LeechFest: Recent Episodes
Mia Mulder And Raluca Munteanu
We do content about anything that we find interesting that is at the intersection between medicine/ medical science and history. In addition to the cut-and-dry scientific/historical perspective, the content we create often includes a queer/social justice element. Things might get freaky.Support the show: patreon.com/LeechFestPodcast LeechFest Early Access Feed
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In this episode we discuss typhoid fever and our new favourite scrappy lady: Typhoid Mary. We talk about the bacteria and why it's a lame pathogen, as well as it's mechanism of pathogenicity and infection, and then discuss what caused typhoid plagues and the way we've dealt with it previously. Lastly, we go over the story of Typhoid Mary, and even touch on some of the ethics surrounding her case. Enjoy!
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In this episode we discuss the use of bugs (insects, arthropods, and the like) in medicine and medical research. Specifically, Mia serves us an overview of historical medical treatments using insect pulps and mashes, and Salem covers the modern use of bugs in medicine and research. As you may have heard, maggots are huge in wound treatment, but perhaps more surprisingly, helminths and spiders are also of interest to medical professionals/researchers. We also briefly mention leeches, though we don't spend too much time on them since we've already talked about their properties in the Organ Transplantation episode, so go listen to that! And remember: thank a bug today.
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Here is Part 2 of episode 33! Make sure to listen to Part 1 before you embark on the second part, in which we talk about ethics and future developments in the field!
Image: Vincent Desiderio, Sleep (detail; 2008)
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This month's episode is about comas and follows what we call the Standard Format, where Salem starts off by giving a medical intro to whatever we're talking about, Mia talks about the history of comas, and the rest of the episode is a free for all (in this case we're talking about challenges when it comes to coma diagnosis and treatment, developments like machine learning, ethics and common misconceptions).
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This month for the Halloween special we have two very scary, medically adjacent stories; that of a man eventually dubbed the Angel of Death, and that of the Tylenol Terrorist.
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Ketamine, in addition to being widely used as a fast-acting anaesthetic, is also considered to have a lot of potential in curing treatment-resistant depression and drug and alcohol addiction. In this episode we talk about ketamine and its current uses, how it got to be such a popular anaesthtic, recreational use and potential future applications.
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This month's episode is about monkeypox. We talk about the virus, symptoms, transmission, a brief history and its links with the LGBTQ community, as well as a look into the future. Is it the next HIV epidemic? Is it the next Covid? Listen to find out!
P.S. In the treatment section, Salem states that there are no approved treatments specifically for monkeypox, and rather that there are certain antivirals that were initially developed for smallpox that are also used in some cases for the treatment of monkeypox. In fact, Tecovirimat was licensed by the EMA as well as the FDA for the treatment of monkeypox specifically.
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This month's episode is about torture and it's a bit different than the usual in that it's a bit more on the legal rather than the medical side. We start out by talking briefly about the history of torture, mostly focusing on its legality and use and then talk about torture today, and some specific examples.
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Happy pride! In this episode we talk about the history of homosexuality, mostly how it was different from homosexuality today and how it was viewed in society. We also talk about the role that psychology played in its pathologization and the gay rights movement.
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Mia Mulder
Frejgatan 13,
114 79 Stockholm, Sweden
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We've talked about blood transfusions, now it's time for its sister field: organ transplantations! Just like blood transfusions relied on ABO compatibility to work, organ transplantation scientists ran into the issue of immune system compatibility- something that is still giving us trouble. We talk about how the field evolved through time, and how the discovery of immunosuppressants contributed to safer transplants- kinda. We also discuss sketchy practices and practitioners, and the future of transplants in the form of immune cells, biopolymers or perhaps xenotransplants.
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Prions: what are they, how they were discovered, and what's their link with cannibalism? We talk about all of that in this month's episode.
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People have always known that blood plays an integral role in health and disease, and have developed lots of treatments around blood, including bloodletting. However, they quickly figured out that while getting blood out is easy, putting blood back in is a lot more difficult, partly because of the complexity of the circulatory system, because of a lack of tools, and lastly, because blood has a tendency to turn bad when you mix it improperly. But all is ahead: the field of transfusion medicine has much in store, plastic blood may become a reality in the future.
P.S. A quick correction: at the end, we talk about embryonic stem cells being collected from aborted fetuses. While fetal stem cells are also used in research, embryonic stem cells are actually collected from discarded, non-implanted embryos (typically obtained from clinics performing IVF procedures).
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In this episode we talk about opium (the OG drug) - how it works, how it's cultivated and how it spread in early history, as well as its political relevance in the 19th century.
