Antibiotics

For the entirety of the Fifth Age, medicine has been based on a magic-first principle that prioritises charms, incantations, and potions over anatomical knowledge. By the end of the eighth century, the scientific community had identified three primary vectors of disease: viral, bacterial, and spiritual.

A significant number of Mage War veterans returned home with advanced ferrite poisoning . Although ferrite poisoning makes the patient immune to most forms of spiritual illness, it also renders many traditional medical treatments ineffective - some estimates reach as high as a 40% mortality for ironbound patients admitted to hospital, with more suffering prolonged admission times and lasting complications, mainly due to inadequate care.

Vaccine-theory was developed in Ophoné in the fifth century; their use became widespread through North and South Erwa during the seventh century, and have proved effective at preventing viral infection, though are ineffective once the disease has taken root.

Silver therapy is effective in reducing the duration and complications of bacterial illnesses, but the cost of the materials prohibits implementation at scale. With large numbers of Mage War veterans suffering and dying from once-treatable illnesses, governments in North and South Erwa established a series of commissions and bounties to find methods of reducing veterans’ mortality rates.

Analyses of potion-based medication has shown some efficacy, laying the groundwork for rehydration therapy, which has already saved thousands of lives during outbreaks of ptomaine poisoning. It was this line of enquiry which laid the groundwork for the discovery of antibiotics.

While exploring the effects of microdosed poisons on bacterial agents, in 5.922, a Saha-based pharmacist, Ousman Condé, discovered a fungal toxin that inhibits bacterial growth in vitro. The substance - gentamicin - was sourced from a commonly-occurring soil fungus, which can be quickly and cheaply grown in fermentation vats, filtered, and applied topically or intravenously.

Almost simultaneously, in Kirh, Amala Maslin discovered another anti-bacterial agent while preparing dyed samples. Intending to track the effect of reduced concentrations of silverwash on a bacterial infection in an open wound, the red dye she was using, derived from cheap coal-tar, destroyed the infection. It was later discovered that the dye molecule is metabolised into a colourless compound, sulfanilamide, which was already in widespread production for dye-making.