The Anti Infection Agents During The Mid 1900s

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

Throughout the centuries the improvement of medicine has always been on the run. Whether the cure for a viral or bacterial infection to the simple cure of a common cold, advances in medicine can be said to have had a great impact in the lives of many in the U.S. and around the world. In the U.S. alone, the life expectancy of an American increased from 49 years to 77 years because of the new way of life in the health aspect. There is no doubt that antibiotics specifically, not to say the prevention of diseases by public health regulations including over-the-counter drugs and surgical procedures, have saved thousands or even millions of lives in the U.S and around the world. However, there are many cases in which antibiotics are being overused, which in effect cause more harm than good.

Antimicrobial chemotherapy is a highly respected medical science which has shaped modern humanity in many ways including the furthering the understanding of medicine. A wide variety of antimicrobial substance have been discovered, designed and synthesized. Modern medicine is highly dependent on chemotherapeutic agents that are used to treat diseases. Antimicrobials are combined of chemotherapeutic agents and antibiotics. It can be defined as any substance of natural, synthetic, or semisynthetic origin which at low concentrations kill or inhibits growth of microorganisms and causes little or no damage. Antimicrobial Chemotherapy is a chemical compound that selectively inhibits or kills bacteria without suggestively harming the

Penicillin is a very effective medicine and in the article “Not-So-Dumb Luck” it states that “When a bacteriologist Alexander Fleming left for vacation one day in September of 1928, he left a mess in his laboratory.” When he came back all the dishes he left out were covered in mold. One of Flemings dishes was covered in bacteria and a “Penicillin

In 1928, when Dr. Alexander Fleming (Fleming, 1928) inadvertently discovered the antibacterial – penicillin, he forever changed medical history. Infections were no longer a terminal diagnosis; rather this miracle anti-microbial would decrease the period of illness and exterminate the pathogenic bacteria, thus saving many patients’ lives. But in the brief period of four years following drug companies’ mass-producing of penicillin in 1943, bacterial microbes began to show resistance to drugs (American Chemical Society, 1999).

The discovery of penicillin, one of the world’s first antibiotics, marked a turning point in human history. Doctors finally had medicine that could completely cure and prevent infectious diseases.

As Dr. Andrew Fleming once said, “one sometimes finds what one is not looking for.” After returning from summer vacation in 1928, He would go on discover one of the world’s greatest accidents in his lab at St. Mary’s Hospital, London. Upon his arrival, he found his work bench scattered with various petri dishes that were previously contaminated with Staphylococcus Aureus but then replaced by a mold known as Penicillium Notatum that inhibited the growth of certain harmful bacterias. This mold would revolutionize modern medicine, as the world’s first true antibiotic. At the time of its discovery there was no cure for ailments such as pneumonia, gonorrhea, rheumatic fever or even blood poisoning. However this great magnitude of his discovery

Antibiotics are chemicals that are used for inhibiting or destroying bacteria. The role of antibiotics is to target microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi and parasites without inhibiting the host but are ineffective against viruses. There are two types of antibiotics, broad-spectrum which react against a variety of bacteria, including non-pathogenic forms and narrow-spectrum antibiotics which only reacts against one or two types of bacteria. Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin which is the first antibiotic, in 1928, it originates from the fungus Penicillium, which has the ability to destroy staphylococcus colonies, by breaking down the cell wall by disrupting growth, other antibiotics work by disrupting protein synthesis or destroying cell membrane. It was later proved by Howard Florey and Ernst Chain in 1939 that penicillin was effective in the treatment of infectious disease, and began methods for mass production.

Infection, as defined by Encyclopedia Britannica (2011), is the invasion and multiplication of different pathogenic microorganisms in the body-such as fungi, bacteria and viruses- the body’s reaction to it and the defense mechanisms it activates to counter these pathogens or the toxins they produce. Infections can range from simple to complex ones that can be fatal or debilitating, but because of the continuous researches and studies to protect the human race, antibiotics were discovered. Antibiotics inhibit the release of toxins of these microorganisms or simply fight against them to eliminate the harmful effects they bring about. Luckily, before one can resort to the use of antibiotics that can also have side effects on the body, there

While we have made tremendous advancement in various fields of therapeutics, the triumph of Fleming’s discovery of penicillin is fading away with the rise of antibiotic resistance; we are pushing ourselves back into the pre-antibiotic era. In the United States 2 million people get infected with antibiotic resistant bacteria and 23,000 die each year as a result (CDC). The picture is grimmer in the developing world. This project was initiated to study a new avenue in the search of novel antimicrobials against bacteria.

Another drastic change that needs to be made is the development new antibiotics. These can be put in the place of ineffective antibiotics. Unlike profitable drugs used to treat chronic diseases like cancer and cardiovascular illnesses, antibiotics are typically taken for a short period of time, and any new drug is to be used cautiously and held in reserve to treat patient’s resistant to existing drugs. “The bacterium is a major cause of hospital-acquired infections

The rapid emergence of antimicrobial resistant bacteria is a startling problem facing the medical community and this problem is only expected to worsen in the coming years. When Sir Alexander Fleming discovered the first antibiotic, penicillin, in 1928, many proclaimed his finding as the most important modern medical discovery. Simple infections such as pneumonia could be treated rather easily despite the fact that such diagnoses could prove to be commonly fatal in the early 20th century. Penicillin was also successfully used as a prophylactic treatment to curtail bacterial infections from overcoming the Allied forces during the second World War. However, it was only less than a decade later that the first penicillin resistant bacteria were detected and the once all-powerful antibiotic faced a startling Darwinian reminder: “… the history of evolution is that life escapes all barriers… Life breaks free... Life expands to new territories... Painfully, perhaps even dangerously... But life finds a way”. It is due to life’s incredible ability to evolve and adapt that we find ourselves in a state of nervousness and apprehension about the “post-antibiotic apocalypse” that is approaching ever so rapidly.

REVIEW THE PRODUCTION OF NAMED ANTIBIOTIC, NOTING BIOTECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION THAT IMPROVE ASPECTS OF THE PROCESS

Antimicrobial agents have been used for the past seventy years to treat infectious diseases in humans and animals. They have revolutionized the face of medicine extending human lifespan and enabling worldwide breakthroughs including safer childbirth, surgeries and organ transplants (2).

The first antibiotics were isolated from microorganisms but some are now obtained from higher plants and animals.