A couple times a year local and national mass media put the spotlight on problems connected to antibiotic overuse. Some people consider those problems to be real and serious, and others think that the discussed topics are nothing more than new “fashionable” subjects to talk about, distracting people from “real” problems, such as climbing gas prices or war expenses. Meanwhile, antibiotic overuse continues as a common practice among US doctors and agribusinesses for the last 20 years. The practice of antibiotic overuse has put patient’s health at risk, contributed to antibiotic resistance and increased bacterial mutation to a new, stronger level; as well as it hitting the economy with new costly expenses in health care. It is time to stop …show more content…
Fleming in 1928. Penicillin helped to treat some common infections: step throat, boils, it would heal wounds quicker, as well as treat more serious infections such as meningitis and pneumonia. Antibiotics usually kill only weak bacteria and after some years of antibiotic usage stronger bacteria have not only survived but also became resistant to the old cure. “Doctors have started to prescribe antibiotics to cure conditions such as ear infections, sinusitis, bronchitis, non-specific upper respiratory tract infections and even common colds and flu… According to the Director of Antimicrobial Resistance, Dr. Richard Besser, each year US physicians write $50 million worth of prescriptions that are ineffectual and unnecessary.” (Elisa Bussey). The more doctors were prescribing antibiotics, the bigger the number of people who become resistant to them. Most of the European countries prescribe antibiotics to kill bacteria only in cases of life threatening conditions. Patients in the US have become accustomed to receiving antibiotics for almost any health concerns and with time, patients have started to expect such prescriptions as a norm. A majority of pharmaceutical companies thought that penicillin was to be a cure for any infection. At first no one expected that bacteria would mutate and become stronger. Initially pharmaceutical companies stopped doing research for new antibiotics and concentrated on other areas. As the result,
The wonderful discovery of Penicillin, a medicine that was discovered in 1928. This medicine was used to cure bacteria in humans. Penicillin had good results not only in the 1928, as it also still is very successful today. Penicillin had a big impact, it cured many people in the U.S. during World War II. penicillin,leads to the development of others antibiotics.
The onset of World War II made the drug very essential to the recovery of soldiers. It prevented millions of deaths and amputations, and the number of units sold in the United States increased from 400 million to 650 billion units per month in just two years. The number of casualties would have been drastically larger without penicillin since minor injuries would have proliferated into fatal infections. This antibiotic not only had short-term effects, but also had long-term effects since penicillin remains the most widely used drug today. Strep throats can be easily and cheaply treated now, but around seventy years ago, people would have died because of this
In this reading there was many very interesting facts about penicillin. Penicillin was a breakthrough in the medical field in the 20th century. The scientist Alexander Fleming had accidentally spilled a vile of bacteria on to a plate of bacteria to his benefit he found that is had stopped the growth of bacteria. This accidental discover has benefited everyone in the world because we have to get these shots if we are infected, plus it saved many life’s in world war II. However, Penicillin is considered an antibiotic chemical that is created by living organism to stop the growth of bacteria and prevent an illness if people were to come into contact with this problem. Since the discovery and massive stock piling of this cure it has become less
The development of penicillin provided a major stepping stone for the practice of medicine, and has saved the lives of countless individuals since its synthesis.
In the mid 1900’s, illnesses swept through the city of London and consumed the lives of many unknowing citizens. Any sickness or open wound was susceptible to a fatal infection, which led the body to be taken over by millions of harmful bacteria (Fogel). Thanks to Alexander Fleming’s encounter of penicillin, we no longer have to worry about this. Penicillin serves as a life-saving, bacteria killing drug that is responsible for the lives of millions. Plus, it played a major role in furthering the effectiveness of medicine. Alexander Fleming’s miraculous discovery of penicillin saved a countless amount of lives and was the basis for progressing medicine.
Similar to Corn Flakes, Silly Putty, etc, penicillin was not made for its original intention and was an accidental discovery. Bacteriologist Alexander Fleming had left his laboratory a mess when he went on a vacation. When he arrived back to continue his work, he recognized that all the petri dishes he left out were congested with mold. Then, one dish that “contained a staphylococci culture” with a ring around the mold had drawn attention to Fleming. Stated from “Not-So-Dumb-Luck”, “. . . he found that the ring was bacteria-free, and that the mold was a rare spore called Penicillium notatum”. Since Fleming had a mycology lab downstairs and wasn’t the tidiest of experimenters, the mold most likely originated from the lab below and may have interacted with one of the cultures of the dishes. It was realized that the bacteria in the dish was killed by the mold, thus Alexander Fleming researched how the bacteria was exterminated. Eventually, he concluded that “penicillin was the antibacterial agent in the mold”, however he couldn’t determine its use for humans. The discovery of penicillin was entirely of nature’s work and an accident, admitted by Fleming.
