University Hospitals Plymouth, Plymouth, UK
the Institute of Naval Medicine, Alverstoke, UK.
Clin Med (Lond). 2019 Jan;19(1):22-25. doi: 10.7861/clinmedicine.19-1-22.
Royal Naval ships' companies, isolated by hundreds of miles of sea with contacts to the outside world tightly regulated, provided perfect environments to study the epidemiology of disease. In 1747, James Lind organised one of the earliest clinical trials, demonstrating that scurvy could be treated by lemon juice. A century later, Alexander Bryson proved the value of careful epidemiological data collection and observation of infectious diseases encountered on the West Africa station. In the 20th century, Royal Navy physicians were at the cutting edge of vaccine research and antibiotic production. Nuclear submarines placed naval physicians at the forefront of nuclear medicine and environmental safety. The development of new aircraft carriers has driven a renewed interest in aviation medicine. This article reviews the contributions that Royal Navy physicians have made to medicine over the centuries, detailing some of the better known as well as some almost forgotten, but still remarkable, achievements.
皇家海军舰艇上的官兵与世隔绝，与外界的联系受到严格管控，这为研究疾病的流行病学提供了绝佳的环境。1747 年，詹姆斯·林德（James Lind）组织了最早的临床试验之一，证明柠檬汁可以治疗坏血病。一个世纪后，亚历山大·布莱森（Alexander Bryson）证明了仔细收集流行病学数据和观察西非站遇到的传染病的价值。在 20 世纪，皇家海军医生处于疫苗研究和抗生素生产的前沿。核潜艇使海军医生处于核医学和环境安全的最前沿。新型航空母舰的发展推动了对航空医学的重新关注。本文回顾了皇家海军医生几个世纪以来对医学的贡献，详细介绍了一些更为人所知的成就，以及一些几乎被遗忘但仍很出色的成就。
