'How Penicillin Changed the World Essay\r'

'Life before September 1928 prove to be a difficult eon for m each. The feel of life across the dry land was poor, and benignants had a considerably shorter lifespan than today. Bacterial transmissions ranked as a leading cause of ending. These infections spread easily, and diseases such as pneumonia, syphilis, gonorrhea, diphtheria, and cherry fever as headspring as wounds and childbirth infections kil lead thousands every year. Surgical infections were withal a major(ip) killer, and doctors had no protection from any of these infections. The husking of the prototypical antibiotic, penicillin, in 1928 changed the lives of people forever. Penicillin provided a cure for some(prenominal) deadly infections, and its discovery led to the discovery of many a(prenominal) other antibiotics, such as streptomycin, which are used to treat everyday infections for unbounded ailments, saving and improving lives throughout the military personnel. Before the discovery of penicillin, medicine was not very reliable for solidification diseases or infections. Many people in the late 1800’s- 1920s were dying from the common c sure-enough(a) (Tames 12). The half trend for Disease Control and Prevention states,â€Å"Diseases such as pneumonia, tuberculosis (TB), and diarrhea and enteritis, which (together with diphtheria) caused one third of alone deaths in the late 1800’s to early 1900’s”. 1918 proved to be an especially devastating time with 20 million lives lost collect to a wide spread of influenza that no cognise medicinal medicine could cure.\r\nDuring this time vaccinations were the near helpful medicament but even with their help, thousands still died from many diseases and infection (CDC). The discovery of penicillin is described as being miraculous. Penicillin is answerable for circle thousands of diseases and infections since the 1940’s. It saves hundreds of thousands of lives that would otherwise be lost due t o these infections. Treating everything from golf shots and scrapes to major diseases such as syphilis, penicillin is used for undecomposed about everything in today’s arena (Wong). Wong stated, â€Å"Without the discovery of this antibiotic thousands of people would still be dying from the aforesaid(prenominal) diseases that killed hundreds of years ago”. scorn the success of the do drugs, penicillin, discovered by Dr. horse parsley Fleming, was an unintended finding. Fogel commented in his article, â€Å"Fleming was known as being an uncoordinated and messy scientist”. He was researching a culture of staph aureus, a pathogenic bacterium, and left for a 2 week vacation. When he returned he observed that the exemplification was contaminated by a species of genus Penicillium and the penicillium prohibited the growth of the staphylococcus aureus (Wong).\r\nFleming decided to yet his research and discovered that this mold was capable of kill a wide ran ge of harmful bacteria. He published his findings in the British Journal of experimental Pathology, where other scientists observed them and decided to turn penicillin into something to a greater extent than just a laboratory finding (â€Å" husking and Development of Penicillin”). In the early days of penicillin exertion, scarce small unions of the drug were produced, which caused major issues for doctors and surgeons testing the antibiotic. at once penicillin was developed enough for testing, it became high in demand. Producers of the drug could only fermentate small amounts at a time, outgrowth the penicillium bacteria in bedpans, milk churns, and nutriment tins (â€Å"Discovery and Development of Penicillin”).\r\nEndocrine Today states, â€Å"It took cardinal months to grow enough of the bacteria to cure 6 patients”. This caused many issues for doctors and surgeons testing the drug, since they couldn’t complete their trials with the hold reso urce. Many patients who received penicillin died from relapse of diseases since doctors did not make the amount of the drug needed to completely eradicate the disease. It wasn’t until the late 1930’s that increased production of the drug occurred with the development of customized fermentation tanks that would allow cholecalciferol liters of penicillin to be produced per week (â€Å"Penicillin: An Accidental Discovery Changed the rails of medical specialty”).