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This month we are joined by Patrick Kelly, with whom we discuss the origins of pharmacy and the development of patent laws. We start out by going over the early roots of pharmacy and how the field evolved over time and eventually separated from medicine. Mia goes over some important public health disasters that led to the introduction of the stricter pharma regulations we have today, and lastly, we discuss how we came to implement patent law in regards to chemicals and medicine.
Here is Patrick's physiology Youtube channel and his medical history channel. Check them out!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSriLWQC2J6wNeWXOGlIV4w
https://www.youtube.com/c/PatrickKellyMedicalHistory
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In this month's episode we talk about leprosy: the bacteria that cause it and how exactly they cause the disease, as well as the genetic risk factors involved (did you know that there is some overlap in the disease-causing pathways in leprosy and Alzheimer's?). We also cover the origin of the bacteria and their spread, early and modern treatments (wait till you hear about this one), leper colonies and eradication.
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Today we're talking about biowarfare. We do a quick overview and go through some early uses of bioweapons, then Mia talks about instances of biowarfare in WWI and WWII. This episode Salem also gets to talk about conspiracy theories, this time around bioweapons with a focus on Covid.
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Syphilis! How does it work, where does it come from, and why the heck did 20th century doctors infect syphilitic patients with malaria? We talk about this, and more, in this month's episode. LeechFest Early Access Feed
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This month we are talking about (unfortunately) a topical subject. We start out by going over the early history of abortion, specifically what methods were used in antiquity up until the Middle Ages as well as its legal status/ social acceptance. Mia then takes over and discusses the legality of abortion in the modern era, and then shifts focus to Roe v Wade (what it is, its importance and current perspectives). We then discuss abortion access in the United States and Poland.
P.S. Joseph Stalin makes a surprise appearance.
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Magic mushrooms! What are they and what do they do to the body? We talk about this, as well as their history of use, modern use and finally, the piece de resistance: a clinical study on their therapeutic use against treatment resistant depression (TRD) published in November. LeechFest Early Access Feed
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This month we tackle the topic of plastic surgery:we talk about where and how rhinoplasties developed, how the original flap method changed through time, as well as how military conflict led to plastic surgery becoming an established subfield of medicine. We also manage to talk trans healthcare in the form of Michael Dillon - a trans man whose beard and accomplishments impress us to this day.
Image: Jean Baptiste Marc Bourgery and Nicholas Henri Jacob, ‘Iconografia d'anatomia chirurgica e di medicina operatoria,’ Florence, 1841.
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In this episode we tackle the topic of discrimination in healthcare. Specifically, we talk about how healthcare has been inaccessible to people of colour and women and also about how that history of inaccessibility has created an environment where those groups are not represented in the healthcare industry nor get appropriate healthcare. We mention the Flexner report, lack of diversity in research, and the act of psychologizing pain and illness, as well as a small sprinkle of queer history in the form of James Barry.
Credit: Edel Rodriguez
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It's our first Halloween special! How could we not do a special episode to commemorate what is arguably the world's best holiday? In this episode Mia tells us about the history of body snatching and how it became a profitable business for two very savvy entrepreneurs in Scotland in 1828. We also touch on the various ways in which 19th century people would protect their relatives' bodies from body snatchers as well as discuss the practice of body snatching now. Mia even manages to explain who the heck the anti-Pope was and all the confusion that came out of having multiple guys claiming to be the Pope. In the second half of the episode, Raluca reads 'The Russian Sleep Experiment' and 'Ella' to get everyone in the Halloween spirit. Enjoy!! LeechFest Early Access Feed
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This month's episode is about mass psychogenic illness, more commonly known as mass hysteria. We primarily focus on 2 examples from history, specifically the Dancing Plague as well as some instances of hysteria in religious institutions in the 16th century. We also cover a few modern examples just to show that this phenomenon can still happen and that it can take rather mild forms, so it doesn't always look like the 'typical' dramatic mass hysteria event.
The image is a portrait of a 16th-century nun in Poland, by Jadwiga Radomyski.
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In this episode we talk about the ridiculous history behind the discovery and popularization of LSD, (briefly) about how it works as well as its applications in clinical settings. LeechFest Early Access Feed
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In this episode we talk about the Chernobyl catastrophe, specifically what went wrong and how the resulting radioactivity affected the surrounding area. We take up the short-term and long-term health consequences and we even talk about the seemingly thriving animal populations in the present. Are they really as healthy and happy as is often pointed out? Are the boar LIVING, or are they just...living? LeechFest Early Access Feed
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In this episode discuss the (unfortunate) origins of space medicine. We also discuss the differences between a space environment and the Earth environment, as well as the effects these differences have on the human body. We also talk about the measures astronauts have to take in order to minimize damage on the body. Lastly, we talk about what's keeping us from exploring the deep space and also the contributions space medicine has had on earth medicine.
