Latest news and stories about medical history in Portugal for expats and residents.
The municipality of Oeiras commemorates the 40th anniversary of the first successful heart transplant performed in Portugal.
Continuing the series on medical history, this article explores key 20th-century breakthroughs, including the 1953 discovery of the DNA double helix by Francis Crick and James Watson in Cambridge, the development of polio vaccines by Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin, and the 1960 introduction of the contraceptive pill, supported by Katharine McCormick. These milestones significantly advanced disease prevention, public health, and reproductive autonomy.
Silgueiros Ethnographic Museum and the history of pharmacy. The drug, as cocaine, promised an 'instant cure' for toothaches - and was also used to 'improve children's moods'.
I continue my brief descriptions of the major discoveries that marked the evolution of medical sciences during the first half of the 20th century. In 1933, English physician Wilson Smith was the first to demonstrate that influenza is caused by a virus. Research he conducted on ferrets proved that the flu is an infectious disease common to both animals and humans and that its causal agent was not retained by porcelain filters due to its small size. A few years later, with the advent of electron microscopy in the early 1940s, it was verified that the influenza virus measures, on average, 100 nanometres. In 1937, American physician Joseph Stokes, Jr. prepared the first flu vaccine and emphasised the importance of seasonal immunisation. That same year, South African scientist Max Theiler discovered the yellow fever vaccine, for which he received the Nobel Prize. In 1939, Swiss chemist Paul Müller announced the use of DDT as an insecticide, earning him a Nobel Prize. In 1943, Ukrainian biochemist Selman Waksman announced the discovery of streptomycin, the first truly effective antibiotic for treating tuberculosis. From 1947, the widespread use of chloroquine for the prevention and treatment of malaria began, and in 1949, American scientist John Enders successfully cultivated the polio virus in the laboratory, paving the way for the future vaccine.
The author reflects on his medical career, beginning with his graduation in 1973 and his professional registration signed by Miller Guerra. He pays tribute to Miller Guerra, a distinguished neurologist, academic, and politician, recalling a 1966 lecture where Guerra argued that modern, effective medicine is a relatively recent development, spanning only about 100 years. The author supports this view by highlighting the dramatic increase in life expectancy from the mid-19th century to the present, driven by key scientific breakthroughs such as anesthesia, antisepsis, the germ theory of disease, X-rays, aspirin, and radioactivity.
