Discovery of Penicillin: Alexander Fleming
Penicillin is now known as one of the most used antibiotics in the world. But, did you know that it was discovered by mistake? This is true. It was discovered my Alexander Fleming on September 3, 1928. He discovered it while working in St. Marys hospital while testing on Staphyloccus bacteria. At that time, he didn't realize how huge of an impact his mistake would make on the world and how many lives it would save.
While working in St. Marys hospital, Fleming was working with hi lab assistant, Dr. Merlin Pryce. While Flemming was going though petri dishes, he found a dish of Staphyloccus bacterica that had grown a strange mold in the shape of a ring. But, that wasn't even the weird part. The area around the ring seemed to be free of the Staphyloccus bacteria. This mold is now known as penicillium notatum. It is believed that this mold somehow came from C.J. La Touche who was a mycologist (mold expert) that worked right underneath Fleming. La Touche had been researching molds for a scientist who was working with asthma and some of it must have floated up to Fleming's lab. Fleming continued o experiment and found out that the mold killed many other types of bacteria as well. After further research, it was found out that the mold could be given to smaller animals with no side affects. It wasn't until 1940 that penicillin was actually used though. Two scientists at Oxford University, Howard Florley and Ernest Chain started working with penicillium and created the drug penicillin by using chemical techniques. They then started to distribute this drug to soldiers in World War II and saved many lives.
Alexander Fleming was born on August 6, 1881 in Scotland. He was the third of four children in his family. He was very good in school an earned a scholarship to Kilmarnock Academy before moving to London to attend the Royal Polytechnic Institution. He spent four years there before he entered St. Mary's medical school in London. Fleming became very interested in natural bacterial action of the blood and in antiseptics and continued to work with ways to create antibiotics that were non toxic to animal tissue, worked as a pioneer in vaccine therapy and went to work in World War I as captain of the Army Medical Corps for four years until he decided to return to St. Mary's in 1918. Just ten years later, in 1928, he discovered Penicillin. He continued to write journals on his discoveries until his death in 1955.
Penicillin is now known a the "miracle drug". Penicillin treats infections that are caused as bacteria. Penicillin began to impact the world during World War II. At this time, penicillium mold was jut starting to be made to help soldiers. In World War I, about 18% of deaths were caused by pneumonia. In World War II, that number dropped drastically to a small 1% of deaths. This drastic decline in deaths is thanks to penicillin. Penicillin still continues to treat and cure many bacteria infections that may otherwise have no cure. Penicillins can be sured to treat infections such as urinary tract infections, septicemia, meningitis, intra-abdominal infections, gonorrhea, syphilis, pneumonia, respiratory infections, ear, nose and throat infections, skin and soft tissue infections.
Summary: Penicillin drastically changed medicine in the mid 1900's and still continues to save many lives. in fact, in just two years, from 1941 to 1943, pneumonia fell from the second leading cause of death, to the fifth, thanks to penicillin. The issue is, many people started to develop a resistance to these drugs. For example, staph infections were able to be treated with penicillin until the late 1940's when the organism developed the ability to create an enzyme that rendered the penicillin useless. Several other illnesses also began developing resistances to penicillins. Scientists have continually had to create new types of penicillins in order to keep fighting diseases. Because so many people are becoming immune to different type of penicillin, there are prolonged hospital stays and increased medical costs. These costs are results of additional lab tests, therapies, consultations and time that patients take off of work. These costs can be anywhere from 100 million to 30 billion dollars a year, just in the United States.
Video on Discovery of Penicillin:
http://science.discovery.com/videos/100-greatest-discoveries-shorts-the-discovery-of-penic.html
Journal Article:Microbial Menace-Journal article by Dianne Murphy, Gary K. Chikami; Forum for Applied Research and Public Policy, Vol. 13, 199
Penicillin Antibiotics Classification - Uses and Side Effects. (n.d.). EzineArticles Submission - Submit Your Best Quality Original Articles For Massive Exposure, Ezine Publishers Get 25 Free Article Reprints. Retrieved October 14, 2010, from http://ezinearticles.com/?Penicillin-Antibiotics-Classification---Uses-and-Side-Effects&id=401820
Rosenberg, J. (n.d.). Alexander Fleming Discovers Penicillin -- Page 2. 20th Century History. Retrieved October 14, 2010, from http://history1900s.about.com/od/medicaladvancesissues/a/penicillin_2.htm
Sir Alexander Fleming - Biography. (n.d.). Nobelprize.org. Retrieved October 14, 2010, from http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1945/fleming-bio.html
Trueman, C. (n.d.). Alexander Fleming and Penicillin. History Learning Site. Retrieved October 4, 2010, from http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/alexander_fleming_and_penicillin.htm
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