160 Fun Facts About Medical

Which symbol, a single serpent on a staff, is the predominant symbol of medicine?

The two-snake, winged caduceus is often misused for the purpose.

The caduceus, wrongly used as a medical symbol, is traditionally the symbol of which god?

Its adoption in US medicine came from misunderstandings of classical symbology.

Where is the oldest manuscript containing the Hippocratic Oath held?

It dates to roughly the 10th to 11th century.

Who wrote the widely used modern version of the Hippocratic Oath in 1964?

He was Academic Dean of Tufts University's medical school.

What does the Latin word 'placebo' mean?

Its negative counterpart, nocebo, means 'I shall harm'.

What is an inert treatment called when the patient expects it to do harm?

The idea of a placebo effect was discussed in 18th-century psychology.

Aspirin's precursor salicin comes from the bark of which tree?

It has been used for its health effects for at least 2,400 years.

Which company was selling Aspirin globally by 1899?

Felix Hoffmann, or perhaps Arthur Eichengrün, made pure acetylsalicylic acid there in 1897.

Children with viral infections are not given aspirin because of the risk of which condition?

High doses can also cause ringing in the ears.

Paracetamol is sold in the US under which brand name?

In Britain it is Panadol; Americans call the drug acetaminophen.

Ibuprofen was discovered in 1961 by researchers at which British company?

Stewart Adams and John Nicholson first sold it as Brufen.

Morphine was named after which Greek god?

Friedrich Sertürner isolated it from opium in 1804.

Statins lower cholesterol by inhibiting which enzyme?

Atorvastatin and simvastatin are among the family.

Warfarin first came into large-scale commercial use in 1948 as what?

Its anticoagulant effect was traced to mouldy sweet clover that made cattle bleed.

Which US president was treated with warfarin after a highly publicised heart attack?

The drug is sold as Coumadin among other names.

Pfizer discovered sildenafil, later Viagra, in 1989 while looking for a treatment for what?

It was approved for erectile dysfunction in 1998.

Which bacterium produces the neurotoxin behind Botox, the deadliest known natural substance?

In strongly diluted form it is Botox.

Botulism was first linked in early-1800s Württemberg to poisoning from what food?

Thirteen people fell ill and six died after eating pork stomach filled with it.

Adrenaline is produced mainly where in the body?

It drives the fight-or-flight response.

Who was the first to use penicillin successfully in a patient, treating an eye infection in 1930?

He was a student of Fleming.

The word insulin comes from the Latin for what?

It is made by beta cells in the pancreatic islets.

Metformin, the first-line type 2 diabetes drug, was introduced as a medicine in France in which year?

It descends from research on goat's rue, or French lilac.

Who first used the term 'antibiotic' in 1942?

He later won a Nobel for streptomycin.

Who brought smallpox inoculation from Turkey to Britain in 1721?

Jenner's cowpox vaccine came 75 years later.

Which form of diabetes is the most common?

Type 1 is usually treated with insulin injections.

The word 'asthma' comes from a Greek word meaning what?

Salbutamol inhalers treat rapidly worsening symptoms.

What resting blood pressure counts as stage 2 hypertension?

Stage 1 begins at 130/80.

What is the most common cause of a heart attack?

About 15.9 million heart attacks occurred worldwide in 2015.

What is a stroke whose symptoms last less than 24 hours called?

It is also called a mini-stroke.

The word 'cancer' comes from the ancient Greek for which animal?

Hippocrates and Galen likened tumours with swollen veins to crabs.

Tuberculosis was historically known by which name?

In the 1800s it caused an estimated quarter of all deaths in Europe.

Which vaccine protects against tuberculosis?

It stands for bacillus Calmette-Guérin.

Malaria is spread by the bite of which mosquito genus?

Only infected females transmit the Plasmodium parasites.

How many species of Plasmodium commonly infect humans?

Symptoms usually begin 10 to 15 days after the bite.

AIDS was first recognised by which agency in 1981?

It has caused at least 42.3 million deaths.

How many types of influenza virus are there?

They are labelled A, B, C and D.

What are the small white marks inside the mouth in early measles called?

Measles is one of the most contagious human pathogens.

As of 2023, wild poliovirus remained endemic in only Afghanistan and which other country?

Salk's inactivated vaccine was announced on 12 April 1955.

Albert Sabin's polio vaccine differed from Salk's in what way?

The oral vaccine strain replicates in the gut but not nerve tissue.

What is the name of the induced-coma treatment occasionally used for symptomatic rabies?

Almost all rabies exposure was fatal until Pasteur and Roux's 1885 vaccine.

