The Discovery of Penicillin and Antibiotics

 by Attish Das

Alexander Fleming returned home after going for a holiday in 1928, where he found a petri dish of Staphylococcus bacteria, which affects the skin, with mould growing on it. Fleming observed that the mould prevented the bacteria from growing further, which was identified as a self-defence chemical known as penicillin (named by him), the first antibiotic to be discovered. This petri dish was placed accidentally which led to 20 years of mass production of the new antibacterial drug to treat bacterial infections. 

After Fleming figured out about his new antibacterial drug, he took a journey to the Medical Research Club, a society founded in 1891 where scientists and medical doctors carrying out methods of research in medicine and other fields of it, however they showed little interest in his investigation with S. aureus and mould, leading to Fleming grouping together a group of chemists to try and purify the penicillin drug. It was deemed impossible to do so at one point in time, however attempts continued.  

 

In 1937, two people named Howard Florey and Ernst Chain uncovered Alexander Fleming's research and named the investigation as the 'penicillin project'. After 3 years of trial and error, the group produced a successful but inefficient version of purifying the drug and produced a large enough quantity of penicillin to initialize animal trials. In 1940, 8 mice were given deadly S. aureus bacteria, however only 4 survived after being given penicillin drug. 

 

A couple years later, in 1941, Howard Florey decided to bring Penicillin to the United States for finding a path in which the rate of production could be increased. Another brand-new team was formed in the Department of Agriculture's research facility in Peoria, Illinois. The main expertise of this team was fermentation, leading to the team using this to attempt to make the production efficient and accurate. An observation made was that in the mould, the bacteria would multiply exponentially. Mold fermentation would be made efficient by high concentrations of sugars, amino acids, and nitrogen.  

 

An assistant had found a rotting melon at a local market, which produced 6 times more penicillin than the original strain that Alexander Fleming had found while coming back from holiday. Pharmaceutical companies in the United States were not keen on production of penicillin originally, however, was then needed for WWII in 1941 when the US joined in the conflict. By 1943, the US and allied had enough stock of the new antibiotic from the US. 

Antibiotic resistance is a term when bacteria develop the ability to defeat the antibiotic which was designed for the medicine to treat it. This results in bacteria continuously growing exponentially, which is seen to be a major problem as it has the chance to become impossible to treat. This may be caused by the bacteria evolving through a random mutation in the DNA of the individual bacterial cells, or too many antibiotics being consumed.  

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) is a type of bacteria that exists on the skin of the human body. However, if the pathogen travels into the body via an opening, it will need immediate treatment by antibiotics. It is an example of causing a communicable disease, which could be transferred between people by contact of a contaminated wound or sharing items such as razors or towels that have been in contact with contaminated skin. It may lead to sepsis, where the body's immune system attacks itself, destroying organs, or death. 

 

There are 5 keyways to reduce antibiotic resistance: 

·        Do not consume antibiotics for a viral disease (caused by a virus); 

·        Consume antibiotics as prescribed;

·        Do not consume too many antibiotics over the prescribed limit; 

·        Treat bacterial infections with specific antibiotics for the infection; 

·        Individuals with antibiotic resistance should stay isolated.