Fighting disease through the ages ‘Did you know that people have been trying to cure infectious illnesses for thousands of years?’ ‘Some of the things they tried were really revolting – crocodile dung plaster, anyone?!’

Fighting disease through the ages Human bodies which are thousands of years old show signs of diseases just like the ones we get today.

In the Stone Age people made holes in the skulls of people who were very ill to try and make them better. This was called trepanning. We have found skulls with the holes healed over, so at least some of the patients survived! Trepanning was used regularly until the 18th century. Even today a similar method is sometimes used if the brain swells after a head injury.

In Ancient Egypt five thousand years ago people made sacrifices to their gods to ask for healing. They also used things like mouldy bread, poppy seeds, honey and crocodile dung to try and cure people! Some of the treatments may actually have worked. This is because they contained chemicals which we now know can kill bacteria!

The Ancient Greeks thought illness was due to things called humours (different fluids) of the body being out of balance. They treated lots of illnesses using leeches to suck the blood out of people, which they thought would balance their humours! We don’t believe in humours any more – but leeches are still used in medicine.

In the Middle Ages people thought diseases showed that God was angry, so they prayed for a cure. But people wanted to help themselves as well. They tried bathing in human urine (wee), smearing themselves with excrement (poo), placing dead animals in their homes, using leeches (like the Greeks) and drinking molten gold and powdered emeralds! Only very rich people could use the last two ‘cures’ – and most of us would rather be ill than try the others!

‘So when did people start to invent medicines that really worked well ‘And how many people died of infections before there were medicines to treat them? I want to know more about this!’ go back to the menu