A Medical Check-Up Trivia Quiz

Answer: Hippocrates of Cos

There is little doubt that Hippocrates was a real person and a real physician who lived in the 5th and 4th Centuries BC. He is mentioned by Plato, by Aristotle, and by his 2nd Century AD biographer Soranus of Ephesus. Other details about his life are disputed, as are the genuineness of many writings ascribed to him which were more likely written later by those who followed his school of thought. His teachings were advanced for their time and became part of the foundation of Western medicine.

Answer: black bile, yellow bile, blood, and phlegm

The four humours of Hippocratic medicine were held to correspond to an element and to a temperament in a human being. These correspondences were blood/air/hot -wet, yellow bile/fire/hot - dry, black bile/earth/dry - cold and phlegm/water/wet - cold. The humours were also sometimes referred to in medical literature as cambria. Some physicians continued to espouse this theory into the nineteenth century.

Answer: breathing bad air

The English word "malaria" derives from the Medieval Italian phrase "mala aria" which meant "bad air." The prevalent medieval medical theory was that malaria was contracted by breathing miasma -- foul air which carried the disease into the body. According to the World Health Organization, there were 219 million cases of malaria worldwide in 2010, about one half of one percent resulting in death.

Answer: an artificial heart first used in 1982

The first artificial heart successfully implanted in a human being was designed by Dr. Robert Jarvik and installed by Dr. William DeVries in Dr. Barney Clark, a Seattle dentist, in 1982. The unit deployed was called the Jarvik-7. Long-term use of the device encountered problems with stroke and infection. The Jarvik-7 and its successor models have been used very successfully as "bridging" devices to keep a patient alive until a human heart can be transplanted.

Answer: ABO blood type in 1901 and Rh blood type in 1937

Doctor Karl Landsteiner won the Nobel Prize for his involvement in the discovery of both the ABO blood types and the Rh blood types. The differences are the result of different protein molecules called antigens on the surface of red blood cells and called antibodies in the plasma. Blood types are inherited from one's parents.

Answer: Elizabeth Blackwell

The involvement of women in the practice of medicine was historically limited to midwives, healers, herbologists and those who attended to the basic physical needs of patients. The professionalization of nursing increased the social pressure to permit women to become medical doctors. Linda Richards was largely responsible for bringing Florence Nightingale's model for training nurses from England to the United States. Elizabeth Blackwell (1821-1910) was the first woman to receive a medical degree in the US (from Geneva Medical College in New York in 1849).

Answer: Their funerary practice of embalming

While Egyptian medicine held that disease was caused by gods or spirits, Egyptian physicians learned much about human anatomy from the practice of embalming and mummification. In this process, the organs were removed from the corpse and separately preserved. This allowed the brain, heart, lungs, liver, intestines and reproductive organs to be examined and studied. This knowledge benefited their extra-religious medical practices, evidence of which appears in papyri dating back as far as 3000 BC.

Answer: True

War produces large numbers of people (both military and non-combatants) suffering from not only wounds but also diseases and accidents. In addition to those wounded by hostile fire, many people often became ill from communicable diseases which disabled sufferers and impaired military readiness.

The experience of field surgeons, ship's surgeons and medics has contributed significantly to advances not only in trauma care but also in public health, rehabilitative medicine, reconstructive surgery and infection control.

Answer: stunted arms and legs

Thalidomide was invented in Germany, where many of the horrendous cases of misshapen children occurred. As cases of teratogenic deformity mounted, causation was established and the drug was withdrawn from many markets. Public reaction to these drug-induced birth defects led to stronger requirements to test new medications for their safety when administered to pregnant women.

Answer: smallpox

Smallpox (Variola) is an infectious disease caused by a virus. It was first contracted by humans about 10,000 years ago and has caused millions of deaths (as well as blindness in survivors) ever since. The last naturally-occurring case of smallpox was recorded in 1977.