How Did Penicillin Changed The Whole World

Acacia Dairsow Page one P.5 The Amazing Discovery of Penicillin and Antibiotics! Antibiotics have been around for years, but at the same time only for a short period, as in about 80 years ago Therefore penicillin and antibiotics are one of the greatest discoveries of the 20th century Seeing as how Penicillin is one of the greatest discoveries of the 20th century, it is now commonly used to cure “common” or “simple” infections, Alexander Fleming was the one to discover Penicillin and its uses, and Penicillin was actually discovered by accident. I’ve used a variety of sources to learn and study about one

To begin, Penicillin became a widely used medicine for many reasons. One reason it became widely used was because how it was discovered. It was discovered by Alexander Fleming. Alexander went on a month long vacation, and came back to his lab cultures being covered in mold. One particular culture looked different, he noticed that the mold on that culture killed all the bacteria in it. Alexander did a bunch of experiments and discovered that the mold could kill bacteria and that could benefit humans. According to the text “It seemed that as it had grown, the mold killed the bacteria in the culture.” This quote means that if the mold could kill the bacteria in the culture than it could kill the bacteria in a human.

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

As the text stated “ In the war, penicillin proved its mettle throughout history, the major killer in wars had been infection on rather than battle injuries. In World War I, the death rate from bacterial pneumonia was 18 percent; in World War II, it fell, to less than 1 percent.”(The Real Story Behind Penicillin). This proves that when U.S. was entering world War II this medicine was very useful to cure many soldiers. After penicillin arrived , we can see how different it was before,and after penicillin. In fact penicillin also helped England during world war II. In “Lax, Eric” it says “they performed their work on a minuscule budget with makeshift equipment during the most perilous time for England in world war II”(page 3). Clearly, penicillin helped many during world war II. This determines that penicillin had a huge impact in the United

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

In 1928 Dr. Alexander Fleming began to sort through a pile of petri dishes containing colonies of bacteria that causes boils, sore throats, and abscesses. As he sorted through the dishes he noticed something unusual on one dish. It was dotted with colonies, and one area had a blob of mold growing. The area of mold was later identified as a rare strain of Penicillium notatum, the mold had secreted something that inhibited bacterial growth. Fleming later uncovered that this mold was capable of killing a wide range of harmful bacteria such as streptococcus, meningococcus and the diphtheria bacillus, that had played humanities. Prior to the discovery of Penicillin, Sulfa drugs were used during World War II. These drugs were name as the “wonder drug”. Although they’re still used today, Sulfa drugs were used to cure bacterial infections such as UTIs and gonorrhea. The new found drug penicillin, would cure millions and replace the use of Sulfa drugs.

by Dr. Alexander Fleming. As test continued, Fleming began to realize that he was on the verge of a great discovery. However, he still did not know the identity of the fungus, and had little knowledge of fungi. His crude extracts could be diluted 1,000 times and still be effective in killing bacteria. After years of working on penicillin and going nowhere, many of his co-workers grew tired of hearing about it. The first real test for penicillin came when a 48-year-old police officer nicked himself shaving. After a time, Alexander's face became infected and he developed a temperature. When he was rushed to the hospital, the doctors believed that he had only hours

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

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.

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 this case, the medicine was accidently discovered by a bacteriologist named Alexander Fleming. So Fleming was on a one month vacation, and he didn’t keep a neat and clean lab. In the source “The Discovery of Penicillin” the article says “it’s possible that one of these mold spores would interact with one of the cultures.” When the mold grew, it seem that it has killed the bacteria in the culture. Later on Fleming wrote a paper on his discoveries, and that the penicillin was the antibacterial

Before 1928, infections such as pneumonia and gonorrhea were untreatable, and many died of blood poisoning due to lesions that are considered minor in modern times. There were no known antibiotics that could kill the bacteria that caused such infections, so people would die of minor illnesses, such as strep throat. However, Alexander Fleming noticed something odd in one of the petri dishes at St. Mary’s Hospital in London, and this seemingly insignificant observation would revolutionize the field of medicine. He was cultivating strains of the Staphylococcus bacteria, and he found that there were not any bacteria colonies growing near a patch of mold in the dish. After looking more into this finding, Alexander Fleming learned that the mold was actually a strain of Penicillium notatum, and it had the capacity to kill malign bacteria like streptococcus, meningococcus

To begin with, penicillin had two accidental discoveries. “Originally noticed by a French medical student, Ernest Duchesne, in 1896” (Bellis 123). This means penicillin was noticed years before it was actually discovered. Alexander Fleming re-discovered penicillin when “he observed that a plate culture of Staphylococcus had been contaminated by a blue-green mold and that colonies of bacteria adjacent to the mold were being dissolved” (Bellis 123). This is important because penicillin was re-discovered and this time its medical potential was noticed. All in all, the accidental discoveries by Duchesne and Fleming were monumental events that lead to penicillin becoming widely used.

The own Alexander Fleming indicates that the discovery occurred on 28 September 1928 and that this was accidental. I believe that all of us know how the penicillin was discovered: some bacterial cultures were contaminated by the fungus. He observed that a part of one of the cultures the bacterias had been destroyed by one of this pollutant.