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More handpicked essays just for you.
Alexander Fleming's words when he invented penicillin
Penicillin and its impact on treating disease
Discovery of penicillin
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All great things come from a singular object, for example the human body started with a single cell combining with another singular cell, buildings are built from the single base up and computers and electronics were built up from an idea, and the revolutionary medicine called penicillin came from a single mold spore. It was an extremely potent antibacterial medicine and it is still in use today, but from where did it start? And how did become so widely used?Alexander Fleming had just returned from his month long vacation, having returned he at once set to work on his bacterial cultures, after tending to them he noticed that one of the cultures had a blue-green colored mold in it, and to his surprise he found that the bacteria was dissolving, …show more content…
At this time the world war was raging all over Europe, and soldiers were dying not only at the hands of soldiers but from bacteria that had set into their wounds as well.In the year 1939 ,ten years after Dr.Fleming presented his findings, Dr.Howard Florey and four other colleagues began to do intensive studies on the properties on penicillin, they succeeded in proving their findings, but only one problem stood in the path of the development of the medicine, “Scientists could not produce the quantities of penicillin needed for clinical trials on humans” stumped by how to grow a mold in bountiful quantities like corn is on fields, the British turned to their American allies for a solution.Dr. Howard Florey and his companion Dr. Norman Heatley flew to the U.S with a small package containing a sample of penicillin to begin with, they set to work with American scientists to produce a way of growing this mold in larger quantities, the end product was a complex with deep vats that had air constantly pumped in and out of them filled with a form of non-alcoholic liquor and other
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.
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.
My disease is Streptococcal pneumonia or pneumonia is caused by the pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae. Streptococcus pneumoniae is present in human’s normal flora, which normally doesn’t cause any problems or diseases. Sometimes though when the numbers get too low it can cause diseases or upper respiratory tract problems or infections (Todar, 2008-2012). Pneumonia caused by this pathogen has four stages. The first one is where the lungs fill with fluid. The second stage causes neutrophils and red blood cells to come to the area which are attracted by the pathogen. The third stage has the neutrophils stuffed into the alveoli in the lungs causing little bacteria to be left over. The fourth stage of this disease the remaining residue in the lungs are take out by the macrophages. Aside from these steps pneumonia follows, if the disease should persist further, it can get into the blood causing a systemic reaction resulting in the whole body being affected (Ballough). Some signs and symptoms of this disease are, “fever, malaise, cough, pleuritic chest pain, purulent or blood-tinged sputum” (Henry, 2013). Streptococcal pneumonia is spread through person-to-person contact through aerosol droplets affecting the respiratory tract causing it to get into the human body (Henry, 2013).
Penicillin is the reason people lived healthy and long lives. Sick, cold, and sore, are feelings people have when they are sick. If people were to become sick and penicillin was not around they would have those feelings for a longer duration. Penicillin was an idea that belonged to a famous scientist by the name of Sir Alexander Fleming. Penicillin was just the slightest of idea in Fleming’s mind after he married his wife who had the profession of a nurse. Fleming made penicillin after conducting test on accidentally infected fungus inhabited plates. He tried washing the fungus of with disinfectant, then he noticed a yellow-green zone around the fungus. He came up with the conclusion that penicillin’s main goal would be to eliminate the outer weak ring
Norman Heatley and Howard Florey went to America to figure it out, luckily they were able to find a gold colored mold that was two-hundred percent more effective. In World War I, pneumonia was eighteen percent of the reason for soldiers’ deaths; with the use of penicillin, in World War II pneumonia was responsible for only one percent of all deaths. Without this miracle drug, millions of people would have died from pneumonia in not only World War II but also civilians today. Penicillin changed the way infections were treated, landing it the number five spot in the top ten greatest inventions
With the issues previously discussed in mind, the doctors knew they needed a solution desperately, so that they could gain the insight they needed to set forth a provision to alter the path of medicine altogether. When it became known that there were potential cures for some of the bacterial diseases the medical community lept for joy, and the advancement of medical technology did in fact take off in a positive direction in the decades
A Comparison of the Laboratory and Industrial Processes When going through the process of fermentation in a laboratory they use certain methods to achieve their goals and some of the methods that they use are completely different from the ones that are used in the industry of fermentation. A fermenter is a container that maintains optimum conditions needed to grow a particular organism I will be using different criteria’s to compare the laboratory and industrial process of fermentation in this assignment; some of them are listed below: * Equipment Used * The Quantity of the Product * Method Used * Quality of the Product Before I get right on into the assignment I will firstly talk about penicillin is and what it is used for today in our society because penicillin will come up. Penicillin was discovered by Alexander Fleming in 1929 and penicillin is one of the earliest discovered and widely used antibiotic agents, derived from the penecillium mold and the use of penecillium did not begin until the 1940s. Penicillin kills bacteria by interfering with the ability to synthesis the cell wall and this will disallow it from splitting and reproducing and it will only lengthen longer Below are is a table that shows the most obvious differences in fermentation in a laboratory and fermentation in the scientific industry: Laboratory Fermentation: Industry Fermentation: It is a batch culture They use a Ph sensor The Ph level is not being controlled The equipment used is more expensive The temperature is not being measured They use a thermometer The yeast population isn’t been given O² They equip the fermenter with an exit gas and an exit liquid flow The food supply is not being replenished They also equip it with a antifoam and gas flow It also has a dissolved O² sensor Equipped with an Sparser In industry they have a fresh media feed
Penicillin is an antibiotic that kills bacteria, sufficiently treating any injuries. This drug was invented before the war, but had its major outbreak during World War II. Once scientists discovered the potential of penicillin, they aggressively started to pursue methods to mass produce the drug. The mass production of penicillin saved many American lives and led to our victory during World War II.
