New
New
Year 10
AQA

19th century approaches to treatment and prevention

I can evaluate the impact of Germ Theory on approaches to treating and preventing disease in the 19th century.

New
New
Year 10
AQA

19th century approaches to treatment and prevention

I can evaluate the impact of Germ Theory on approaches to treating and preventing disease in the 19th century.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Bloodletting and patent medicines were popular but ineffective treatments.
  2. It was not understood why the smallpox vaccine worked.
  3. Louis Pasteur developed a replicable method for developing vaccines.
  4. Germ Theory did not lead to new treatments before 1900.
  5. Many successful public health reforms were not based on knowledge of Germ Theory.

Keywords

  • Quack - used to refer to people or medical practices which are useless and untrustworthy

  • Public health - actions and systems intended to prevent disease and maintain good health within communities

Common misconception

Development of the smallpox vaccine helped scientists to develop vaccines for other diseases.

It was not understood why the smallpox vaccine worked, so no new vaccines were developed until the last decades of the 19th century.


To help you plan your year 10 history lesson on: 19th century approaches to treatment and prevention, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

Ask pupils at the end of the lesson, how different were approaches to treatment and prevention by 1900 compared to 1800. You may prompt pupils by encouraging them to consider the methods in use, their purpose and their effectiveness against disease.
Teacher tip

Equipment

Content guidance

  • Depiction or discussion of violence or suffering
  • Depiction or discussion of sensitive content

Supervision

Adult supervision required

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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Prior knowledge starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
Who first developed Germ Theory?

Correct Answer: Louis Pasteur, Pasteur

Q2.
Which theory argued that microbes were the result of decay and disease?

Germ Theory
miasma
Correct answer: spontaneous generation

Q3.
In which year was Germ Theory first published?

1821
1841
Correct answer: 1861
1881

Q4.
Which famous British doctor opposed Germ Theory?

Correct answer: Henry Charlton Bastian
John Tyndall
Robert Koch

Q5.
Write the missing word. Officials in British India blamed a cholera outbreak during the 1880s on .

Correct Answer: miasma

Q6.
Robert Koch identified microbes which were responsible for causing which diseases?

Correct answer: anthrax
Correct answer: cholera
plague
smallpox
Correct answer: tuberculosis

Assessment exit quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
What term refers to actions and systems intended to prevent disease and maintain good health within communities?

Correct Answer: public health

Q2.
What was Daffy's Elixir?

Correct answer: a patent medicine
a public health reform
a vaccine

Q3.
Write the missing word. Leeches were often used for in the 19th century.

Correct Answer: bloodletting, blood-letting, blood letting

Q4.
What led to the end of cholera outbreaks in cities like London and Glasgow?

patent medicines
Correct answer: public health reforms
vaccines

Q5.
Joseph Lister applied Germ Theory to his surgical work to try and prevent what?

divine punishment
Correct answer: infections
miasma

Q6.
Which statement is most accurate?

A vaccine for rabies was developed within 10 years of the smallpox vaccine.
A vaccine for rabies was developed within 50 years of the smallpox vaccine.
Correct answer: A vaccine for rabies was developed more than 80 years after the smallpox vaccine
No vaccines were ever developed after the smallpox vaccine.

Additional material

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