Medical Advances of the last 200 years - Vote Now

The BBC Today programme "Today", reminds us all that the British Medical Journal search for the most important medical advance since the Journal was founded in 1840 will be announced on 18 January 2007 on the BMJ’s "new look website."

Lord Patel brought this to readers attention in September , now you can read the details of the 15 most important advances - and an excellent potted history of recent medical science . Anyone, anywhwere in the world can vote here http://www.bmj.com / from ;

Anaesthesia / Antibiotics
Chlorpromazine / Computers
Discovery of DNA structure / Evidence-based medicine
Germ theory / Immunology
Medical imaging (x-rays, etc.)
Oral contraceptive pill / Oral rehydration therapy
Risks of smoking / Sanitation(clean water and sewage disposal)
Tissue culture / Vaccines

Lord Patel has voted for Vaccines. First described and produced for rabies by Louis Pasteur in 1855 ( Portrait Albert Edelfelt, en el Musée d'Orsay) . Vaccines have seen the end of (often fatal) childhood diseases like diphtheria, whooping cough, measles, rubella, polio, mumps, and rubella rare and distant memories - and now for cervical cancer which is now seen to be the result of a communicable STD. Championed by Michael Worboys, Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine and Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine, University of Manchester, Manchester

Teachers at all levels - there is valuable resource material here.