Case study: penicillin (1900-Present: Medicine in Modern Britain)

1) Fleming's discovery of Iyosozyme

1. Alexander Fleming saw many soldiers die of septic wounds caused by staphylococcal bacteria when he was working in an army hospital during the First World War 2. Searching for a cure he identified the antiseptic substance in tears, Iyosozyme, in 1922 - but this only worked on some Germs

2) Fleming's discovery of penicillin

1. One day in 1928 he came to clean up some old culture dishes on which he had been growing staphylococci for his experiments - by chance, a fungal spore had landed and grown on one of the dishes 2. What caught Fleming's eye was that the colonies of staphylococci around the mould had stopped growing - the fungus was identified as Penicillium notatum - it produced a substance that killed bacteria - this substance was given the name penicillin

3) After the war

After the war, the cost of penicillin fell, making it more accessible for general use

2) By 1943

By 1943, British businesses had also started mass-producing penicillin - mass production was sufficient for the needs of the military medics in 1944

3) Fleming published his findings

Fleming published his findings in articles between 1929 and 1931 - however, nobody was willing to fund further research, so he was unable to take his work further - the industrial production of penicillin still needed to be developed

Florey took penicillin to America for mass production

Florey knew that penicillin could be vital in treating the wounds of soldiers fighting in World War II - British chemical firms were too busy making explosives to start mass production of penicillin - so he went to America

Outline

In the 1800s, Pasteur discovered that bacteria causes disease - but it wasn't until the 1900s that doctors were able to treat bacterial diseases - this was partly due to the discovery of penicillin, the first antibiotic

2) At first Florey and Chain didn't have the resources to produce penicillin in large amounts

They made penicillin for their first clinical trial by growing Penicillium notatum in every container they could find in their lab - their patient began to recover, only to die when the penicillin ran out

1) American firms were also not keen to help

This was until America joined the war in 1941 - in December 1941, the Us government began to give out grants to businesses that manufactured penicillin

1) A breakthrough was made by Howard Florey's team in Oxford between 1938 and 1940

Since it is a natural product, penicillin needs to be purified - a breakthrough was made by Howard Florey's team of scientists in Oxford between 1938 and 1940 - Ernst Chain, a member of the team, devised the freeze-drying technique which was an important part of the purification process

Penicillin today

Today, penicillin is used to treat a range of bacterial infections, including chest infections and skin infections - other antibiotics were discovered after 1945, including treatments for lung infections, acne and bacterial meningitis

Comment and analysis on government funding

While individuals (like Florey, Chain and Fleming) were important in making the discovery of penicillin, it was large institutions like governments that funded its mass production