Historical gallery
A history of fighting infection in pictures.
|
IMAGE 1 of 50
|
A monster representing an influenza virus hitting a man over the head as he sits in his armchair. Pen and ink drawing by Ernest Noble, c.1918. True influenza is far worse than a bad cold, and the 1918 strain was even more deadly, killing the young and previously healthy as well as the old and vulnerable. Credit: Wellcome Library, London
IMAGE 2 of 50
|
Young patients at Stannington Sanatorium, the first British sanatorium for tuberculosis children, at Morpeth, Northumbria. Before antibiotics, fresh air and sunlight were among the only remedies for anyone infected with TB. Credit: Wellcome Library, London
|
IMAGE 3 of 50
|
A sprite-like figure representing a disinfectant scourges figures representing the infectious diseases cholera, typhoid, diphtheria and smallpox. A coloured lithograph from 1890 by A Van Geleyn. Hygiene remains a key factor in the battle against infectious disease. Credit: Wellcome Library, London
|
IMAGE 4 of 50
|
An illuminated tram-car advertising an X-ray diagnosis facility. From an X-ray campaign against tuberculosis in Glasgow run in March and April 1957. Antibiotics reduced the prevalence of TB in the UK, but it has been on the increase recently. It remains a huge problem globally, and highly drug-resistant forms such as XDR-TB have appeared. Credit: Wellcome Library, London
|
IMAGE 5 of 50
|
A wartime poster warning against syphilis. Credit: Wellcome Library, London
|
IMAGE 6 of 50
|
A physician wearing a 17th-century plague preventive costume. The thick outer clothes were supposed to prevent exposure to the noxious substances thought to cause the disease. The strange beak was filled with herbs in an attempt to filter these substances out of the air. The stick was to stop infected patients getting too close. Credit: Wellcome Library, London
|
IMAGE 7 of 50
|
Anti-typhoid vaccination in World War I. Credit: Wellcome Library, London
|
IMAGE 8 of 50
|
A cover of the French publication Le Grolet, from the Spanish flu pandemic.
|
IMAGE 9 of 50
|