Flushing a vein with a liter of saline is standard protocol in clinics and hospitals. To receive fluids intravenously is an ubiquitous therapeutic, a common tool to alleviate many conditions, so standard that there are even businesses that offer an IV and a bag of saline as a cure for the common hangover.
Intravenous fluid resuscitation relies on the principle of replenishing our precious bodily fluids through delivery directly into the blood vessels, but where did this concept come from? How did a remedy that breaches the skin and veins, violating the sanctity of the human body to inject a liter of foreign substance enter the medical armamentarium? It has its origins in mankind’s quest to defeat a bacteria infamous for causing such prolific diarrhea that it causes fatal shock: cholera
An 1828 etching by William Heath, “Monster Soup commonly called Thames Water.” Just a few years before the 1832 cholera outbreak, concerns about the hygiene and purity of the River Thames mounted. revealing the impurity of London drinking water. Image: W. Heath, 1828. Source: Wellcome Collection. Click for source.
