The discovery of penicillin was one of the most important advancements in the field of medicine. Penicillin today is used as an antibiotic that treats and prevents bacterial infections. There are many events that lead to the modern penicillin used today, but these events can be categorized into three groups: the discovery of penicillin, the early stages of development, and the later stages of development. In September 1928, penicillin was first discovered by Alexander Fleming. The discovery was reported to be an accident that occurred while Fleming was on vacation as mold from another laboratory contaminated a dish full of bacteria Fleming was researching, according to “Not-So-Dumb Luck” by Jesse Lane. The mold was called Penicillium Notatum, and “When he peered into the dish, Fleming saw a ring around the mold. After some experimentation, he found that the ring was bacteria-free…” (Lane). The …show more content…
Howard Florey was a British scientist who conducted research along with others on penicillin in the United States (Bellis). Key aspects described by Mary Bellis in “The history of Penicillin” emphasise that Florey’s research on penicillin helped “demonstrate penicillin's ability to kill infectious bacteria.” With further research done on penicillin, it was conceivable to use penicillin in beneficial ways. World War II boosted the intensity of the research on penicillin because, as stated by Brittany Connors in “The Discovery of Penicillin: The True Story”, “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.” Death from infected wounds was a common problem before antibiotics, such as penicillin. During the early development of penicillin as an antibiotic much progress was made. However, Florey and other scientists were having problems producing large quantities of the
The Factor of War in the Development of Penicillin The discovery, development and subsequent use of penicillin can be considered to be one of the most important breakthroughs in medical history. There were many factors, which were involved in the development of penicillin, and it could be argued that war was the most important, but other factors were also responsible. Alexander Fleming was working in London as a bacteriologist in 1928 when he noticed that a growth of a mould called penicillin produced a substance that actually killed the germs he was working on. He realised that this might be very important and a year later he wrote an article about his findings. However, Fleming did not have the facilities or the support to develop and test his idea that penicillin could fight infection, and he didn't develop it further.
Adegoke AA, Tom M, Okoh AI, Jacob S (2010) Studies on multiple antibiotic resistant bacterial isolated from surgical site infection. Scient Res. Essays 5:3876-81.
Years later other scientists were also intrigued by the possibilities of penicillin and produced enough penicillin to prove that it was a useable antibiotic. The scientists from Great Britain were developing all of this during World War II, and unfortunately funding for their drug was unavailable due to the war. They decided to bring their concepts to the United States, and once enough was made, it was eventually used, to treat wounded soldiers during World War I.
Stewart, Philip S, (2001) states that antibiotics are elements that are used to kill, or hinder the multiplication and growth of organisms. Especially, these antibiotics are meant to control fungi and bacteria. In this case, the antibiotics that are used in killing bacteria are referred to as bactericidal, and the ones that are used to prevent the multiplication process are bacteriostatic. The primary microbes for antibiotics are bacteria and fungi. These microorganisms are crucial to facilitate the secretion of substances that kill harmful bacteria which confer competition for the limited available nutrients (Southern, P. J., &Berg, 1981).
Having an ear infection in 2015 is no big deal. You hop in your car and drive to your doctor’s office. Your doctor sees you, diagnoses you with an ear infection and prescribes you, penicillin like they have dozens of times before. Today penicillin and other antibiotics are taken for granted. Before the 1920’s bacterial infections would do a lot more harm than just having an ear ache. If penicillin was not invented who knows how delayed today’s medicine would be.
What does penicillin treat? There are several different kinds of penicillins, and they treat infections caused by bacteria. Each is used to treat different kinds of infections, and one kind of penicillin usually cannot be used to replace another. In addition, bacterial infections in many different parts of the body are treated with penicillins that work by killing the bacteria or preventing their growth. They are sometimes given with other antibacterial medicines.
