1920's Medicine

(Back to 1920's Era Information)

The Great War results in X-ray machines that are fast and portable.

Insulin is isolated in 1922.

Sir Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin in 1928.

By the end of the decade, radiation therapy is being administered to cancer patients.

Nitrous Oxide is still the best general anesthetic, despite tests with ethylene and acetylene.

Cocaine is still the best topical anesthetic, although it is quickly being replaced by synthetic Novocaine.

Morphine, although regulated by the Federal Government, is the best massive painkiller and, despite its addictive quality, has still not completely lost its early wonder-drug image.

Antibiotics are non-existent, and quinine is still used to treat such things as malaria and yellow fever.

State-mandated vaccinations have nearly eliminated smallpox as a threat, and success have been obtained against typhoid-type diseases; however others such as cholera and tuberculosis have proved resistant and remain virulent.

A worldwide influenza epidemic in 1918-1919 infected twenty million in the U.S., resulting in 850,000 fatalities. It is estimated that the pandemic killed twenty million people across the globe.