 1905, the German protistologist F. Schaudin discovered the pale spirochete of syphilis. In 1881, the Cuban doctor Finlay showed that yellow fever is transmitted by mosquitoes of a special kind. The Brazilian doctor Chagas has studied a number of diseases caused by trypanosis. Domestic doctors (P.F. Borovsky, G.N. Gabrichevsky, E.I. Martsinovsky, and others) contributed greatly to the study of parasitic diseases encountered in our country. Parasitology was further developed in Soviet times thanks to the works of E. N. Pavlovsky, K. I. Scriabin and their many students.

The role of not only the main nutrients (proteins, fats, carbohydrates), but also the mineral parts of food, including those that are found in the human body in small quantities (trace elements), is revealed. In the XX century, the doctrine of vitamins was created and their role in i protection from diseases and their treatment is shown. Russian doctors V.V. Pashutin and N.I. Lunin showed that special indispensable substances are present in food, the absence of which causes disease in animals (N.I. Lunin, 1880). In 1906, the Englishman Hopkins found that feeding rats with artificial milk slowed their growth and weight loss, and adding a small amount of natural cow's milk restored their function. In 1912, the Polish physiologist K. Funk convincingly showed the role of substances lacking in such nutrition and called them vitamins. In 1929, the Hungarian scientist Szent-Gyorgyi received vitamin C from the adrenal glands and established that it is ascorbic acid. Researchers discovered vitamins, established their role, their chemical nature, began to receive them synthetically. The doctrine of vitamins gave a correct idea of ​​the value of various food products, •• the ability to prevent the development of vitamin deficiencies and hypovitaminosis (scurvy, beriberi, etc.) and established the role of vitamins in the body's resistance, in particular against infectious diseases. Based on these theoretical studies, an extensive branch of the chemical-pharmaceutical industry, the vitamin, has been created.