18). Even though those diseases were not his goal to cure it still made penicillin revolutionary for the time being. Fleming now knew how to make penicillin and started to mass produce it. In the 1930s during the upgrading process of penicillin Fleming himself was cured of severe conjunctivitis. Then in the 1940s the fully developed penicillin was created. The creation of penicillin cured a wide variety of diseases, which led to the world excelling in growth, and penicillin improved the way of medicine at the time. The variety of diseases cured by penicillin made it a must have antibiotic. Penicillin was used to cure multiple diseases including syphilis, gonorrhea, tuberculosis, gangrene, pneumonia, diphtheria, and scarlet fever ( Common Antibiotics ). All the diseases have one thing in common, they all have the ability to spread, some faster than others. When a disease is discovered people tried to make a cure. When penicillin was made diseases that were thought to never have a cure were cured. People began to demand that penicillin be sold in local pharmacies. Penicillin was released to help people with the variety of diseases curable by
Ernest Chain and Howard Florey with the knowledge of Flemings work were able to successfully purify an extract of penicillin for testing. The tested it in 1940 on mice, they concluded that those who were given the penicillin lived whereas the others did not. Later in 1945 all three men received the Nobel Prize for their contr...
Penicillin, derived from the mold Penicillium, is the first antibiotic to successfully treat bacterial infections on humans. It was accidentally discovered by scientist, Alexander Fleming. While Fleming was growing Staphylococcus, a serious and often deadly infection, in a dish, he noticed the bacteria had stopped growing after a mold found its way
The controversy regarding the sub-therapeutic use of antibiotics in animal feeds is that “super-bugs” are able to evolve. This is a threat to both the health of the animals and humans. What a “super-bug” refers to is a strain of bacteria that has evolved to be resistant to bacteria and lethal to the host organism. These super-bugs account for the death of roughly 48,000 Americans each year (Adams, 2013). These superbugs proliferate in the digestive tracts of hosts. Each dose of antibiotics in the animals’ diets at sub-therapeutic levels increases the likelihood of antibiotic resistance bacteria to evolve. The antibiotics kill the antibiotic sensitive bacteria, but bacteria that are resistant proliferate in the gut of the animals. When these antibiotic resistant bacteria are left to grow in the gut, they can cause infection to the animal or people that consume the animal as food (Falco, 2013, Amachawadl et. al. 2013). Antibiotic-resistance can also be conferred through horizontal gene transfer and other methods, making the mere existence of such bacteria a threat that should not be taken lightly.
Antibiotics have been vital tools in the fight against bacterial infections, however their effectiveness has waned in recent times due to the advent of antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria. According to a review by P, the uses of antibiotics, as well as influences from the environment have allowed such bacterial strains to respond to changes in their environment rapidly, and so develop resistance. This acquired ability can have serious and broad implications in the medical field, evident in a study by O into the resistance of intestinal Staphylococcus aureus.
found in nature as well as produced chemically but, there are few that are safe
Discovery and Development of Penicillin. (2014, April 4). Retrieved from American Chemical Society International Historic Chemical Landmarks: https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/flemingpenicillin.html
Alexander Fleming started the history of antibiotics in the 1920's with his discovery of penicillin.When penicillin was first discovered and used widely, it was touted as a wonder drug, and consequently was used as one.Though not necessarily harmful to the patient penicillin was used for much more infections than it was able to combat.Today the same practice is observed in the medical profession, however at this point it is due more to the detriment of an uneducated public.Studies have been carried out that show the huge over usage of antibiotics.In the seventies Soyka et al, concluded, "60% of physicians surveyed gave antibiotics for the treatment of the common cold."[3], and by common knowledge the common cold is a virus, something that cannot be treated by an antibiotic.Nyquist
The discovery of antibiotics is attributed to Alexander Fleming who discovered the first antibiotic to be commercially used (Penicillin) in approximately 1928. An antibiotic, also known as an antimicrobial, is a medication that is taken in order to either destroy or slow the growth rate of bacteria. Antibiotics are integral to the success of many medical practises, such as; surgical procedures, organ transplants, the treatment of cancer and the treatment of the critically ill. (Ramanan Laxminarayan, 2013)