The invention of Penecillan
Pre-penecillin infection treatments
Up until the 1800's bloodletting and the use of potions that had no proven affect on infection were used. These methods would sometimes do harm than good.
Ancient Greece- The Greeks use moldy bread as a way to treat infected wounds.Pre-pennecillin continued
Civil War- over 2/3 of all casualties through the civil war were killed by infection and diseases. Amputations was commonly used to prevent the spread of infections diseases.
The dicovery of pennecilin
Development
- 1938- Dr. Howard Florey started developing penicillin and began doing extensive research on the mold. He and Dr. Ernest Chain partnered up and successfully extracted many series of penicillin mold fluids.
- Summer 1940- An experiment done on 50 mice infected with streptococcus was performed. The half treated with penicillin survived, while the other half died horrible deaths. This made Florey feel confident enough to test penicillin on humans.
Treatments
- September 1940- Albert Alexander was treated with penicillin. After a few days of injections Alexander began to recover, but unfortunate they did not have enough penicillin to eradicate the infection. Alexander died.
- 1941- Shortly after the US entered World War ll a new strain of the penicillin mold was discovered. It yielded over 200 times more doses than the old strain of penicillin. The penicillin was mass produced and saved thousands of lives in the war.
Production
- By may of 1942 pharmaceutical companies were producing penecillin at a rate of 650 billion units per month.
The Impact of penicillin
Bibliography
Markel, Howard, Dr. "The Real Story Behind Penicillin." PBS. PBS, 27 Sept. 2013. Web. 28 Sept. 2015.
"Civil War Diseases - Civil War Academy - American Civil War." Civil War Academy American Civil War. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Sept. 2015.
"Alexander Fleming Discovery and Development of Penicillin - Landmark - American Chemical Society." Alexander Fleming Discovery and Development of Penicillin - Landmark - American Chemical Society. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Sept. 2015.