Sanitation Is Voted Greatest Medical Milestone Since 1840
Over the last 10 days, more than 11,000 people from around the world have voted in the BMJ's poll to find the greatest medical breakthrough since the journal began.
The project is a celebration of the most important medical advances of the past 166 years to mark a complete redesign of the journal and its website.
Sanitation beat 15 other medical advances, including the discovery of antibiotics, the creation of the Pill, and the development of vaccines.
Despite the strong field, sanitation was the undisputed winner with 1,795 votes. Antibiotics was a close second with 1,642 votes and anaesthesia took third place.
Leading doctors and scientists championed each milestone. Speaking after the results were announced, Professor Johan Mackenbach of Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands, who championed sanitation, said: "I'm delighted that sanitation is recognised by so many people as such an important milestone. The general lesson which still holds is that passive protection against health hazards is often the best way to improve population health.
The original champions of the sanitary revolution were John Snow, who showed that cholera was spread by water, and Edwin Chadwick, who came up with the idea of sewage disposal and piping water into homes.
Inadequate sanitation is still a major problem in the developing world. In 2001, unsafe water, sanitation and hygiene accounted for over 1.5 million deaths from diarrhoeal disease in low and middle-income countries. Clearly, sanitation still plays a vital role in improving public health now and in the future."
Dr Fiona Godlee, BMJ Editor said: "The response to our poll has been overwhelming, it is deeply heartening to see science and medicine provoke such passion and debate. Selecting just one winner was always going to be difficult, but I'm delighted that the BMJ has helped to remind everyone of the great contribution that medicine and science has made to our lives now and in the future."
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Article adapted by Start Sanatate from original press release.
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Notes:
The total number of votes received was 11,341
BMJ Medical Milestones: Poll results
BMJ Medical Milestones: Poll results: Top 5
VotesProportion (%) Sanitation (clean water and sewage disposal)179515.8 Antibiotics 164214.5 Anaesthesia 157413.9 Vaccines 133711.8 Discovery of DNA structure10008.8
Full results
NumberProportion (%) Anaesthesia157413.9 Antibiotics164214.5 Chlorpromazine730.6 Computers4053.6 Discovery of DNA structure10008.8 Evidence-based medicine6365.6 Germ theory8437.4 Immunology1821.6 Medical imaging (x-rays, etc.)4714.2 Oral contraceptive pill8427.4 Oral rehydration therapy3082.7 Risks of smoking1831.6 Sanitation (clean water and sewage disposal)179515.8 Tissue culture500.4 Vaccines133711.8 Total Respondents11341100.0
Visitor category - Top 4
Visitor category NumberProportion (%) Doctor319828.6 Member of the public243821.8 Student158214.2 Academic researcher114410.2
CountryNumberProportion (%) Australia3152.8 Bulgaria5735.0 Canada6045.3 Germany2001.8 India2562.3 Italy5474.8 Spain3242.8 United Kingdom428137.7 United States227020.0 Other countries 199217.5 Total respondents11362100.0
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Canalizare este votat cel mai mare din anul 1840 piatrã de hotar medicale - Sanitation Is Voted Greatest Medical Milestone Since 1840 - articole medicale engleza - startsanatate