Science does not always occur in a linear fashion, but rather is a combination of determination, surprises, luck, and curiosity. Many accidental innovations occur when a researcher is looking for something else entirely. In fact, some of the most influential innovations came from a simple initial observation in nature that may be part accident and part science.
Read part one of the series
Quinine
The true origins of Quinine, an antimalarial drug that is especially effective during the first trimester of pregnancy, is historically unclear with multiple accounts telling different tales of this medication’s first application. Jesuit Missionaries in South America, who christened Quinine “Jesuit’s bark,” “Cardinal’s Bark,” and “Sacred bark,” claimed that the medicine, found in the bark of the cinchona (quina-quina) tree, was used to treat malaria and its symptomatic fevers as early as the 1600s. The Jesuits asserted that Quinine’s medical application was originally discovered when a South American Indian with a raging fever who got lost in the Andean Jungle. The Indian drank from a pool of stagnant water, which had been tainted by the surrounding quina-quina trees. As the story goes, to his surprise the Indian later found that his fever had subsided and he was cured of his ailment.
Interestingly, the other origin story of the medical application of Quinine begins with the contraction of malaria by the Spanish Countess of Chinchon while she was visiting Peru. The Countess discovered that the bark of a certain tree cured her illness and she went on to share her discovery to her comrades in Europe. In honor of the Countess, the tree was dubbed Cinchona.
Quinine and other Cinchona alkaloids have been used and transformed into medicines with a high efficacy in malaria treatment. By 1890, Quinine became the primary treatment used by clinicians. By the early 1920s however, new synthetic antimalarial medications became available and were shown to be more effective. Although often eclipsed by newer drugs, Quinine continues to play a key role in severe malaria treatment, especially in the managing prenatal malaria. Prenatal malaria is a notorious and can cause adverse symptoms like maternal anemia, fetal growth retardation, low birth weight, preterm deliveries and abortion. Although the true origin of Quinine’s first medical use may never be known, its medical application has benefited individuals for centuries.
Smallpox Vaccine
Smallpox is one of the most notorious and deadly diseases that mankind has faced. It has threatened entire societies and about one third of all cases of smallpox end in death. This disease is spread through close contact with the symptomatic sores or respiratory droplets of infected individuals.
It has been known for centuries that people who were able to survive smallpox developed immunity to the disease. This resulted in unofficial smallpox prevention methods, collectively known as variolation. Different cultures practiced different methods: the Chinese inserting powdered smallpox scabs into their noses and the Turkish scratching smallpox pus from lesions into their skin. Variolations encouraged immunity in some individuals, but it also resulted in deaths and new epidemics in previously healthy populations. Despite the questionable results of violations, do-it-yourself smallpox inoculation was a common practice into the early 18th century.
In 1788, an English medical student, Edward Jenner developed a vaccination through the use of cowpox, a disease related to smallpox that is less severe. Prior to his derivation of the official vaccination, Jenner observed that milkmaids who had been infected with cowpox, which caused blistering on cow’s udders, did not contract smallpox. From this observation, Jenner formulated a vaccination. In 1788, he inoculated James Phipps, a healthy 8-year-old boy with cowpox. Phipps exhibit a small blister reaction to the inoculation, but no disease developed. Soon doctors across Europe adopted Jenner’s technique, leading to a diminution in smallpox. From cows, to milkmaids, to curing a deadly disease, the progression of the creation of a smallpox vaccine demonstrates that taking a chance on a theory can have incredible results.
Anticoagulant Drugs
In 1916, Jay Mclean, a second year medical student working in Dr. William Howell’s laboratory, was searching for a pro-coagulant in dog liver. To his surprise, instead he stumbled upon a substance in the canine liver cells that produced anti-coagulant effects. This substance is a naturally occurring blood thinner formed in Basophil granulocytes and mast cells, which are both types of white blood cells. By 1918, William Howell and his student L. Emmett Holt Jr. purified the anticoagulation substance into what is now known as heparin, an injectable anticoagulant.
Through chance, once again, the first oral anticoagulant was discovered. In 1939, spoiled and moldy sweet clover hay was found to be the cause of sweet clover disease, a hemorrhagic disorder responsible for killing large populations of cattle. Although seemingly unconnected, this cow epidemic led to the discovery of the first oral anticoagulant, warfarin. The discovery of this anticoagulant is credited to Karl Paul Link of the University of Wisconsin. Link was able to isolate dicumarol, the active agent in the sweet clover mold, and determine it was the cause of the cattles’ internal hemorrhaging.
From dog liver to cow epidemics, the discovery and development of anticoagulants was a serendipitous and unexpected process that produced a useful and societally relevant medication. Large doses of heparin are routinely administered through injection to prevent blood clotting in patients going through kidney dialysis, heart surgery, and other serious medical procedures. Similarly, warfarin is used as an oral anticoagulant to prevent the formation of blood clots in blood vessels and their migration elsewhere in the body. The development and discovery of blood thinners indicate that chance and fortunate accidents can have important implications on advancing scientific research and innovations.
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