The Discovery of Penicillin

World War I was a war of innovation with new artillery and tactics, but also a deadly war in which approximately ten million soldiers died in or injuries sustained from battle. As injuries increased throughout the war, the need for medical assistance was constantly growing. Surgery is considered an art and like art, it evolved and new techniques were developed, making an injury that could kill someone survivable. For instance, in the Civil War most surgeons would immediately amputate and in World War I surgeons began trying much harder to save limbs. Blood transfusion allowed surgeons to reduce patient death from blood loss because of the ample supply of blood from fellow soldiers. Sanitation improvements led to fewer deaths from infection

Why was the invention of penicillin so important in the context of WWII? What were some other advances in medicine that were

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

During any war, medical advancements are commonly made in response to the atrocities that take place during these bloody and gruesome times. World War II is no exception. During World War II, medical advances simply had to be made to keep soldiers alive. With all the victims of bullet wounds and diseases spreading around, treatments had to be invented or advanced. I chose this topic because science and medicine is very fascinating to me and I want to become a doctor when I grow up. During the war, penicillin, sulfanilamide, atabrine, plasma, and morphine were used in abundance and saved a countless number of lives.

During the war, a lot of people also looked out for diseases that could be fatal, common or rare. Two out of three people died

World War I had affected the health of many soldiers coming back from the war. To begin with many soldiers came home with tuberculosis. The disease spread rapidly in 1920 due to the unsanitary, urbanized conditions of the cities which was similar to that of the trenches. “The close proximity of people in wartime conditions meant diseases such as tuberculosis could easily spread” (Science Museum). In addition, many soldiers that returned home had lost limbs in the war due to trench foot. “Some conditions such as trench foot, an infection of the feet caused by cold, wet, and unsanitary conditions” (Science Museum). Trench foot affected soldiers who wished to go back to work, because most jobs wouldn’t allow handicapped workers to work; however,

“Medical knowledge in the 1860s did not understand bacteria and germs and how they could be transmitted” (“Medicine in the Civil War”Americancivilwar.com). Doctors or surgeons didn’t know about bacteria and germs and how quickly the infections transmitted. “This lack of understanding of germs and bacteria led to the spread of disease that killed more soldiers than enemy bullets during the entire war”(“Medicine in the Civil War” Americancivilwar.com). Doctors back then didn’t have much understanding about infections and that was the cause a lot of soldiers died. Not only the spread of infections where a problem, but also where the surgeries took

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

While most people generally categorize war as a deathly arena consisting of gunfire, the stench of rotten corpses, and the cries of trauma of soldiers; war can be seen as a time for prosperity and growth in the medical profession. The lack of resources in battlefield hospitals, cause people to believe that treatment options are limited. However, history has shown that these limited resources provide an outlet for creativity and exploration, the seeds to advances in the medical profession. During the American Revolution, more casualties were due to illness as opposed to gunshot wounds, opening up the eyes of medical professionals that new ways for disease prevention were needed. Additionally, before World War II biomedical research was limited

     World War II turning points are much more important than penicillin. If there were not any breaks for the American troops, then there would have been many more lives lost in the war than needed. Possibly, there would be more lives lost in the fighting than saved by penicillin in its fist two decades of public use.

Young men all throughout the world had marched off to war, unaware at what they had just gotten themselves into, many of them sentencing themselves to their own demise. The war had brought a great extent and large quantity of gory injuries and casualties that no one had ever seen before. The scientists around the world would have to step up and begin to create advanced technology and medications in a short amount of time in order to keep up with all of the casualties occurring during World War I. Due to the fact that World War I had brought about so many injuries, it had given scientists opportunities when it came to certain treatments. In other words, scientists took this as possibility of figuring out which medical treatments and inventions worked the best on patients, of which had led to the higher survival rate within the

In the 20th century, there was hardly any medicine, many doctors didn’t understand infections and there were multiply unknown diseases and causes of death. Doctors still needed to learn countless things to understand the medicine field and how it played a role in war. This is very interesting to me because I always wanted to help people and when I’m older I want to be a orthopedic surgeon. Medicine is all around us and the field of it continues to grow. There is always a new medicine or study going on and helping people. For every man that was shot and died on the first line of the war two men died from infections that transferred from the first aid tents. Medicine has come a long from the civil war and will continue to change the face of

World War Two, a harsh period of time in the 1930s-1940s, filled with controversial arguments, political battles, fights to the death, but most importantly, medical advancements. Did you know that without the research and discoveries made during World War Two, our medical programs would probably be lacking the information we have today? It’s very true, and in my opinion, the war strengthened our medical abilities, and it really put our world to the test. New medicine had been discovered, while old medicine had been improved; horrible medical experiments performed by the Nazis occurred during this time; but most importantly, World War Two has affected our medical programs that we have presently. These

Diseases did not only affect the soldiers in a tremendous way. As I will discuss in greater detail further in this paper, diseases gave an advantage to the Northern side of the war, and this played a role in their victory. Additionally, the treatments and discoveries that were made as diseases were treated led

During World War II, the United States Government facilitated a growth in government-sponsored biomedical research to aid the United States military forces and establish a scientific superiority over the USSR. When World War II began, so did the expansion of federally funded medical research in the United States to protect military personnel against injuries, disease, exposure, and fatigue. This new funding and expansion led to great medical advancements including vaccines for typhus, cholera, and forms of influenza, treatment for measles and malaria, and most importantly, penicillin. These advancements established the United States’ scientific superiority as newly developed treatments were made available for both civilian and military use. Such superiority was crucial in ending the war because it was the United States’ superior innovation and extensive research that inspired the creation of an the atomic bomb that brought about the end of World War II. Along with the great medical advancements, the Nuremberg Trials brought forth ethical issues regarding scientific experimentation during World War II. These trials provided the world with a new code of ethics for experimentation on humans, known as the Nuremberg Code. This