Alternatives to ancient antibiotics

Before antibiotics were born, doctors used herbs, mercury, and even leeches to treat many infections.

According to Acient Origins, the development of antibiotics and antibiotic treatment is arguably the greatest achievement of modern medicine. However, misuse and misuse of antibiotics leads to drug resistance in microorganisms.

There are alternative treatments that have been used to treat infections since ancient times, but are not as reliable as the safety and effectiveness of modern antibiotic treatment. So what is the treatment of infection before antibiotics develop in the early years of the 20th century?

Blood, leeches and knives

Blood clots have been used as a medical therapy for over 3,000 years. It originated in Egypt in 1000 BC and was used until the mid-20th century.

A man is injecting blood to cure an infection.(Photo: Pin it).

Medical documents from ancient times until 1940 recorded blood injections used in many situations, but especially infections. At the end of 1942, in William Osler's 14th edition of the publication "Principles and practices of medicine" , the preeminent textbook of internal medicine was mentioned, referring to the method of injection. blood in treating pneumonia.

Blood shots based on an ancient medical theory suggest that four body fluids, or "fluids" (including: blood, sputum, black bile and yellow bile) must be balanced to maintain health. The infection is thought to be due to excessive blood, so blood is taken from the patient.

One method is to remove a stain in a vein or artery, but this is not the only way. Cupping is also a popular method, when hot glass cups are placed on the skin, creating a vacuum, breaking small blood vessels and causing bleeding under the skin of large areas. The worst way is to use leeches to suck blood.

Interestingly, although blood injections must be done by doctors, this is done by barbers, or "hair-cutting" . Red and white stripes of barbershop originated as "advertising" for blood injection service, red represents blood and white represents ice.

It may actually have some benefits - at least for some bacteria in the early stages of the disease. Many bacteria need iron for replication, and iron is transported on hemoglobin, a component of red blood cells. In theory, less red blood cells lead to iron deficiency to maintain bacterial infection.

Mercury cures syphilis

In nature, chemical elements and chemical compounds have historically been used to treat a variety of infections, especially wound infections and syphilis.

A man was sitting in a chair, arms outstretched, blood flowed out while a nun placed leeches on his body.Photo: History of Medicine (NLM).

Iodine, bromine and compounds containing mercury are used to treat infected wounds and necrosis in the American civil war. Bromine is used most often, but it is very painful when applied topically or injected into a wound and can cause tissue damage. These treatments inhibit the replication of bacterial cells, but they can also harm normal human cells.

Mercury compounds are used to treat syphilis between 1363 and 1910. Compounds can be applied to the skin, taken or injected. But side effects include: skin and mucosal damage, kidney and brain damage, and even death. Arsphenamine, an arsenic compound, was also used in the first half of the 20th century. Although effective, side effects include: optic neuritis, seizures, fever, kidney damage and rash.

Fortunately, in 1943, penicillin replaced these treatments and is now the first treatment for syphilis at all stages.

Search in the garden

Over the centuries, a variety of herbal remedies have been developed to treat infections, but very few have been evaluated by controlled clinical trials.

Quinine woodcut, 1880. (Photo: Wellcome Library).

One of the famous herbal treatments is quinine , which is used to treat malaria. It is separated from cinchona bark native to South America. Today we use a synthetic form of quinine to treat this disease. Before that, the cinchona bark was dried, ground into powder and mixed with water to drink. The use of cinchona bark as a medicine for fever treatment has been described by Jesuits in the 1600s, although it may have been used much earlier by indigenous people.

Artemisinin , synthesized from Artemisia annua (sweet wormwood), is very effective in treating malaria. Chinese scientist, Dr. Youyou Tu, and her research team analyzed ancient Chinese medicine materials and folk methods, determined that Artemisia annua extracts effectively inhibiting the reproduction of malaria parasites in animals very effectively. Youyou Tu has received the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine for the discovery of artemisinin.