penicillin and antibiotics

• • penicillin was first antibiotic and was discovered in 1928
• • 1928 - Alexander Fleming studied infections caused by staphylococci bacteria
  • left dishes on windowsill with bacteria
  • penicillin mould landed on diseases and killed bacteria underneath - left circle
  • Fleming experimented with penicillin mould and saw he could kill bacteria without harming cells
  • used penicillin to treat eye infection
• • penicillin did not work on deeper infections and it took long time to make enough penicillin to use
  • 1929 - Fleming wrote about findings in medical journal but did not continue with his work
• Howard Florey and Ernst Chain:

  • 1938 - Florey and Chain read Fleming's journal and got funding from government to experiment with penicillin
  • WW2 was soon so governemnt did not supply alot of money
  • Florey and Chain secured money from America to research
  • penicillin found to cure infection in mice
• penicillin testing on human:

  • to test penicillin on humans, pure penicillin needed to be made
  • bedpans used by Florey and Chain to make at home penicillin factory
  • 1941 - Florey and Chain able to test on human
  • tested on policeman who was dying from septicaemia
  • treatment worked but ran out of pure penicillin after week so policeman died
• • Florey and Chain showed penicillin could be successful in treating bacterial infections
• mass production of penicillin:

  • 1941 - America entered WW2
  • American government funded mass production of penicillin
  • British companies followed
  • by D-Day in 1944, Allies had produced 2.3 million doses to treat wounded