RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
The Lancet's executive editor is Dr. Bill Summerskill. Among the concerns he found in the New Year's edition from a hundred years ago: cancer, tuberculosis and health care for those who couldn't afford it.
BILL SUMMERSKILL: So there were great concerns amongst those who cared for people what was going to happen to less advantaged people as situations worsened. So that started out by ringing a real bell with me, because those are topics that we worry about today.
MONTAGNE: There's another issue that shows up in the journal itself, and it's a concern that is still with us. And that is the correspondent from New York reporting on a crackdown on trade in rotten eggs. So food safety was on their mind.
SUMMERSKILL: And I think you can't help but read that and rejoice at the recent passage through Congress of the new food safety legislation.
MONTAGNE: Was there one thing in this editorial or this issue that brought into stark relief for you how far we've come?
SUMMERSKILL: And I think a specific example was in 1909, I believe, Paul Ehrlich had introduced Salvarsan, which was the first specific treatment for syphilis. And this marked the dawn of the anti-microbial era. So we see a number of pieces in here about the remarkable treatment effects of Salvarsan on syphilis.
HIV: You know, I didn't realize that there was a time when we regarded HIV as such an incurable problem.
MONTAGNE: Dr. Summerskill, thank you very much for joining us.
SUMMERSKILL: Thank you, Renee.
MONTAGNE: Bill Summerskill is the executive editor of the medical journal the Lancet. He joined us from the journal's office in London.
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