Preview

Antibiotics: Antibiotic and British Royal Army

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
352 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Antibiotics: Antibiotic and British Royal Army
Science is the study of the natural world. Medicine is one of the most important branches of science. It is the study of diagnosing, treating, or preventing disease and damage to the body or the mind. Medicine has been advancing ever since the ancient days. Advancement is the act of moving forward or improving. An example of an improvement that has been made in the medical branch of science is the invention of antibiotics.
An antibiotic is a substance produced by one organism that can destroy another. The term literally means “against life.” One of the earliest discovered and widely used antibiotics is Penicillin. Penicillin is collected from the Penicillium mold. Alexander Fleming is known for discovering this antibiotic. In 1901, he went to St. Mary Hospital to study medicine. In 1914, during World War I, Alexander Fleming joined the British Royal Army Medical Corps. He wanted to reduce the number of soldiers dying from infection. One day in 1928, before throwing away some old Petri dishes of culture, Alexander Fleming accidentally discovered a blue mold growing on a harmful chemical. The mold seemed to be killing off the bacteria. In the late 1930’s, other scientists found a way to make a large amount of Penicillin using machines. In World War II, Penicillin was used to cure many infections. In 1945, Alexander Fleming was awarded a Nobel Prize for medicine. The discovery of antibiotics has benefitted society in many different ways. The introduction of the first antibiotic has been known as one of the greatest advances in medicine. Penicillin has been a dramatic medical breakthrough. Before the introduction of the antibiotic, there was no effective cure for infections such as pneumonia or rheumatic fever. After Penicillin has been introduced, many doctors could cure blood poisoning, infections, and diseases.

Overuse and misuse of antibiotics over the years has caused bacteria to grow resistant. Therefore, scientists have to work hard to

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    BIO 104 Chapter 3

    • 7229 Words
    • 29 Pages

    It was the birth of the first antibiotic. Fleming was not the first to notice the bacteria-killing property of Penicillium, but he was the first to study it scientifically and publish the results. In fact, Fleming had been looking for bacteria-killing substances for a number of years, ever since he had served as a medical officer in World War I and witnessed soldiers dying from bacteria-caused infections. He had already discovered one such antimicrobial agent—the chemical lysozyme—which he detected in his own tears and nasal mucus, so he knew what bacteria-killing signs to look for. If you’ve ever seen a piece of moldy bread or rotting fruit, then you’ve met the Penicillium fungus.…

    • 7229 Words
    • 29 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    antibiotics. The new discovery could provide new tools in the fight against microbes such as…

    • 238 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    These men were given standard treatment but were denied antibiotics. In 1940, researchers discovered that penicillin was an effective cure. During the 1950s, penicillin…

    • 393 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The chemical structure of penicillin was determined by Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin in the early 1940s. Penicillin has since become the most widely used antibiotic to date, and is still used for many Gram-positive bacterial infections. A team of Oxford research scientists led by Australian Howard Florey and including Ernst Boris Chain and Norman Heatley devised a method of mass-producing the drug. Florey and Chain shared the 1945 Nobel prize in medicine with Fleming for their work. After World War II, Australia was the first country to make the drug available for civilian use. Chemist John C. Sheehan at MIT completed the first total synthesis of penicillin and some of its analogs in the early 1950s, but his methods were not efficient for mass production.…

    • 316 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Thinking he had found an enzyme more powerful than lysozyme, Fleming decided to investigate further. What he found out, though, was that it was not an enzyme at all, but an antibiotic -- one of the first antibiotics to be discovered. Further development of the substance was not a one-man operation, as his previous efforts had been, so Fleming recruited two young researchers. The three men unfortunately failed to stabilize and purify penicillin, but Fleming pointed out that penicillin had clinical potential, both in topical and injectable forms, if it could be developed properly.…

    • 312 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    This website was a brief history on the expansion and mass production of Antibiotics from 1928 to 2000. I used this website in order to have a basic understanding of how Penicillin was the starting blocks for antibiotics.…

