Healthy, Medical, Cure

Penicillin is one of the earliest discovered and widely used antibiotic agents, derived from the Penicillium mold. Antibiotics are natural substances that are released by bacteria and fungi into the their environment, as a means of inhibiting other organisms - it is chemical warfare on a microscopic scale.

Sir Alexander Fleming

* Alexander Fleming
* born August. 6, 1881 , Darvel, Scotland
* died March 11, 1955 , London, England

In 1928, Sir Alexander Fleming observed that colonies of the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus could be destroyed by the mold Penicillium notatum, proving that there was an antibacterial agent there in principle. This principle later lead to medicines that could kill certain types of disease-causing bacteria inside the body.

At the time, however, the importance of Alexander Fleming's discovery was not known. Use of penicillin did not begin until the 1940s when Howard Florey and Ernst Chain isolated the active ingredient and developed a powdery form of the medicine.

History of Penicillin

Originally noticed by a French medical student, Ernest Duchesne, in 1896. Penicillin was re-discovered by bacteriologist Alexander Fleming working at St. Mary's Hospital in London in 1928. He observed that a plate culture of Staphylococcus had been contaminated by a blue-green mold and that colonies of bacteria adjacent to the mold were being dissolved. Curious, Alexander Fleming grew the mold in a pure culture and found that it produced a substance that killed a number of disease-causing bacteria. Naming the substance penicillin, Dr. Fleming in 1929 published the results of his investigations, noting that his discovery might have therapeutic value if it could be produced in quantity.

Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin

Hodgkin used x-rays to find the structural layouts of atoms and the overall molecular shape of over 100 molecules including penicillin. Dorothy's discovery of the molecular layout of penicillin helped lead scientists to develop other antibiotics.

Dr. Howard Florey

It was not until 1939 that Dr. Howard Florey, a future Nobel Laureate, and three colleagues at Oxford University began intensive research and were able to demonstrate penicillin's ability to kill infectious bacteria. As the war with Germany continued to drain industrial and government resources, the British scientists could not produce the quantities of penicillin needed for clinical trials on humans and turned to the United States for help. They were quickly referred to the Peoria Lab where scientists were already working on fermentation methods to increase the growth rate of fungal cultures. One July 9, 1941, Howard Florey and Norman Heatley, Oxford University Scientists came to the U.S. with a small but valuable package containing a small amount of penicillin to begin work.

Pumping air into deep vats containing corn steep liquor (a non-alcoholic by-product of the wet milling process) and the addition of other key ingredients was shown to produce faster growth and larger amounts of penicillin than the previous surface-growth method. Ironically, after a worldwide search, it was a strain of penicillin from a moldy cantaloupe in a Peoria market that was found and improved to produce the largest amount of penicillin when grown in the deep vat, submerged conditions.

Andrew J. Moyer

By November 26, 1941, Andrew J. Moyer, the lab's expert on the nutrition of molds, had succeeded, with the assistance of Dr. Heatley, in increasing the yields of penicillin 10 times. In 1943, the required clinical trials were performed and penicillin was shown to be the most effective antibacterial agent to date. Penicillin production was quickly scaled up and available in quantity to treat Allied soldiers wounded on D-Day. As production was increased, the price dropped from nearly priceless in 1940, to $20 per dose in July 1943, to $0.55 per dose by 1946.

As a result of their work, two members of the British group were awarded the Nobel Prize. Dr. Andrew J. Moyer from the Peoria Lab was inducted into the Inventors Hall of Fame and both the British and Peoria Laboratories were designated as International Historic Chemical Landmarks.

Andrew J Moyer Patent

On May 25, 1948, Andrew J Moyer was granted a patent for a method of the mass production of penicillin.

Resistance to Penicillin

Four years after drug companies began mass-producing penicillin in 1943, microbes began appearing that could resist it.

The first bug to battle penicillin was Staphylococcus aureus. This bacterium is often a harmless passenger in the human body, but it can cause illness, such as pneumonia or toxic shock syndrome, when it overgrows or produces a toxin.

History of surgery

The earliest known surgical procedure is trepanation, also known as trephinning or trepanning, in which a hole is drilled or scraped into the skull, leaving the membrane around the brain intact. A trepanned cranium found near Kiev, Ukraine, is the oldest yet found, dating back to 7300-6220 BC. Trepanation attempts to address health problems that relate to abnormal intracranial pressure, and has been found in cultures around the world. Modern surgery has been largely abandoning this practice, however.

Researchers have also uncovered an Ancient Egyptian mandible, dated to approximately 2750 BC, having two perforations just below the root of the first molar, indicating the draining of an abscessed tooth. Recent excavations of the construction workers of the Egyptian pyramids also led to the discovery of evidence of brain surgery on a labourer, who continued living for two years afterwards.

The Edwin Smith papyrus is the oldest known surgical text, dating back to the 1600s BC, although it contains information dating back to 3000 BC. It is an ancient Egyptian textbook on surgery, and describes in exquisite detail the examination, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of numerous ailments.

Susrutha (about 400 B.C) - also spelt Susruta or Sushrutha - is an important figure in the history of surgery. He lived, taught and practiced his art of surgery on the banks of the Ganges in the area that corresponds to the prensent day city of Benares in North-West India. Because of his seminal and numerous contributions to the science and art of surgery he is also known by the title "Father of Surgery". Much of what is known about this inventive surgeon is contained in a series of volumes he authored, which are collectively known as the Susrutha Samhita.

Although surgeons are now considered to be specialised physicians, the profession of surgeon and that of physician have different historical roots. For example, the Hippocratic Oath warns physicians against the practice of surgery, specifiy that cutting persons laboring under the stone, i.e. lithotomy, an operation to relieve kidney stones, which was to be left to such persons as practice .

By the thirteenth century, many European towns were demanding that physicians have several years of study or training before they could practice. Surgery had a lower status than pure medicine, beginning as a craft tradition until Rogerius Salernitanus composed his Chirurgia, which laid the foundation for the species of the occidental surgical manuals, influencing them up to modern times.

Among the first modern surgeons were battlefield doctors in the Napoleonic Wars who were primarily concerned with amputation. Naval surgeons were often barber-surgeons, who combined surgery with their main jobs as barbers.

In London, an operating theatre or operating room from the day before modern anaesthesia or antiseptic surgery still exists, and is open to the public. It is found in the roof space of St Thomas Church, Southwark, London and is called the Old Operating Theatre.

Before advent of anaesthesia, surgery was a traumatically painful procedure and surgeons were encouraged to be as swift as possible to minimize patient suffering. This also meant that operations were largely restricted to amputations and external growth removals. In addition, the need for strict hygiene during procedures was little understood, which often resulted in life threatening post-op infections in patients.

Beginning in the 1840s, surgery began to change dramatically in character with the discovery of effective and practical anaesthestic chemicals such as ether and chloroform. In addition in relieving patient suffering, anathesia allowed more intricate operations in the internal regions of the human body. In addition, the discovery of muscle relaxants such as curare allowed for safer applications.

However, the move to longer operations increased the danger of dangerous complications since the prolonged exposure of surgical wounds to the open air heightened the chance of infections. It was only in the late 19th century with the rise of microbiology with scientists like Louis Pasteur and innovative doctors who applied their findings like Joseph Lister did the idea of strict cleanliness and sterile settings during arise.