\r\nAlthough penicillin was limited in resource, tests on the vernal drug proved to be prospering. Performing the first test with penicillin were Howard Florey and Ernst Chain, who injected 50 mice first with harmful streptococcus then with penicillin. The test proved to be successful in eradicating the disease from the mice. According to Tames, â€Å"The first human test of penicillin was Albert Alexander, a 43 year old police officer that suffered a small cut from a rose thorn that turned into a l ife-threatening infection with huge abscesses affecting his eyes, face, and lungs” (24). Alexander was injected with penicillin and within days he made a miraculous recovery. Unfortunately, the limited amount of penicillin ran out, and he died leash days later. Another test was performed on a four year old boy with a fatal infection, and he was cured completely. Scientists who worked for major pharmaceutic companies wanted to purify the drug even more than for widespread use all over the earthly concern (â€Å"Discovery and Development of Penicillin”).\r\nAccordingly, penicillin’s use in World warfare II decreased the amount of soldier deaths that were the military issue of diseases and infections. In World warfare I, 200,000 soldiers died from disease and infection. The Center for Disease Control states, â€Å"The most common diseases for both world wars were pneumonia ,strep throat, scarlet fever, diphtheria, syphilis, gonorrhea, meningitis, tonsillitis,an d screaky fever”. With the help of penicillin, in World War II the enactment of soldier casualties dropped significantly to almost 9000. Death rate from pneumonia was 18% in WWI; and in WWII it was less than 1% (â€Å"Penicillin the Wonder Drug”).\r\nIn addition to its benefits in World War II, penicillin in like manner dropped the death rate from amputation. Amputations were extremely risky in the late 1800s to early 1900’s because of the inadequacy of medication and sanitation in hospitals. Thousands of soldiers came home from the war needing amputations from sustain injuries. Tames states, â€Å"Before the induction of penicillin 75% of amputations resulted in death” (45). Penicillin’s use in these procedures reduced that number to 30% (68). Antibiotics made it safe to operate on limbs without the fear of infection for thousands of people. Furthermore, the discovery of penicillin paved the way to the discovery of other antibiotics. Penicilli ns success inspired many scientists and pharmacists to research other products that could be helpful in medicine. Many scientists tested bacterias and infixed fruits for harmful bacteria fighting properties (â€Å"The fungus that changed history”).\r\nEndocrine Today states, â€Å"A number of pharmaceutical industries began to screen other natural products for antibacterial activity, which led to new antibiotics such as aminoglycosides and tetracycline” (â€Å"Penicillin: An Accidental Discovery Changed the Course of level”). These new antibiotics, just like penicillin, were successful in the treatment and eradication of many infections and diseases. As a result from the discovery of new antibiotics along with penicillin, many diseases and infections that killed thousands finally had a cure. Krebs states in his article, â€Å"Before penicillin, tuberculosis, scarlet fever, diphtheria, syphilis, anthrax, strep, and staph often resulted in death”. Doctors and surgeons didn’t have the medication to cure many of the diseases that were major killers at the time. With the discovery and induction of penicillin, most if not all those diseases and infections are now curable (â€Å"The Fungus that Changed report”).\r\nToday, less than 10% of the worlds population die from the same diseases that killed in the late 1800’s-early 1900’s (Wong). Subsequently, penicillin is still as popular as it was in the 1930’s, despite the growth number of allergies and antibiotic resistance against it. The overuse and blackguard of penicillin has caused many to develop antibacterial resistance against the drug. Allergies caused by penicillin are the most common of all drug allergies. Some scientists claim that penicillin allergies are caused by a person’s immune system patrimonial makeup that is designed to fight all bacteria. disdain this, â€Å"Penicillin is the most widely used antibiotic in the world” , and it continues to be effective in curing deadly diseases (â€Å"Penicillin: An Accidental Discovery Changed the Course of Medicine”).\r\nPenicillin has changed the world in an extremely positive way. It has provided the marrow for treating and curing deadly diseases and infections, as well as lead to the discovery of other disease violent death antibiotics. Millions of lives have been saved and improved a result of this discovery. Without the â€Å"mistake” Alexander Fleming supposedly made the world would still be one with meager medical treatments; and thousands would still be dying from the fatal diseases that took so many lives in the 1800’s. Penicillin has truly fabricated the world of medicine into what it is today.\r\n'