DISEASES SINCE 1914
KNOWLEDGE VERSUS SUPERSTITION In the 14 th century, when the Black Death threatened the pope’s household in Avignon, his doctor informed him that the conjunction of three planets- Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars –in the sign of Aquarius was the principal cause of the plague. Some four centuries later, George Washington went to bed with a sore throat. Three eminent doctors treated the infection by draining some two liters of blood from his veins. Within a few hours, the patient was dead. Bloodletting was standard medical practice for 2,500 years –from the time of Hippocrates until the mid-19 th century. Although superstition and tradition delayed medical progress, dedicated doctors work hard to discover the causes of infectious diseases and remedies for them. Below are a few of the significant breakthroughs they made. SMALLPOX: In 1798, Edward Jenner successfully developed a vaccine for smallpox. During the 20 th century, vaccines have proved effective in preventing