WEBVTT

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Welcome to the wb Z book Club. This is Jordan Rich. One of

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the most important discoveries of the twentieth
century was actually the first antibiotic. It

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was sulfa, and the story of
its development is found in a book with

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an amazing title, The Demon under
the Microscope. From Battlefield hospitals to Nazi

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labs, one doctor's heroic search for
the world's first miracle drug. The author

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is Thomas Hager. For many millennia, mankind sought out medicines that could defeat

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disease. There were concoctions that could
stop parasitic diseases such as malaria and sleeping

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sickness, but it was the discovery
of sulfa and the impact of one doctor

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that led to saving millions of lives
on the battlefield and at home. Sulfa

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changed the way new drugs were developed
and led to an entire new family of

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medicines that actually eradicated the root cause
of disease, fighting off bacteria. If

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you're interested at all in the history
of medicine, this is a book for

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you, The Demon under the Microscope
by Thomas Hager. The Book Club w

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b Z, Boston's news radio