    • 2536 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Penicillin was probably the number one most used invention of the entire war. Penicillin was invented in 1928 by Alexander Fleming but it was not used in mass production until World War II (Rosenberg, Alexander Fleming Discovers Penicillin). The war had so many casualties that it forced the mass use of penicillin to fight off the bacteria in the soldiers wounds and bodies. Without penicillin soldiers who had minor injuries may have died or suffered amputation do to infection caused by bacteria. Penicillin saved uncountable lives and limbs of soldiers during the war. Penicillin was the most important and lifesaving invention forced into use during World War II. Brian J. Ford…

    • 1407 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin in 1928 which was the first antibiotic that fights bacteria. During the 1900's pneumonia was one of the leading killers in America prior to the discovery of penicillin. Penicillin is important as it prevents previous life-threatening infections like pneumonia, blood infection, meningitis, and strep throat. In addition, because of penicillin, several amputations, and deaths (due to infection) during the second world war decreased. Many people have benefited from the invention of penicillin since its discovery and one of them was me. When I was a young kid, I had strep throat and my doctor prescribed me Penicillin. Infections that were life-threatening in the past can be cured with medicine. Another explanation…

    • 404 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Howard Florey

    • 677 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In 1940 penicillin was finally produced and by this time World War II has started. Wounded soldiers were in need for penicillin, as records show penicillin has been used on D-Day to cure soldiers from gangrene. Medical companies started sending out a 100 billion units of penicillin per month by 1944. After this drug's miraculous effects on these soldiers, more and more of this drug was demanded from the medical companies in the United States. Researchers believe that penicillin was one of the indirect causes of the victory of the allies during the war. Today some of us don't realize the importance of penicillin and that it prevents many children from getting diseases such as infections of the bone, stomach, or throat. Back then children died regularly from what is today considered minor diseases and infections. Indeed penicillin is a miracle drug.…

    • 677 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    With the advancement of medication we have seen a momentous decrease in the number of people that were hospitalized or caused death because they did not acquired the proper medication. Science is the main reason why we are so ahead in medicine, "advances in medical science" help protect most diseases from spreading. Medicines can cure, preclude, or even stop an outbreak or a virus. The most notable development of medicine is that it comes in many different shapes and size. One can take medicine in a use of a pill, liquid such as syrup and exercise is a form of medication.…

    • 846 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    1920s Medicine Essay

    • 1542 Words
    • 7 Pages

    19 Feb. 2015. http://online.salempress.com Bankston, John. “Alexander Fleming and the Story of Penicillin.” Alexander Fleming & the Story of Penicillin (2002): 4. Science Reference Center.…

    • 1542 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    1918 Life Changes

    • 1408 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Life before September 1928 proved to be a difficult time for many. The quality of life across the world was poor, and humans had a considerably shorter lifespan than today. Bacterial infections ranked as a leading cause of death. These infections spread easily, and diseases such as pneumonia, syphilis, gonorrhea, diphtheria, and scarlet fever as well as wounds and childbirth infections killed thousands every year. Surgical infections were also a major killer, and doctors had no protection from any of these infections. The discovery of the first antibiotic, penicillin, in 1928 changed the lives of people forever. Penicillin provided a cure for many deadly infections, and its discovery led to the discovery of many other antibiotics, such as streptomycin, which are used to treat everyday infections for countless ailments, saving and improving lives throughout the world.…

    • 1408 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Gather and Orginize

    • 262 Words
    • 2 Pages

    What are the effects of antibiotics on our lives? What was the cause for this invention?…

    • 262 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Antibiotic resistance results from bacteria changing in ways that make those antibiotics no longer useful.…

    • 267 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Medical Advancements

    • 1523 Words
    • 7 Pages

    One may argue that one of the most helpful drugs during word war two, penicillin, was discovered in 1960, prior to world war two. Although penicillin wasn’t discovered during world war two, it was improved on many levels during the time such as production on an industrial scale, it became much more readily available, and by 1945 it was 20 times stronger than the 1939 version of penicillin. Therefore, even though penicillin was developed pre world war two, it made extreme improvements since 1939. It was 20 times stronger than the 1939 version.…

    • 1523 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays