Prior to this discovery, infections such as bacterial endocarditis, bacterial meningitis, and pneumococcal pneumonia were often deadly. At the time, Scottish researcher Sir Alexander Fleming had been in the middle of conducting an experiment in London with the influenza virus when he went on a two week vacation.
Upon his return, Fleming came back to discover that a staphylococcus culture plate in his lab had been contaminated and that a mold was now growing on the plate. When analyzed closer, he noted that this mold was actually preventing the growth of the staphylococci bacteria. This mold would later be identified as Penicillium notatum by Dr. Howard Florey. Fifty mice were infected with streptococcus, a bacteria known for causing deadly infections. The mice that were then treated with penicillin all survived while the mice not treated with penicillin died.
Florey concluded that the results were promising enough to begin testing the antibiotic on people. Antibiotics were nothing short of miraculous when they were first mass produced in s. Infections from surgery, childbirth, even scraping your knee went from killing millions every year, to being easily treated. Javascript is disabled. You are here: Home Objects and stories. Published: 23 February Mary's Hospital, London.
The preferred fermentation vessel that would be used until mass production deep tanks fermenters, developed in the States, took over. One of the earliest penicillin samples, believed to have been isolated from the urine of a patient given the antibiotic. Penicillin was discovered in London in September of As the story goes, Dr. Alexander Fleming, the bacteriologist on duty at St. Upon examining some colonies of Staphylococcus aureus, Dr. Fleming noted that a mold called Penicillium notatum had contaminated his Petri dishes.
After carefully placing the dishes under his microscope, he was amazed to find that the mold prevented the normal growth of the staphylococci. Sir Alexander Fleming — , studying a test tube culture with a hand lens. It took Fleming a few more weeks to grow enough of the persnickety mold so that he was able to confirm his findings.
His conclusions turned out to be phenomenal: there was some factor in the Penicillium mold that not only inhibited the growth of the bacteria but, more important, might be harnessed to combat infectious diseases. As Dr. But I guess that was exactly what I did.
Fourteen years later, in March , Anne Miller became the first civilian patient to be successfully treated with penicillin, lying near death at New Haven Hospital in Connecticut, after miscarrying and developing an infection that led to blood poisoning. Actually, Fleming had neither the laboratory resources at St. That task fell to Dr. He was a master at extracting research grants from tight-fisted bureaucrats and an absolute wizard at administering a large laboratory filled with talented but quirky scientists.
Soon after, Florey and his colleagues assembled in his well-stocked laboratory. A petri-dish of penicillin showing its inhibitory effect on some bacteria but not on others. Chain was an abrupt, abrasive and acutely sensitive man who fought constantly with Florey over who deserved credit for developing penicillin. Despite their battles, they produced a series of crude penicillium-mold culture fluid extracts.
During the summer of , their experiments centered on a group of 50 mice that they had infected with deadly streptococcus. Half the mice died miserable deaths from overwhelming sepsis. The others, which received penicillin injections, survived.
It was at that point that Florey realized that he had enough promising information to test the drug on people.
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