Re: Study: Americans sicker than English


El Castor a écrit :

"> Americans live longer with every passing year. In 1900 the life
expectancy of a White male was 47. That everyone in the world lives as
long as they do is largely due to advances in medical science
pioneered in the United States over the last hundred years. Quit
complaining. Be grateful.

It is NOT LARGELY due to medical science pioneering in the US over the
last 100 years.
This is a chauvinistic statement and not true. Is was international in

character, starting with work already done in the 19th century, mainly
in Europe. First, the older generation like yourself sees this
ife expectancy increase as mainly due to medical care received
by the older. No, it is just the opposite. Worldwide it was due to a
big decrease in infant mortality.

1) from http://culture.families.com/life-expectancy-eos
Izae type b, and other infectious diseases in the United States and
other parts of the world.

3) Since 1900, infant mortality has decreased more than 90% from

http://www.state.nj.us/health/chs/19002000.shtml

Infant mortality rates in NJ went from 216/1000 to 6 from 1900 to 2000,
a rate which far
exceeded all other age groups except those over 85 in 1900. Over the
years, the
death rates of the above 60 have dropped about 50% but by far the
biggest factor
is increasing life spans is the decrease of tnfant mortality. If the
1900 216 figure had been
nearer todays figure the 1900 overall life expectancy into the above 60
region.

The big cause of death among children were mainly respiratory
(including TB) and intestinal (Diarrheal diseases of children was
number 3).

My own life was saved in the late 1930s with a sulfa drug. Who
developed sulfa
drugs? The American industry??

No, a German.

Gerhard Johannes Paul Domagk (1895-1964), a German biochemist, whose
research with antibacterial chemicals resulted in the discovery of a
new class of drugs that provided the first effective treatments for
pneumonia, meningitis, and other bacterial diseases. Domagk's
research involved analyzing thousands of chemicals for their
antibacterial properties. In 1932 he tested a red dye, Prontosil. The
dye itself had no antibacterial properties, but when Domagk slightly
changed its chemical makeup, Prontosil showed a remarkable ability to
arrest infections in mice caused by streptococcal bacteria. Domagk
tested the drug on his daughter, who was near death from a
streptococcal infection and had failed to respond to other treatments.
She subsequently made a complete recovery.

SULFANILAMIDE, first used in 1936, was the grandparent of the
SULFONAMIDE family of drugs that are still extremely useful today.
Dramatic proof of the effectiveness of this new agent was provided
during an outbreak of meningitis in the French Foreign Legion in
Nigeria. While sulfanilamide was available, there was an 11% mortality
rate. After the supply was exhausted, mortality climbed to 75%.
Sulfanilamide and its derivatives, which soon followed, were said to
have "dethroned the captain of the men of death," such was their
effectiveness in treating pneumonia.

4) Another big impact on improving children's health were the discovery
of vitamins
and nutrition improvement in general.

A mainly American discovery? No. It was international. Beriberi for
example.

In the late 1800s a Dutch physician Christiaan Eijkman discovered that
substituting unpolished rice for polished rice would prevent beriberi,
a terrible disease which caused anemia and paralysis and was found
mainly among the poor. But it wasn't till 1911 when a Polish chemist
discovered the actual substance in unpolished rice that prevented the
disease. It was a substance categorized as an amine, a type of
nitrogen-containing compound. Funk realized that it was a substance
vital to proper body function and thusly named it a "vital amine" or
vitamin.

5) And the isolation and use of insulin?

Insulin is a hormone produced in the pancreas. It was isolated in
1921-22 at the University of Toronto. The scientists involved in the
research were Dr. Fredrick Banting, Charles Best (a medical student at
the time of the discovery), Professor J. J. R. Macleod and Dr. James
Collip. On June 3, 1934, Dr Frederick Banting the co-inventor of
insulin was knighted for his medical discovery.

There are no flags to wave here, even your cherished one.

.

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