Andrew J. Moyer continued the later development of penicillin by making it more affordable and accessible. “In 1943, the required clinical trials were performed and penicillin was shown to be the most effective antibacterial agent to date.” (Bellis) Penicillin has become one of the most effective antibacterial drugs in the US. During the WWII time we needed to ship these medicines to our soldiers, and in high demand. As it was found more commonly and easier to make, the prices dropped too. “As production was increased, the price dropped from nearly priceless in 1940, to $20 per dose in July 1943, to $0.55 per dose ny 1946” (Bellis). As the prices become cheaper, it was more accessible than ever. People and hospitals came up with a cheaper better working option for people's
When antibiotics were discovered in the early 1900’s, it revolutionized the medical world forever. Before this discovery millions and millions of people died from minor infections; there was not anything to fight off the growing bacteria. There are many types of antibiotics but the discovery of penicillin was first and it would leave everyone amazed and alive to this day.
Penicillin brought about the biggest search in medical history. It was reasoned that if there was one antibiotic in nature, there must be many more, and there were.
Before penicillin there was no antibiotic for infections such as pneumonia and other things like that. Penicillin was discovered by Alexander Fleming from a laboratory accident. Penicillin eventually became the “wonder drug” because of it ability to cure a wide-range of fatal illnesses.
Antibiotics are a powerful medication that fights bacterial infection. Antibiotics can save lives. Antibiotics specifically treat infections caused by bacteria, such as Staph., Strep., or E. coli., and either kill the bacteria or keep it from reproducing and growing (2016, L. Anderson, PharmD). Your body's natural defenses can usually take it from there. Antibiotics are specific for the type of bacteria being treated and in general, cannot be interchanged from one infection to other. Antibiotics are not the correct choice for all infection. Antibiotics can not fight infection caused by viruses such as cold, flu, coughs, sore throats, or acute sinusitis. Antibiotic penicillin in the 1920s made a big impact on human history. Not only did it lead
According the World Health Organization (WHO), antibiotic resistance is one of the world’s greatest health threats to date (Haddox, 2013). In the article, The Health Threat of Antibiotic Resistance, Gail Haddox (2013) discusses the danger antibiotic resistance poses in today’s society and strategies to prevent the expansion of antibiotic resistance. In Europe alone, an estimated 25,000 deaths have been attributed to multi-resistant infections (Haddox, 2013). Common infections are now harder to treat due to the increased resistance to antibiotics across the world, in fact some are becoming untreatable. Antibiotics should be treated like oil, a non-renewable resource (Haddox, 2013).
One person that has helped make penicillin a widely used medicine today is Alexander Flemming. Alexander Flemming went on vacation, but when he came back, he found mold on every dish that was left open in his laboratory. Flemming examined each dish but found one in particular that stood out. The staphylococci culture dish had a yellow- green tuft of mold with a ring around it. In “The History of Penicillin”, it states,” Curious, Alexander Flemming grew the mold in a pure culture and found that it produced a substance that killed a number of disease-
The overuse of antibiotics has been a problem for well over a decade. This misuse leads to many nonvisible problems arising within the human population. As the use of antibiotics increases, the number of antibiotic resistant bacteria also increases. When bacteria become resistant to an antibiotic, another antibiotic must be used to try and kill it and the cycle becomes vicious. Michael Martin, Sapna Thottathil, and Thomas Newman stated that antimicrobial resistance is, “an increasingly serious threat to global public health that requires action across all government sectors and society” (2409).
A major event that leads to the use of penicillin today was its discovery, despite that was a total accident. In 1928, scientist Alexander Fleming went on vacation and left his lab in a total mess. When he returned from his trip, he noticed some odd things had occurred. The text states, “He observed that a plate culture of Staphylococcus had been contaminated by a blue-green mold and that the colonies of bacteria adjacent to the mold were being dissolved”(Bellis 123). Not realizing it at first, but Fleming had just discovered that mold destroys bacteria. This rare substance was called Penicillium notatum, but the effects that penicillin would have on the human body was unclear, which prevented Fleming from doing any further development. Even though