Download Alexander Fleming and the Importance of Penicillin Mark Erichsen

Alexander Fleming and the Importance of Penicillin
Mark Erichsen
Throughout American history have been various groundbreaking advances in medicinal
technology and treatment, one of them being the discovery of a certain mold named Penicillin.
Alexander Fleming was the first in his field of Bacteriology to discover the potential benefits mold
could have in fighting infections. Through his constant research, Alexander Fleming changed the
way of American life and inspired many scientists such as Howard Florey, Ernst Chain, and Norman
Heatley to follow in his footsteps.
Alexander Fleming was born in the small town of Lochfield, in Ayrshire, Scotland on August
6th, 1881. During his youth, he attended many different primary schools such as Louden Moor,
Darvel Academy, and Kilmarnock Academy. Before officially starting the brunt of his schooling
and research at Saint Mary’s Medical School, he worked for four years at a small post office in
London. After finishing his schooling in 1906, he began his research in bacteria and its natural
effects on the human body under Sir Almroth Wright. Around the year 1914, he served as a Captain
of the Medical Corps in the army during World War I. He returned to Saint Mary’s Medical School
in 1918 to resume his studies, and the rest is history. Alexander Fleming passed away on March 11th,
1955 and was buried in Saint Paul’s Cathedral.
During Alexander Fleming’s work on the influenza virus and vaccine in 1928, he made an
accidental discovery. On a discarded petri dish of a bacteria called staphylococcus, he noticed a
circle of mold forming; however, he could tell something was different about it. Throughout
Alexander Fleming’s work experience and research, he had always seen different colonies of bacteria
and mold grow together. So, when he saw a small green circle of mold with a bacteria-free circle
around it, he realized he might have stumbled across something he could not take for granted. He
was then inspired by the experiment and started a continuous study on the mold he had found in his
abandoned petri dish. He soon discovered a concentrated mold culture of this “mystery organism”
could withstand and kill bacteria such as staphylococcus even after being diluted up to eight hundred
times. After further research and study, he named this “mystery organism” Penicillin. The reason
why Penicillin killed other harmful bacteria was it released an antibacterial agent called Bellis.
Keeping Penicillin in mind, he continued older research on bacteria in the blood and tissue
of animals and humans. After testing Penicillin in animal tissues, he saw it was non-toxic and could
possibly be used on human subjects. After various theories and hypotheses, he turned the mold
Penicillin into a wonder drug that could kill different types of disease carrying/causing bacteria in
the human body. In the year 1929, Alexander Fleming published his findings and said if produced
in mass quantities, Penicillin could have the potential to save countless lives in the medical field.
As mentioned before, three scientists named Howard Florey, Ernst Chain, and Norman
Heatley stepped onto the scene. Almost ten years later, in 1938 at Oxford University in London, all
three scientists began to study Alexander Fleming’s work in earnest. The three of them began to
expand on Fleming’s work. They understood Penicillin in mass quantities had the potential to save
millions of lives, so they began work on how to properly cultivate and grow mass colonies of the
wonder drug. The only problem was Penicillin was extremely costly to produce in mass quantities,
and the three scientists had no way of acquiring factory resources in order to manufacture it. This is
where war stepped in. By the time Florey, Chain, and Heatley’s research began to show real
promising results, World War II had begun. Because of World War II, much of England’s
governmental and industrial resources were drained. However, the devastation World War II caused
also sparked an interest in the United States in the wonder drug Penicillin.
Scientists, along with generals in the Army and the United States Congress, finally saw the
potential life-saving benefits Penicillin could procure. No one wanted a repeat of World War I,
where soldiers would survive their wounds but perish due to bacterial infection and illness such as
Pneumonia. In 1941, Florey, Chain, and Heatley’s research was moved to the United States for
more funding and project flexibility. The research continued, but the over-arching problem of
inefficient production still loomed over the heads of the many scientists involved.
Florey, Chain, Heatley and their team of scientists were now in a race against time to
efficiently produce the drug before more soldiers died on the battlefield. Finally in late 1941, Florey,
Chain, Heatley and their team were able to dramatically increase the production rate and yield of
Penicillin. In 1943, the clinical trials needed were finally able to be administered. After the trials,
Penicillin became the most effective anti-bacterial agent in history. Production of Penicillin
skyrocketed, and soon after enough Penicillin was produced to treat all the soldiers involved in DDay. At the end of the year, so much Penicillin was produced hospitals were able to treat over
seven million patients per year, and the wonder drug was still being made. It soon became so
accessible and widely used the price per dosage of Penicillin went from twenty dollars down to only
fifty-five cents.
Thanks to Alexander Fleming and his groundbreaking research and the accidental discovery
of the wonder drug Penicillin, the field of medical treatment, and more importantly the world,
changed for the better. The impact of Penicillin was most greatly experienced during World War I
and World War II. In World War I, millions of soldiers died from infection and Pneumonia. It was
one of the greatest killers of the war, but after Penicillin’s administration, the death rate of soldiers
from Pneumonia dropped from about eighteen percent down to below one percent. Because of his
research, Fleming was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology/Medicine in 1945. His work greatly
impacted American healthcare and changed the American way of life for the better.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Coffey, Alaina. “20th Century Medical Advancements & American History.” Blogspot. Web. 03
October 2015.
Nobel Media. Nobelprize.org. 2015. Nobel Media. Web. 03 October 2015.