Rediscovering Penicillin

“Over 50,000,000 peoples lives have been saved by the drug penicillin” (Sim). Today Penicillin and other antibiotics are crucial in the lives of people. One bad thing about penicillin is approximately 11.5% of the population is allergic to it so the diseases they receive that have to be healed by penicillin or other antibiotics might not heal as fast or maybe even kill them. Another negative aspect to Penicillin is it weakens the immune system(Cooper). Most of the body survives off of friendly bacteria and if antibiotics kill bacteria in large numbers, then it kind of defeats the purpose. Penicillin is used to treat many diseases and viruses that can be deadly if medicine was not applied, and they are easily accessible. After the discovery and processing of Penicillin, it was often described as the “Miracle Drug” and that is exactly what it was. Prior to the foundation of Penicillin, death was very common due to diseases that we think are no

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.

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 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.

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

What Fleming was particularly interested in was the concept that even though people do obtain bacterial infections at times, majority of the time the human body prevents bacterial infections from affecting the body. During this researching period, Fleming graduated St. Mary’s Medical School once again with a Bachelor of Bacteriology at the same time receiving the gold medal for the top student (Maurois, 1956). In 1914 Fleming concluded his research under Almroth Wright’s guidance and unknowingly continued his journey on to becoming the man with the answer to the biggest human health issue at the time (Maurois, 1956)

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.

Fleming’s work was later expanded by Howard Florey and Ernst Chain and their team at Oxford University beginning in 1938, about ten years after Fleming’s first findings. They were able to transform penicillin as a curiosity in the lab and antiseptic to the life-saving antibiotic we know it as today. Howard Florey was deemed at an early age by his older sister who was a medical student at the time to be the next “Pasteur” due to his interest in pursuing medical research. Florey then achieved much as a student at the University of Adelaide, which at that time didn’t specialize in researchers, but in preparing general practitioners. Howard then went on to receive the Rhodes Scholarship to study in England at Oxford University. He used this opportunity as a springboard to going on to study in America and return back to England to Oxford University achieve much greatness. In 1938, he became the director of the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology. After a few years of taking on a variety of experiments and gathering a team of trusted professionals, he spearheaded work on the self-proclaimed “Penicillin Project” after coming across and sifting

Antibiotics have played an essential role in the fight against diseases and infections since the 1940’s. Antibiotics are a leading cause for the rise of global average life expectancy in the 20th and 21st century. They have greatly reduced illnesses and deaths due to diseases. With the introductions of antibiotics in the 1940’s, like penicillin into clinical practice, formally deadly illnesses became immediately curable and saved thousands of lives (Yim 2006). Antibiotic use has been beneficial and when prescribed and taken correctly their effects on patients are exceedingly valuable. However, because these drugs have been used so widely and for such a long period of time the bacteria that the antibiotics are designed to kill have adapted,

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

named Dr. Amalia Koutsouri-Vourekas. During World War One, Alexander Fleming joined the Army Medical Corps and while serving, Fleming had noticed that the substances they were using at the time for antibiotics did more harm to the patients than it helped them. During his time in the military, after discovering how harmful the current antibiotics were, he got to work and made many innovations to them, making them safer and do more good. At the time, these innovations were seen as great things but soon would be overseen with his later discovery.

Penicillin is an antibiotic medicine used to treat harmful bacteria and infections inside and outside of your body. Alexander Fleming, a bacteriologist, discovered it in the early 1900s. As stated by Brittany Connors on page 125 of “The Discovery of Penicillin: The True Story”, “Fleming often admitted that he discovered Penicillin by accident, and that all of the work was done by nature.” Although the finding of this cure may have been an accident, it’s use case has helped save many lives and keep many from sickness. There were numerous events that led to the discovery and development of this treatment such as Fleming’s messy laboratory, Florey’s realization of the medical potential of Penicillin, and Moyer’s success in raising the production yield.

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.

By November 26, 1941, Andrew J. Moyer, the lab’s expert on nutrition of molds had increased the use, and knowledge of penicillin 10 times, with the help of Dr. Heatley. The medicine was again used to help heal soldiers wounds. Not long after the discovery, penicillin was showed to be the most effective antibacterial agent to this day (The History of Penicillin 3-8).

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