It was the birth of the first antibiotic. Fleming was not the first to notice the bacteria-killing property of Penicillium, but he was the first to study it scientifically and publish the results. In fact, Fleming had been looking for bacteria-killing substances for a number of years, ever since he had served as a medical officer in World War I and witnessed soldiers dying from bacteria-caused infections. He had already discovered one such antimicrobial agent—the chemical lysozyme—which he detected in his own tears and nasal mucus, so he knew what bacteria-killing signs to look for. If you’ve ever seen a piece of moldy bread or rotting fruit, then you’ve met the Penicillium fungus.…
Michael Debakey was a famous American cardiovascular surgeon, medical educator, and scientist. He was born on September 7, 1908 in Lake Charles, Louisiana, and died on July 11, 2008, in Houston, Texas. Debakey attended Tulane University in New Orleans where he received his Bachelor of Science degree, and in 1932 he received an M.D. degree from the Tulane University school of Medicine. After completing his surgical fellowships at the University of Strasbourg and at the University of Heidelberg, Debakey returned back to Tulane where he served on the surgical faculty from 1937 to 1948. From 1942 to 1946, he served in World War II where he helped to revolutionize wartime medicine by supporting the doctors closer to the front lines. This improved the survival rate of countless wounded U.S soldiers and resulted in the great development of Mobile Army Surgical Hospital units in the Korean War.…
These men were given standard treatment but were denied antibiotics. In 1940, researchers discovered that penicillin was an effective cure. During the 1950s, penicillin…
The chemical structure of penicillin was determined by Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin in the early 1940s. Penicillin has since become the most widely used antibiotic to date, and is still used for many Gram-positive bacterial infections. A team of Oxford research scientists led by Australian Howard Florey and including Ernst Boris Chain and Norman Heatley devised a method of mass-producing the drug. Florey and Chain shared the 1945 Nobel prize in medicine with Fleming for their work. After World War II, Australia was the first country to make the drug available for civilian use. Chemist John C. Sheehan at MIT completed the first total synthesis of penicillin and some of its analogs in the early 1950s, but his methods were not efficient for mass production.…
No doubt the pain and suffering endured by the soldiers could have been greatly reduced by its use. It was not only a miracle drug for the soldiers in battle, it also saved many lives in society. Children who received cuts and scrapes during play could now be cured in a relatively short time with this simple fungus. Often simple wounds, or even wounds received by farmers, or factory workers who were hurt on the job were often a death sentence. The discovery of penicillin changed that. Not only was penicillin great at healing wounds, it was also effective against diseases such as syphilis, strep throat, and rheumatic fever. When you consider the massive number of people whose lives have been saved, it is easy to declare that penicillin is one of the greatest discoveries of all…
less than ten years after antibiotics were introduced to the medical field. The Center for Disease…
This website explained how the battles during World War II forced technology relating to medicine to advance at the same pace as other weapon technology did during World War II. It also explained the first uses for Penicillin and how the decision was made to mass produce a drug that had been created many years before.…
(Markham 37). It cures abscossas, pneumonia, bronchitis, pneumatic fever, burns, scarlet fever, syphilis, influenza, diphtheria, and many others (Markham 37). Thank goodness Alexander Fleming was persistent and messy. Billions of lives have been saved. He discovered the miracle drug and saved the world (Bankston).…
One may argue that one of the most helpful drugs during word war two, penicillin, was discovered in 1960, prior to world war two. Although penicillin wasn’t discovered during world war two, it was improved on many levels during the time such as production on an industrial scale, it became much more readily available, and by 1945 it was 20 times stronger than the 1939 version of penicillin. Therefore, even though penicillin was developed pre world war two, it made extreme improvements since 1939. It was 20 times stronger than the 1939 version.…
Alexander Fleming is a Scottish biologist and pharmacologist. He was born at Lochfield near Darvel in Ayrshire, Scotland on August 6th, 1881. In 1999, the Times magazine named Fleming one of the 100 Most Important People of the 20th Century for his discovery of penicillin. While penicillin is widely cited as one of the most important discoveries of the 20th century, uncertainty over whether or not Alexander Fleming actually discovered it caused many to question his 1945 Nobel Prize for Medicine. Critics questioned the novelty of Fleming's find, referencing studies dating back to the 1870s that note the bacteria-fighting properties of the mold Penicillium notatum. Even Fleming himself admitted the discovery was a complete accident and conceded that the first known reference to penicillin was actually from Psalm 51: "Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean." In the end though, he was indeed the first person to isolate and produce penicillin, which has since saved millions of lives worldwide, so he is worthy of high praise.…
As described by doctors, antibiotics are powerful medicines that fight bacterial infections. Bacteria are widely spread throughout the globe and if used properly, can save lives. They either kill bacteria or keep them from reproducing. From there, this issue can be taken by your body’s natural defenses. Although these chemicals may seem very productive at times, they do more harm than good. Each time your body receives antibiotics; it increases the chances that bacteria in your body will be able to resist them. Later, you could get an infection that our body will be able to resist the antibiotic. This is the main reason that has got the general public worried. Should antibiotics be restricted to certain people only? When Penicillin was discovered in 1928, it was used…
And we should thank him every time when we get sick and take the penicillin as single remedy for our disease. Because of his research and his discovery of penicillin, he has "the greatest contribution medical science ever made to humanity."…
of Science appeared to have no potential benefit to mankind in their inchoate stages.For instance,Alexander Fleming,credited with the discovery of Penicillin,serendipitiously happened to notice a fungal growth inhibiting the…
Antibiotics transformed medicine. The discovery of antibiotics began by accident. On the morning of September 3rd, 1928, Professor Alexander Fleming was having a clear up of his cluttered laboratory. Fleming was sorting through a number of glass plates which had previously been coated with staphyloccus bacteria as part of research Fleming was doing. One of the plates had mould on it. The mould was in the shape of a ring and the area around the ring seemed to be free of the bacteria staphyloccus. Further research on the mould found that it could kill other bacteria and that it could be given to small animals without any side-effects. However, within a year, Fleming had moved onto other medical issues and it was ten years later that Howard Florey and Ernst Chain, working at Oxford University, isolated the bacteria-killing substance found in the mould - penicillin.…
1941 Penicillin Used To Treat a Human -(2/12/41) For the first time, penicillin was used to treat a human patient. Penicillin treated infections, and was widely used during World War II…