Tetanus is also commonly known as what?

The name comes from the Greek for tension or stretched.

What is the fixed facial spasm of tetanus called?

Trismus, or lockjaw, is the first sign.

Which bacterium causes cholera?

John Snow's 1854 map was the first recorded epidemiological tracking.

Leprosy is also called Hansen's disease after a physician of which nationality?

The Greek root lepra means 'scale'.

Which unusual research animal can be used to grow the leprosy bacterium?

Mycobacterium leprae cannot be grown in a dish.

Scurvy is caused by a lack of what?

It takes at least a month of deficiency before symptoms appear.

James Lind's 1747 scurvy experiment is remembered as one of the first what?

He gave sailors citrus fruit.

Rickets is usually caused by a lack of what?

Too little sun exposure is one cause.

Gout results from needle-shaped crystals of which substance in the joints?

It was historically called the disease of kings.

Which condition was historically nicknamed 'the disease of kings'?

Its link to rich diet and obesity earned the name.

Pertussis is also known by what name because of how long its symptoms can last?

It is caused by Bordetella pertussis.

Chickenpox is caused by which pathogen?

The same virus later causes shingles.

German physicians first described rubella as a separate disease, hence 'German measles', in which year?

It is also called three-day measles.

The largest Ebola outbreak on record occurred where and when?

The virus was first reported in 1976.

Where was the first known case of COVID-19 identified in December 2019?

The disease is caused by SARS-CoV-2.

Sepsis caused roughly what share of deaths worldwide in 2017?

About 49 million people were affected and 11 million died.

What is the most common blood disorder, affecting a fifth to a third of the world's population?

Iron deficiency is a leading cause.

Haemophilia A is a deficiency of which clotting protein?

Haemophilia B involves factor IX.

About what share of sickle cell disease cases occur in sub-Saharan Africa?

Carriers of the gene are partly protected against malaria.

Besides genetic testing, how is cystic fibrosis diagnosed?

Faulty CFTR protein makes secretions thick.

Down syndrome is also known as trisomy of which chromosome?

It is named after British physician John Langdon Down.

Parkinson's disease involves loss of dopamine-producing neurons in which brain region?

Levodopa is a typical initial treatment.

In multiple sclerosis the immune system attacks what?

It is a demyelinating disease.

The word 'epilepsy' comes from a Greek word meaning what?

About 50 million people worldwide have it.

About what share of migraine sufferers experience an aura?

Auras are reversible, often visual disturbances lasting 5 to 60 minutes.

What did Karl Landsteiner originally call the blood group now known as O?

His 1901 classification was A/B/C.

What is the gap between the systolic and diastolic readings called?

Normal adult resting pressure is under 120/80 mmHg.

Who invented the binaural (two-eared) stethoscope in 1851?

Laennec's 1816 original was a single tube.

Who introduced the easily usable blood-pressure cuff in 1896?

Cushing brought one to the US and popularised it.

At what rate per minute should chest compressions be given in adult CPR?

Compressions should be 5 to 6 cm deep.

Where was the first fully implantable pacemaker placed in a human, on 8 October 1958?

Rune Elmqvist designed it and Åke Senning implanted it.

Why did Röntgen put an 'X' in the name of his 1895 discovery?

Radiographs were originally called roentgenographs.

Godfrey Hounsfield shared the 1979 Nobel Prize for the CT scanner with which physicist?

The prize was for computer-assisted tomography.

Which physician was inspired to pioneer endoscopy by watching sword swallowers?

He was fascinated that they could do it without gagging.

Which organ is the second most commonly transplanted worldwide?

Hearts come third.

Which physician-poet suggested the word 'anesthesia' to William Morton after his 1846 ether demonstration?

The Greek root means 'without sensation'.

Who coined the nickname 'laughing gas' for nitrous oxide?

It remains on the WHO's List of Essential Medicines.

Who developed an inhaler to regulate chloroform dosage in 1848?

Simpson had first demonstrated chloroform anaesthesia in 1847.

Who allegedly performed the first C-section in which both mother and child survived, in 1500?

Jacob Nufer's feat was not recorded until eight decades later.

Which Greek physician first used the word onkos, root of 'oncology', for tumours?

He lived from 130 to 200 CE.

The word 'pediatrics' comes from Greek words meaning what?

Pais means child and iatros doctor.

Who coined the term 'psychiatry' in 1808?

It literally means the medical treatment of the soul.

What does the specialty abbreviation ENT stand for?

Its formal name is otorhinolaryngology.

Podiatry is the branch of medicine devoted to which part of the body?

