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Penicillin

             No other drug has had a greater impact on the world than the discovery of penicillin in 1928. Penicillin and other antibiotics that followed made curable bacterial infections that killed people 70 years ago. While Alexander Fleming is credited with penicillin's discovery, many people contributed to the work of making penicillin the wonder drug it has come to be knows as.
             In 1928 Fleming was doing research on staphylococci. During his research one of his cultures was contaminated with airborne mold particles. Fleming left on vacation for a month and upon his return noticed the contaminated culture. He noticed a clear area around the mold that prevented the bacteria from growing. He realized that the mold must have been producing a substance that inhibits the growth of the bacteria. Fleming isolated the substance and named in penicillin. Fleming was unable to produce concentrated amounts on penicillin and was unsure of its therapeutic value. Fleming published a paper on his discovery but it did not receive much notice until 1939.
             In 1939 a team of scientists from Oxford University, lead by Howard Florey, was doing research on substances that that could kill bacteria. Florey began testing penicillin. Fifty white laboratory mice were injected with Streptococcus. Half the mice were also injected with penicillin. The mice injected with penicillin survived while those that were not died. Successful testing was soon done on humans.
             The first human tested by Florey's lab was a police officer that had nicked himself shaving. It was a minor cut, but was ignored and became infected. When doctors were unsuccessful in treating the officer, Florey was given permission to treat the officer using penicillin. After five days the officer was improving but because of limited supplies of penicillin the officer relapsed and soon died. Although the officer died, the penicillin had temporarily stopped the infection and was not harmful .


Essays Related to Penicillin

1. Penicillin

... taken orally as a liquid or pill, or you can take it through a type of shot. It is a favorite drug for doctors to prescribe. Penicillin was discovered in 1928 by a Scottish Physician, Alexander Fleming. Before this time people new little about germs and bacteria, they would never wash out their ... the bacteria had ceased to exist. He then correctly reasoned that this fungus must kill the bacteria and he identified it as Penicillin. Although Fleming's discovery of penicillin was exciting he could not find a way to make it useful to the public and he quit doing research. Then Howard ......

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2. Penicillin

... 1874, William Roberts observed that bacterial contamination is generally absent in cultures of the mold Penicillium glaucum." Thus proving, Fleming was not the first to discover penicillin, but the first to be noted for it. Penicillin is a mold, but not just one. There are many molds under the heading Penicillium, and they all work the same. Some are just faster at growing ... words, it would stop the umbilical cord from connecting to the baby's stomach for humans. That proves that the antibiotic penicillin is very powerful. This idea is also stressed in The New Complete Medical and Hea...

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3. Penicillin

... be used for treatment of respiratory infections to sexually transmitted diseases. We can use it on humans and animals too. The following are some disease that can be treated by Penicillin: treatment of staphylococci, osteomyelitis, supprative arthritis, bronchitis, empyema, endocarditis, furuncles, laryngotrachetis, mastitis, meningitis, otitis media, peritonitis, supprative pneumonia, burns, septicema, sinustis, tonsillitus, wounds, hemolytic streptococci, pneumococci, ... infection. In 1922 he discovered that nasal mucus, tears, and some other secretions of the body could dissolve cer...

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  • Grade Level: High School

4. Invention of penicillin

... was discovered by Dr. Alexander Fleming. Dr. Alexander Fleming was looking at one of his specimens of Staphylococcus aureus (a bacteria) and he noticed there was a mold growing that is called PENICILLIN. Dr. Alexander Fleming had seen how much of a serious killer bacteria's could be from all of the casualties and wounds that were caused during World War I. "Hopefully now we will ... people that with open wounds and since there was no cure or any kind of medicine that can help prevent, control or destroy bacteria many people died. How does PENICILLIN kill bacteria? PENICILLIN works by de...

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  • Grade Level: High School

5. Reading Journal - Biotechnology

... p53 gene eventually, the cure for cancer along with many other mutated gene diseases may be in sight with the help of diagnostic biotechnology to alter the genes. Article 3: "Penicillin, a First-Generation Biotechnology" Quote "We are in England in 1927. Arriving one morning at his laboratory, the microbiologist Alexander Fleming realizes, disheartened, that several of the ... Fleming founded one of the most revolutionary medicine in biotechnology by accident. This might as well be the highest favorable accident in history. Without Penicillin invented, many of the pharmaceuticals given to...

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  • Grade Level: High School

6. Impact Of Antibiotics

... to human health in the twenty-first century. There are many advantages and disadvantages to the invention of penicillin and other antibiotic medicines. There are numerous rewards to the discovery of penicillin. In 1421, penicillin was used for the first time to save someone's life. Before penicillin was developed, the person would have been left to die because the doctors knew they didn't have ... any cures for bacteria infections. On average, 150 million perceptions are written a year for penicillin. With the use of penicillin as a meditation, it added 10 ... years to everyone's life e...

  • Word Count: 306
  • Approx Pages: 1
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

7. Drug Resistant Bacterias

... situations. This easily causes overuse and misuse of antibiotics creating antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB). Certain main problem areas such as Waste Water Treatment Plants, factory farming, overusing general antibiotics (like penicillin), hospital hygiene or just hygiene in general, the difference between poor and rich medical care, use of antibiotics on crops, and the limited ways to kill bacteria enables bacteria to ... grows. Their treatments are worlds different. The poor have to rely on weak and cheap substances to cure their ailments, while the rich have anything at their dispo...

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  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

8. Staphylococcus

... identification of pneumococci. Treatment available for Streptococcus infections is often antibiotic administration. Since Streptococcus is a gram-positive bacterium, it has a thick layer of peptidoglycan in its cell wall. Penicillin is probably one of the oldest drugs that have been discovered to kill streptococci bacteria. It is vital for Streptococcus to synthesize peptidoglycan without any interruption ... peptide chain that makes the peptidoglycan. Without this thick layer of peptidoglycan, streptococci are more prone to being phagocytosed and less resistant to lytic enzymes such as...

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  • Grade Level: High School

9. Syphilis

... the physician finds a chancre. He or she may take a scraping form the lesion and order a special microscopic examination. "When you enter the treatment stage you are giving long-lasting penicillin( The Merck Manual or Medical 831)". Which is given by intravenous injection it usually cures syphilis. The disease can, as noted, cause irreversible damage if allowed to spread uncheck. For ... people who are allergic to penicillin. Your Physicians may prescribe tetracycline or erythromycin. Both are effective as treatments. Treponema pallidum is the cause of Syphilis. A corkscrew shape type o...

  • Word Count: 2054
  • Approx Pages: 8
  • Grade Level: High School

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