Penicillin

THE STORY OF PENICILLIN

Spring 2014-2015

Objectives

What is penicillin?

The Discovery of Penicillin

The Re-discovery of Penicillin

Fleming’s Discovery

Howard Florey and Ernst Chain

The Development of Penicillin

The Production of Penicillin

The mass Production of Penicillin

The Importance of Penicillin

What is penicillin?

- Penicillin is an antibiotic. “Antibiotic” literally means “against life” – but antibiotics only kill life that is harmful to people, i.e. bacteria

- A bacterial infection is caused by millions of tiny bacteria that aretyping to survive and multiply in the body

- An antibiotic attack kills these bacteria that enter the body

- Before the development of penicillin, many people suffered and diedfrom bacterial infections that are no longer considered dangers today

20TH CENTURY MEDICINE – THE STORY OF PENICILLIN

- THE MOST WIDELY USED ANTIBIOTIC


- Penicillin is made from a mould called penicillium

- This mould was first discovered in the early 19th century by John Sanderson who found that very little grew near it

- In the 1880s, Joseph Lister noted these observations and wrote to his brother to say that he intended to try penicillin on infected wounds

- Lister successfully treated a nurse with an infected wound withpenicillin, but he did not leave any notes on the case and he also did notcontinue his research in this area

The Discovery of Penicillin

The Re-discovery of Penicillin


- It was in the laboratory of St. Mary’s Hospital in 1928 that AlexanderFleming, a bacteriologist who graduated from the University of London,re-discovered the properties of penicillin


Fleming’s Discovery

- Fleming investigated and found that penicillin bacteria had got onto thedish, perhaps blow into the lab through an open window. The penicillinwas killing the staphylococci

-Fleming identified the mould and saw its potential – that penicillincould be applied to or injected into areas where there were penicillin-sensitive microbes

- However, Fleming did not have the facilities or support to develop andtest his idea that penicillin could fight infection. Fleming recorded hisfinding in a paper published in 1929


Howard Florey and Ernst Chain

- The second World War finally brought about the successfuldevelopment of penicillin

- In the 1930s two Oxford scientists, Howard Florey and Ernst Chain,developed an interest in Fleming’s 1929 paper on penicillin

-In 1939 they assembled a team of pathologists, chemists and biochemists. Three days after the outbreak of war, Howard Florey askedthe British government for money to found the team’s research

-The British government refused to find the team’s research, as theywere too busy making explosives

Ernst ChainHoward Florey

The Development of Penicillin



The Production of Penicillin

- Although the first patient died, it was clear that penicillin was verypowerful drug

- Production remained slow, but as new batches were produced, twomore patients were successfully treated

- In August 1942, Fleming himself used penicillin to successful treat afriend of his who had meningitis

- The second World War was producing thousands of casualties;penicillin needed to be mass produced if lives were to be saved


The Mass Production of Penicillin


The Importance of Penicillin

- It is estimated that without the use of penicillin, another 12-15% ofwounded allied soldiers would have died of infections

- Penicillin also roughly halved the average time the allied woundedspent in hospital

- It was a miracle drug when it was first developed. It could treat a widerange of infections and diseases including streptococcus, scarlet fever, syphilis and gonorrhoea

- In 1945 Fleming, Florey and chain were jointly awarded the Nobel PrizeFor Medicine for their work on penicillin

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penicillin

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Fleming

http://www.abc.net.au/science/slab/florey/story.htm

http://www.ox.ac.uk/research/medical_sciences/projects/penicillin.html

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/the-real-story-behind-the-worlds-first-antibiotic/







THANK YOU!

Penicillin

Spiritual