US podiatric schools teach foot and ankle surgery.

Nephrology is the study of which organ?

From the Greek nephros.

Hepatology deals with the liver, gallbladder, biliary tree and which other organ?

It is often a subspecialty of gastroenterology.

Nicolas Andry coined 'orthopaedics' in 1741 from Greek words meaning 'straight' and what?

The discipline originally focused on correcting deformities in children.

Rheumatology takes its name from a Greek word meaning what?

Its common feature is inflammation in bones, muscles, joints and organs.

'Immunity' comes from the Latin immunis, meaning what?

Early physicians described immune organs before the concept existed.

Epidemiology literally means the study of which phrase?

From Greek epi, demos and logos.

The World Health Organization was established on which date in 1948?

It is headquartered in Geneva with six regional offices.

How many Nobel Peace Prizes has the International Committee of the Red Cross won?

They came in 1917, 1944 and 1963.

Médecins Sans Frontières was founded in 1971 in the aftermath of which crisis?

It won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999.

Which Pittsburgh operation, founded in 1967, was the first US civilian EMS staffed by paramedics?

Most of its paramedics were Black.

Ambulances were first used for emergency transport in 1487 by which army?

Field hospitals were still called ambulances in 1870.

The word 'hospital' comes from the Latin hospes, meaning what?

The same root gives host, hospice, hostel and hotel.

In which Minnesota city did William Worrall Mayo settle in 1864, founding what became the Mayo Clinic?

His sons Will and Charlie built the practice.

Johns Hopkins Hospital, opened in 1889, is considered the birthplace of which medical traditions?

Its founder's $7 million bequest was then the largest in US history.

Which author donated the copyright of his most famous work to Great Ormond Street Hospital?

The hospital opened in 1852 as England's first with in-patient beds for children.

Where was Britain's National Health Service officially launched in 1948?

It is now Trafford General Hospital, near Manchester.

Whom did Clement Attlee appoint Health Minister in 1945 to build the NHS?

Its founding principle was care free at the point of delivery.

Where were the first medical degrees awarded, around the year 1000?

Women such as Trota of Salerno were among the graduates.

The prescription symbol Rx comes from the Latin word recipe, meaning what?

It headed medieval lists of materials to be compounded.

Above what body mass index is an adult classed as obese?

Adolphe Quetelet devised the index's basis between 1830 and 1850.

Below what core temperature does hypothermia set in?

Normal body temperature is around 37 °C.

Who first identified cholesterol in solid form in gallstones in 1769?

LDL is the so-called bad cholesterol.

The most common type of stone formed in the urinary tract is made of what?

Sushruta described surgery for stones as early as 600 BC.

The word 'hernia' comes from the Latin for what?

Groin hernias are most commonly inguinal.

Who performed the first recorded successful appendectomy, in 1731?

The patient, Abraham Pike, was a chimney sweep.

Tonsillectomy has been described since at least 50 AD by which Roman writer?

It remains the second most common outpatient operation in US children.

The first alkylating chemotherapy agents were derived from what?

Nitrogen mustards include cyclophosphamide and chlorambucil.

Diazepam, patented by Hoffmann-La Roche in 1959, is better known by which brand name?

It has been among the world's most prescribed drugs since 1963.

Which Australian re-established lithium as a psychiatric medicine in 1948?

It is used mainly for bipolar disorder.

Prozac is the brand name of which drug?

It was the first SSRI antidepressant to become widely known.

Who received the first Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, in 1901?

It was for serum therapy against diphtheria.

Who was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, in 1947?

Her work was on the metabolism of glucose.

Who created the first modern hospice, in 1967?

She was a British nurse turned social worker and doctor.

The word 'triage' comes from a French verb meaning what?

The Old French trier was applied to the practice in the 1800s.

The Apgar score was developed in 1952 by a physician of what specialty?

Virginia Apgar worked at Columbia University.

What is the highest possible Glasgow Coma Scale score?

The lowest, 3, indicates complete unresponsiveness.

The letters on an eye chart are formally known as what?

Herman Snellen developed his chart in 1862.

Louis Braille developed his code in 1824 as an improvement on what?

Charles Barbier had devised the tactile night-writing code.

Who invented the first lightweight folding steel wheelchair in 1933?

Everest was Jennings's disabled engineer friend.

What was the first electric hearing aid, created around 1895, called?

Miller Reese Hutchison built it.

Who fabricated the first successful scleral contact lens in 1888?

He tried them on rabbits, then himself.

The first spectacles were developed in the second half of the 13th century where?

Bifocals came much later, in the 18th century.

