1900-Present: Causes, Treatments and Prevention (1 ene 1900 año – 1 ene 2023 año)

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Despite their success with bacteria, Pasteur and Koch were unable to find the cause of viral diseases, as viruses were too small to see under a microscope. In 1892, Russian microbiologist Dmitry Ivanovsky investigated a tobacco plant disease and found that it was caused by an extremely small microbe that remained after all bacteria was removed. In 1898, Dutch scientist Martinus Beijernick found that these microbes had different properties to bacteria, and called them viruses. The discovery of viruses led to successful treatment - antiviral drugs were developed to prevent viral infections from growing.

A healthy diet, exercise and other lifestyle factors have long been suggested as ways to prevent illness, but it was only in the 1900s that lifestyle choices were linked to particular health conditions: smoking has been shown to cause lung cancer, obesity increases the chance of getting heart disease or diabetes, drinking too much alcohol has been shown to cause liver disease, and overexposure to ultraviolet radiation can cause skin cancer. An important change in the 1900s is the use of monitoring devices, such as blood pressure and blood sugar monitors, by people in their own homes - this has allowed individuals greater control over their own health.

Illnesses can be diagnosed more quickly and accurately through the use of medical testing, science and technology. Blood tests make diagnosis more accurate, providing doctors with clearer information of what is wrong, meaning they can be more confident when deciding treatments. The use of medical scans began in 1895 when Wilhelm Rontgen discovered X-rays. Advances in computers allowed doctors to used ultrasound scanning, CT scans, and MRI scans to construct images of parts of the patient's body. Improvements in technology, like medical scans, have given doctors much more detailed knowledge of the human body, enabling them to intervene much earlier, before the disease has become too advanced. Early treatment is generally much more effective and has a higher chance of success.

The advances in science and technology since 1900 have shown that there is not just one cause of disease. In addition to bacteria, we now know that disease can be caused by viral infections, genetic mutations and our lifestyle choices. This makes their treatment and prevention even more complex - with so many different causes, treatment needs to be more targeted to the specific disease.

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