In the late 1880s, genes, white blood cells, and aspirin were discovered. An Augustinian monk from Austria, Johann Gregor Mendel experimented in the crossplanting of pea plants. Eventually his research lead to the discovery of genes. In 1892, Elie Metchnikoff discovered phagocytosis. After observing the larvae of starfish, he found that mobile cells served as a defense for the organisms. This research on the cells lead him to believe that these cells swallow up and digest bacteria, therefore leading into the identification of white blood cells. Although it is unclear who deserves credit for the discovery of aspirin, Felix Hoffman and Heinrich Dreser are credited for the introduction. Both of them researched the drug while working for Bayer and they are credited for actually naming it "aspirin".
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
The discovery of antibiotics in the 20th century was a major advancement in medicine. At the time of the discovery, war was taking place, which resulted in a plethora of infected wounds. Antibiotics can be described as a use, laboratory effect, or an action of a chemical compound (Clardy et al). Selman Waksman first used the term in 1941 when describing the small molecules made by microorganisms that prevent the growth of other microorganisms (Clardy et al). Antibiotics helped control the infection which allowed many who were injured a second chance to live. The antibiotic that was first discovered and used to cure war infections was penicillin. Since the discovery of antibiotics, controlling infections and diseases became easier, but it was also a medical pitfall. The effectiveness of any type of therapeutic agent is often times compromised by the formation of resistance or tolerance to that compound. This is particularly true for agents used to treat bacterial, fungal, parasitic, and viral infections; treated by antibiotics. Mechanisms that can be responsible for this phenomenon range from being biological to physiological. Many agencies have recognized this problem and have been taking steps to resolve it. To understand how antibiotics are successful or not, it is required to understand its history, and also the functions of bacteria in the human body. Also, it is important to know what a bacteria is and how it affects the human body. This will help doctors and researchers with solutions to prevent resistance. Though numerous resolutions and recommendations have been proposed, the bacterial resistance to antibiotics is relentless.
Penicillin: discovered by Alexander Fleming, helps treat a wide spectrum of infections that could potentially harm you. When penicillin was discovered, doctors finally had something that would completely cure their patients. Upon examining some colonies of Staphylococcus Aureus, Alexander Fleming noticed that a mold called Penicillium Notatum had grown in his petri dishes while he was on vacation. When Fleming put the dishes under the microscope, he found that the mold had stopped the growth of the Staphylococci. Fleming took a while longer to grow more of the mold to prove his findings he found that the mold inhabited the growth of bacteria, and that it could be used to fight infectious diseases. Alexander Fleming did not, however have the
Florey traveled with Heatley to the U.S. In the United States, Reid and others were already conducting their own experiments on penicillin. Florey and Heatley were directed to Charles Thom. Heatley teaches Thom how he developed a method to create a usable form of penicillin. However, he was missing a key ingredient but Thom suggested the use of a corn liquor. This corn liquor produced more penicillin than Heatley’s solution did. The manufacturing problem was solved just in time for a fire in Boston in 1942 that left many burned and some dead. The burned developed infections and were treated with penicillin. This was the first major large scale treatment with penicillin and it was a success. The burn victims became better. Shortly after this fire, the U.S. entered into WWII. The government took control of the production of penicillin. In the war, penicillin truly shined. Wounds that were infected were treated with penicillin. Many lives were saved. Lives that would have been lost due to infection were saved due to the penicillin’s ability to stop bacterial
Antibiotic resistance is basically when even after the use of antibiotics there are some bacteria that remains alive because it is immune to it, then that bacteria reproduces and reproduces until there is only the strongest bacteria left. Antibiotic resistance is generally a very big problem because it makes it so that bacterial infections and even diseases will eventually be very hard to nearly impossible to treat. Antibiotic resistance is almost entirely a human caused problem which could slowly be reversed over time.
The 1800’s was a time of development in science. New and what seemed like crazy ideas were surfacing. These ideas were more easily accepted than in past years. There were new theories such as the Cell Theory by Mathias Schleiden and Theodor Schwann in 1838 (Farah 626) and the Atomic Theory by John Dalton (Farah 628).A little over a decade after the Cell Theory was proposed, Louis Pasteur discovered bacteria in 1850 (Farah 627).