Earle Dickson invented the Band-Aid in 1920 for whom?

He rose to vice president of Johnson & Johnson.

Which is the smallest and lightest bone in the human body?

It is named for its resemblance to a stirrup.

Which is the longest bone in the human body?

It is the only bone in the thigh.

What is the heaviest internal organ and largest gland in the human body?

It normally weighs about 1.5 kilograms and can regenerate.

What is the resting adult heart rate close to?

The heart is roughly the size of a closed fist.

Which lung is bigger, and why?

Together they weigh about 1.3 kilograms.

The cornea accounts for roughly what share of the eye's optical power?

It is the transparent front part of the eyeball.

Which people have the highest rate of twinning in the world?

A yam-based diet containing phytoestrogen is one suggested cause.

Chang and Eng Bunker, the original 'Siamese twins', were born in which country?

They travelled widely from 1811 to 1874.

Which IVF pioneer received the Nobel Prize in 2010?

Louise Brown, the first IVF baby, was born in July 1978.

In which year was the first oral contraceptive pill approved by the US FDA?

It remains a very popular form of birth control.

A baby is preterm if born before how many weeks of gestation?

Full term is approximately 40 weeks.

The Pap smear is named after a physician of which nationality?

Georgios Papanikolaou invented it in the 1920s.

Which two countries have the world's highest rates of melanoma?

Migrants from Europe settled where sunlight is intense.

Non-Hodgkin lymphoma makes up roughly what share of lymphoma cases?

Epstein-Barr virus is a risk factor for the Hodgkin type.

The medical term 'metastasis' is Greek for what?

From meta, 'next', and stasis, 'placement'.

'Malignancy' comes from Latin words meaning what?

The term is most familiar as a characterisation of cancer.

The word 'syndrome' derives from a Greek word meaning what?

A syndrome is a set of signs and symptoms that run together.

The word 'prognosis' comes from Greek for what?

Hippocratic writings urged physicians to cultivate it.

Physicians adopted the white coat to represent themselves as what?

It was the most recognisable symbol of the laboratory.

Where did Banting and Best isolate insulin in John Macleod's laboratory?

Banting split his 1923 Nobel Prize money with Best, who had been left out of the award.

William Harvey's 1628 treatise De Motu Cordis set out his discovery of what?

Published in Frankfurt, it drew such criticism from fellow physicians that Harvey 'fell mightily in his practice'.

The words 'vaccine' and 'vaccination' come from Jenner's Latin term Variolae vaccinae, meaning what?

His smallpox vaccine, the world's first, grew out of his interest in how diseases cross between animals and humans.

By what nickname is Ignaz Semmelweis, the pioneer of hand-washing in obstetrics, known?

He could offer no theory for why hand-washing cut deaths from childbed fever, and offended colleagues rejected his findings.

Where in London did Florence Nightingale establish her nursing school in 1860?

It was the first secular nursing school in the world, and is seen as the foundation of professional nursing.

What is the title of Andreas Vesalius's landmark 1543 work on human anatomy?

That same year he articulated the skeleton of an executed felon in Basel, his only surviving prepared specimen.

Louise Brown, the first IVF baby, was delivered in 1978 at the general hospital of which town?

She weighed 5 lb 12 oz, and her sister Natalie followed in 1982 as the world's 40th IVF baby.

Semmelweis made his hand-washing discoveries at the First Obstetrical Clinic of which institution?

He was appointed assistant to Professor Johann Klein there on 1 July 1846.

At which hospital did Joseph Lister introduce carbolic acid as a surgical steriliser?

He used the phenol solution on instruments, skin, sutures, hands and wards, establishing the principle of antisepsis.

Who received the first human-to-human heart transplant, performed by Christiaan Barnard in 1967?

The 54-year-old regained consciousness and talked with his wife before dying of pneumonia 18 days later.

In which year did Ibn Sina (Avicenna) complete The Canon of Medicine?

He began the five-book encyclopedia in Gorganj, continued in Rey and finished it in Hamadan.

In which year did Willem Einthoven win the Nobel Prize for the mechanism of the electrocardiogram?

He had built the first practical electrocardiograph in 1895 and refined a string galvanometer from 1901.

From what did Alexander Fleming discover the enzyme lysozyme in 1922?

Alongside it he found a bacterium he named Micrococcus lysodeikticus, six years before his penicillin discovery.

What name did Paul Lauterbur give his 1973 gradient-based method that led to MRI?

He used continuous-wave NMR to image proton spin density; Raymond Damadian had earlier shown tumours have longer T1 relaxation times.