Penicillin In The 1940s

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 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

Penicillin is a type of antibiotics. It fights nasty bacteria in a human body. Penicillin is used to help many different infections caused by bacteria. Penicillin was made for the soldiers in world war one, it was to help bullet wound infections and infections caused by lost limbs. Penicillin is made from extracting it from mould.

The discovery of penicillin was one of the most important discoveries in the 1900s and marks a turning point in human history. Penicillin was one of the world’s first antibiotics which eventually evolved into modern antibiotics that are used today; it has often been described as a miracle drug. The discovery of penicillin meant that doctors finally could completely cure their patients of deadly diseases. After World War I, many soldiers died from infected wounds because the antiseptics used, killed the patients’ immunological defences more than they killed the invading bacteria. Penicillin kills bacteria by destroying the cell wall of the microorganism causing the cell to burst; it was very effective in clearing bacteria without harming the

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 researchers worked on the purification and chemistry of penicillin, that began intensely in 1939. To carry out a program of

Fleming began to sort through petri dishes containing colonies of Staphylococcus, bacteria that cause boils, sore throats and abscesses. He noticed something unusual on one dish. It was dotted with colonies, except for one area where a blob of mold was growing. The zone immediately around the mold—later identified as a rare strain of Penicillium notatum—was clear, as if the mold had secreted something that inhibited bacterial growth (American Chemical Society). The first introduction of penicillin began in the 1940’s, it was recognized as one of the greatest advances in therapeutic medicine. The discovery was made in the United Kingdom but because of World War II, the United States developed a large production of the drug. By 1937, an important pain killer known as methadone was introduced. Morphine, the most active substance in opium, is a very powerful painkiller that hooked many US Civil War soldiers (Drug Free World). They were wanting to find a painkiller that was less addictive to use for surgery and that’s why they invented

Deaths caused by infection were greatly reduced. No more ineffective amputations. Allies had their secret weapon; they just had to keep it from falling into enemy hands. Penicillin was available only to the Allied forces during World War II (Robert). “The ultimate triumph of Anglo-American efforts to mass produce penicillin during the Second World War can be said to have eclipsed the existence of similar attempts in other countries.” Although some penicillin was produced in Germany, the Germans were not successful in producing large quantities of it to treat their soldiers. German casualties were among the highest, over 5 million German soldiers died in World War II.

In September of 1928, a rushed bacteriologist Dr. Alexander Fleming let his lab at St. Mary’s Hospital, as usual, a mess on his way to a month vacation. Little did he know he had just spawned one of the most crucial inventions of all time. Upon his return to his laboratory he found mold had grown in the petri dishes he had left out. One of whom contained the rare spore Penicillium notatum that had probably wafted up into his lab through the air currents from the down-stairs mycology lab. Dr. Fleming noticed a ring around the mold, and it was 100% bacteria free! Curiosity urged him onward, as he grew a pure culture of the mold and discover that it killed a great deal of disease-causing bacteria. He would go on to name the substance penicillin.

Jesse Lane says in Not-So-Dumb Luck, When he came back, he noticed that every dish he had left out in the open was covered in mold.” She later says, “The dish that had caught Fleming’s eye contained a staphylococci culture- in other words, it was chock full of bacteria- and while Fleming had been away, the culture had also grown a tuft of yellow-green mold.” And that was the beginning revolutionary history of penicillin. Later in the paragraph the author says, “After some experimentation, he found that the ring was bacteria free, and that the mold was a rare spore called Penicillium notatum,” Where the name penicillin comes from ”which had wafted on air currents into his lab from another floor.” If he hadn’t gone on vacation and left his lab a mess then penicillin wouldn’t be with us today saving lives.Thirdly, penicillin is a widely used medicine that kills bacteria and treats

Penicillin had begun to be mass produced in the United States and sent over to help wounded Allied soldiers. Florey traveled to North Africa where he conducted his trials and save lives. The Australian government was now manufacturing penicillin while the U.S. and Britain were as well. Since it was government, they were able to be informed of the newest techniques for producing the substance. Florey’s team took a visit to the Australian laboratory to learn these up to date methods of production. This may be the case to why the 1945 version of penicillin was about 20 times more potent than the 1939 version. This deep fermentation penicillin was established 1945 at the Castle Bernard. Before, it was developed in a less efficient process by

“In 1938, Howard Florey and Ernst Chain began to study penicillin” (Connors 126). This is important because it means extensive research was being done to figure out a way for penicillin to be applied on humans. “Part of the reason for their increased effort in discovering how penicillin could be used on humans was that a drug was needed to reduce bacterial infections in soldiers’ wounds” (Connors 126). This means there was a need for the development of penicillin, this fact probably motivated the scientists. In the end, without the development of penicillin, it could not have become such a widely used

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For the larger portion of human history we have considered bacteria to be the worst kind of killer. Before 1928, people died all the time from bacteria that we now consider child’s play. The reason being that in 1928, Alexander Fleming discovered mold in a discarded petri dish. He then observed that the mold was killing the bacteria that he had been growing in the petri dish. After that point in time they began mass producing this newly discovered mold or antibiotic that Fleming named Penicillin. Penicillin saved thousands of lives in World War II and has been crushing bacterial infection ever since it was first used.

Penicillin was first discovered in 1928 and quickly became known as a miracle drug. Penicillin’s areas of largest significance fall into three categories and this essay will briefly outline how Penicillin’s discovery contributed historically, scientifically and in the military, particularly in the Second World War.