The image represents the first astronaut class introduced by NASA on April 9, 1959. Front row, left to right: Walter M. Schirra, Jr., Donald K. "Deke" Slayton, John H. Glenn, Jr., and M. Scott Carpenter; back row, Alan B. Shepard, Jr., Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, and L. Gordon Cooper, Jr. Source is The Mercury 7.
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This month we tackle to topic of neurodiversity throughout history, focusing on autism. We start out by looking at how the term came to be and at how the etiology autism changed through time, and later we dive into some interesting myths connected to autism. Changelings, for example, were a major element of European folklore, and were believed to be non-humans/ fairies which were switched out for healthy babies, and which could be identified by their 'atypical' behavior or appearance. Aliens, and Indigo Children are other examples of tropes used in connection with autism. Lastly, we look at a non-Western approach to neurodiversity and discuss the (over?)medicalization of neurodiversity in the West.
The image represents the devil stealing a baby, and it is a detail of "The legend of St. Stephen" by Martino di Bartolomeo, courtesy of Städelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt am Main.
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In this episode we discuss the Islamic Golden Age, specifically the factors that led to the scientific advances in the Islamic world, the contribution of Islamic teachings to the way Islamic scientists developed their ideas, as well as the specific contributions of the Islamic world to science and medicine. How did medical education look like? What kind of treatments did Islamic physicians employ in the hospitals? In what field of medicine did Muslim doctors excel in?
The cover art for this episode is a painting of al-Razi, coming from Science Museum Group, in the United Kingdom.
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This podcast is no stranger to major epidemics. We've already covered the Spanish Flu and the Black Death. But what if we told you that the epidemic currently devastating American health has not been caused by a virus or bacteria at all, but rather by a poor understanding of pain and addiction, insufficient regulations surrounding medications and the greed of a pharmaceutical giant?
Note: We are not entirely accurate when we mention benzodiazepines at the end. They are anti-psychotics, not painkillers. Benzodiazepines are sometimes prescribed together with opioids as they can alleviate psychiatric co-morbidities in patients with chronic pain. Combining opioids and benzodiazepines can carry risks as both drugs sedate users and suppress breathing—the cause of overdose fatality. Also, Mia says 300 million people died from the opioid epidemic, the correct number is 300 thousand.
Image by Franz Eugen Köhler, Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen,1897
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We've been on a medieval kick lately! We mentioned plague doctors in the previous episode but there was so much more to medieval medicine than those beaked freaks. In this episode, we take a look at sickness and health between approximately 8th and 15th century in Europe. We talk about medical practitioners and the methods they would employ, and also look at how the practice changed over time. This episode is also very female-focused, so we talk about female healers and some reasons why they would get accused of witchcraft. LeechFest Early Access Feed
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As a medical history podcast, we can't not talk about the Black Death. Frankly, we're surprised it's taken us 6 episodes to get to it. We talk bacteria (and a few other prominent theories for the plague), discuss plague doctors (obvs) and Mia reveals she is a proponent of the miasma theory. In addition, we play a little game of Would you survive the Plague?
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In this episode we talk about eugenics as a movement throughout history, as well as its scientific foundations and consequences. Did you know that while most people think of eugenics as a thing of the past, it continues to be a topic of controversy, with people advocating for liberal eugenics as a means for disease management and /or individual enhancement. We delve into what constitutes modern eugenics and how the image of eugenics has changed over time. Or has it?
The cover image is an Eugenics Society poster (1930s) from the Wellcome Library Eugenics Society Archive.
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In this episode we talk about the origins of the modern vaccine i.e. variolation and also the different types of vaccines available today. We also go over the mRNA vaccine and cover some of the more common concerns people have about it. Lastly, we talk about the history of the anti-vaxx movement and how it looks in the present day. LeechFest Early Access Feed
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We talk about the practice of incest in the royal houses of Europe, which is a conversation that of course has to include The Jaw. We also talk about the Russian Empire, and about how hemophilia may have been the straw that broke the Romanov's dynasty's back. LeechFest Early Access Feed
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The Spanish flu was one of the most deadly pandemics in recent history. What a fun thing to banter about, discuss and draw modern comparisons to! Hope you like it! LeechFest Early Access Feed
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It's the first episode of LeechFest! In this episode we talk about asylums, mental health and Daddy Dukesberry.This month we go through a summary of early mental illness history and mental health treatments, talk about who were seen as "insane" and why asylums got built by the hundreds in the 19th century. LeechFest Early Access Feed
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