Ancient Medicine Wins Nobel Prize

The 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was won by a Chinese scientist, Tu Youyou, for her discovery of anti-malarial drug, artemisinin in the 1970s. Artemisinin is derived from the flowering plant Artemisia annua (or sweet wormwood). Artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) are now standard treatment for malaria worldwide, and several drugs containing artemisinin such as Artesunate are now widely available.

Artemisia plant

While it was heralded as a pathbreaking discovery in the 1970's, it turns out it wasn't entirely a new discovery. In fact, it had been known to mankind thousands of years ago, and has a very interesting journey from ancient to modern medicine.

Several thousand years ago, ancient Chinese doctors prescribed tea made from a flowering plant called Qing Hao (modern name: artemisia) for fever and inflammation. Like many other traditional medicines, it was lost in historical texts. That is until the Vietnam War started. The Viêt-Cong soldiers fighting the Americans in the deep swamps of Vietnam faced danger from deadly mosquitos, losing thousands to malaria. So they turned to China for help, who did not have a ready answer but vowed to help.

Ge Hong’s 'A handbook of prescriptions for emergencies'

China's Chairman Mao Zedong launched Project 523 in 1967 to find a cure for malaria, and Tu Youyou was made head of the project. She turned to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) to research historical treatment of malaria, a disease that was common in China too, and discovered a reference to artemisia/Qing Hao. After trying it on herself and other volunteers and finding it to be 100% effective, it was supplied to the Viêt-Cong, where large infusions of dried artemisia was found to work wonders. It soon became standard medicine for treatment of malaria around the world, earning Youyou the Nobel prize in 2015.

Nobel Laureate Tao Youyou

Sources:

https://www.who.int/malaria/position_statement_herbal_remedy_artemisia_annua_l.pdf
https://www.who.int/malaria/mpac/mpac-october2019-session3-non-pharmaceutical-use-artemisia.pdf
https://www.nobelprize.org/womenwhochangedscience/stories/tu-youyou

Comments

Origin of the Word "Cancer"

In my previous post, I explored the history of cancer. Since we know it existed in ancient times, it follows that so did its name. In fact, the name "cancer" was coined by none other than the great Hippocrates (well, not the exact name but the root of the name). Hippocrates in fact, used two terms, carcinoma and carcinos, to describe ulcerous and non-ulcerous tumors respectively. He named the tumors after Carcinus (or Karkinos), a giant crab in Greek mythology that was sent by the Goddess Hera to help Hydra fight against Hercules. As to why Hippocrates chose to name the tumor after a crab is not quite clear but there are several theories: - The hardness of a malignant tumor reminded him of the hard shell of a crab. - The pain induced by a malignant tumor is similar to a sharp pinch of a crab's claw. - The tenacity of cancer is similar to the determination with which a crab bites and grabs on to a person....

Hippocrates: Father of Medicine

Another important person in Greek medicine is Hippocrates. Hippocrates is considered the father of modern medicine who continues to influence medicine more than 2000 years later. Although he is as revered as Asclepius, they have very different origins. While Asclepius is a mythological character, considered to be descended from God, Hippocrates is very much a historical figure, whose origin and life is recorded in history. Hippocrates lived from 460 to 375 BCE during the Classical Greece period and practiced medicine in Greece. His contribution to western medicine is rivaled by none other, and his collection of works covers almost every aspect of disease and medicine including infection, hygiene, epidemiology and the human immune system. Bust of Hippocrates Also, unlike Asclepius, Hippocrates practiced medicine as a science, not as divine magic. He was one of the first to separate religion from medicine, and sought to match treatment with symptoms. His observations in the ...

Rx Symbol

Have you ever wondered why medicines are denoted with an ℞ or Rx symbol? There are actually many theories about its origin but the most common one is that the symbol for prescriptions originated from the "Eye of Horus", which was an ancient Egyptian symbol associated with healing powers. According to Egyptian mythology, Horus lost his eye in battle but his mom used her powers to restore his eye, hence it became a symbol of healing. Eye of Horus In the 2 nd century, Greek physician Galen adapted this symbol to impress his patients. Galen’s influence on medicine was so strong that even the symbol was borrowed through the centuries and it eventually evolved into the modern symbol Rx (the eye of Horus kinda looks like an Rx). Other theories place its origin in Latin and Roman times. One theory is that Rx was used as an abbreviation of the Latin word recipere , meaning “to prepare,” which physicians wrote on medical prescriptions. Yet another theory points to the similarity of...

History of Medicine

Search This Blog