Penicillin

• a new resistant germ called staphylcoccus was discovered this germ was resistant to any magic bullets and produced a wide range of illnesses including blood poisoning.
• Scientists had known since the 1870s that some mouldscould kill germs. One type of mould – penicillin – proved particularly good at killing staphylococcus
• In 1928 Alexander Fleming left out a Petri dish containing penicillin and found that it killed staphylococcus bacteria
• Fleming published his article on the potential of penicillin in 1929.
• In the 1930s, a research team from Oxford University began compiling a list of all the natural substances that could kill germs. 
• Howard Florey and Ernest Chain received £25 from the British Government to develop penicillin
• The British government by 1939 was far more interested in the Second World War 
• despite the fact that penicillin is extremely difficult to grow and extract, they produced enough to successfully test it on eight mice.
• Florey and Chain needed 3000 times more the amount to test on humans
• Using old milk bottles, hospital bedpans and a bath in which to grow the bacteria
• 43-year old Albert Alexander had been scratched by a rose bush and had developed a nasty infection
• The Second World War was a vital factor in transforming the supply of penicillin
• In June 1941, Florey went to America to meet with the US government.
• By the start of 1943, enough had been made to treat just 100 patients, but by 1944 there was enough to treat 40,000. By the end of the war in 1945, Britain and the USA were working closely together and enough penicillin was being produced to treat 250,000 people a month
• The product of penicillin started the pharmaceuticals industry as there were huge government-sponsored programmes to develop and produce it
• 12 to 15 per cent of wounded British and American soldiers would have died without being given penicillin 
• injured soldiers returned to service much quicker than they would have done without penicillin treatment.
• Penicillin is used as an antibiotic
• Streptomycin (1944) proved an excellent treatment for tuberculosis
• Mitomycin (1956) has been used as a chemotherapy drug for treating several different types of cancers.
• Tetracycline (1953) was great for clearing up skin infections