Essay On Penicillin

1606 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Essays on penicillin

Penicillin-The discovery that changed the world, but for how long? Accidents can often turn positive, or in some cases, they can even become revolutionary. The discovery of Penicillin changed the world immensely and it was all due to an accident one day in the lab. Penicillin changed the history of medicine for the better, saving millions of lives since its discovery. Even today, it is used by millions daily, from prescriptions from the pharmacy to life saving drugs in the hospital. However, unless something changes in the near future, history could soon reverse, and the power of penicillin could soon be diminished. Prior to the discovery of penicillin, the only available treatments for bacterial infections were all highly toxic; arsenic, …show more content…

Some of the bacteria that antibiotics treat are actually becoming resistant to the antibiotics meaning they lose all power. Without the power of antibiotics, these infections cannot be treated, which is proving to be a huge issue, as it’s spreading fast. Currently 700,000 have died from antibiotic resistance, which is a lot higher than the statistics for deaths caused by measles, cholera and tetanus combined. This is showing that already, it has already caused a lot of damage, and it continues to spread.(Walsh, 2014) Antibiotic resistance can spread in various ways, stemming from the bottom of the food chain to other human beings. Crops can be sprayed with water or fertiliser which contain drug resistant bacteria. These crops can be eaten by humans, transmitting the resistant bacteria and it can also be spread to crop-eating animals which some humans also consume, also spreading the resistant bacteria. The drug resistant bacteria are then transmitted among humans, from hospital environments to even in the local community, meaning nobody is immune to getting it. (CDC Office of Infectious Diseases (OID), …show more content…

2017. The Discovery of Penicillin—New Insights After More Than 75 Years of Clinical Use. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 23: 849-853. Kardos, N. & Demain. A. L. 2011. Penicillin: the medicine with the greatest impact on therapeutic outcomes. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, 92: 677-687. Gale, T. (1997). [online] Available at: http://www.encyclopedia.com/medicine/medical-journals/penicillin [Accessed 27 Oct. 2017]. Walsh, F. (2014). Superbugs to kill 'more than cancer'. [online] BBC News. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-30416844 [Accessed 20 Oct. 2017]. Hoyert DL, Kochanek KD, Murphy SL. Hyattsville, Maryland: US Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, CDC, National Center for Health Statistics, (1999). Deaths: final data for 1997. National Vitaln statistics reports. (vol. 47 no.19.) CDC Office of Infectious Diseases (OID) (2013). Antibiotic Resistance Threats in the United States. [online] p.15. Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/drugresistance/threat-report-2013/pdf/ar-threats-2013-508.pdf#page=5 [Accessed 17 Oct.

Show More
Related

  • Addie Rerecich Case Study Answers

    994 Words  | 2 Pages

    Many countries in Europe collect data on the locations of antimicrobial resistance occurrences, the number of incidences , who uses antibiotics, and the health practitioners who may overusing the antibiotics so as to address the problem of anti-microbial resistance.

    Read More

  • Superbugs Essay

    2729 Words  | 6 Pages

    Bacterial resistance to antibiotics has presented many problems in our society, including an increased chance of fatality due to infections that could have otherwise been treated with success. Antibiotics are used to treat bacterial infections, but overexposure to these drugs give the bacteria more opportunities to mutate, forming resistant strains. Through natural selection, those few mutated bacteria are able to survive treatments of antibiotics and then pass on their genes to other bacterial cells through lateral gene transfer (Zhaxybayeva, 2011). Once resistance builds in one patient, it is possible for the strain to be transmitted to others through improper hygiene and failure to isolate patients in hospitals.

    Read More

  • The Overuse of Antibiotics

    3053 Words  | 7 Pages

    Thesis: With the advent of antibiotics in 1929 Fleming said, "The time may come when penicillin can be bought by anyone in the shops.Then there is the danger that the ignorant man may easily underdose himself and by exposing his microbes to non-lethal quantities of the drug make them resistant."With the overuse of antibiotics today we have seen this very idea come to be.Over usage is caused most prevalently by a lack of education on the part of the patient.Thus stated, the way to overcome such a circumstance is to educate, not only the patient but also the physician.

    Read More

  • Penicillin: The Miracle Drug

    1735 Words  | 4 Pages

    Penicillin was one of the very first antibiotics. It is often referred to as "the miracle drug" because of its effectiveness against many harmful and deadly bacteria. With its discovery by Alexander Fleming in 1928, penicillin has proven to be a major contribution to the medical field. Penicillin is responsible for preventing the spreading of infectious illnesses, and for improving military medicine. It has revolutionized the study of medicine, saved countless of lives, and played a key role as a foundation for the development of other efficient antibiotics. The discovery of penicillin has greatly improved the way doctors were able to treat patients and gave way to a new era of antibiotics.

    Read More

  • Penicillin Accidental Discovery

    579 Words  | 2 Pages

    Medicine today is required for almost anything, from a simple cold, to a fever, to something more serious such as recovering from a surgery. Antibiotics have become mainstream objects that are taken for granted, yet there was a point in time where medicine was not as accessible or numerous as it is now. An extremely effective medicine that is used widely today but did not exist until somewhat recently is penicillin. It kills bacteria and fights off infections, clearing the body of any diseases that it might have. The medicine now known as penicillin had a purely accidental discovery, and its use is to prevent any bacteria from spreading.

    Read More

  • Penicillin Research Paper

    274 Words  | 1 Pages

    Penicillin: discovered by Alexander Fleming, helps treat a wide spectrum of infections that could potentially harm you. When penicillin was discovered, doctors finally had something that would completely cure their patients. Upon examining some colonies of Staphylococcus Aureus, Alexander Fleming noticed that a mold called Penicillium Notatum had grown in his petri dishes while he was on vacation. When Fleming put the dishes under the microscope, he found that the mold had stopped the growth of the Staphylococci. Fleming took a while longer to grow more of the mold to prove his findings he found that the mold inhabited the growth of bacteria, and that it could be used to fight infectious diseases. Alexander Fleming did not, however have the

    Read More

  • Microbiology History Report

    1644 Words  | 4 Pages

    Fleming’s most famous discovery, however, is that of penicillin, and again, it occurred quite by accident. Echoing the discovery of lysozyme, the story of penicillin begins with a contaminated bacterial culture, this time with a mold. Again, Fleming allowed the culture to mature, and found that the growth of the bacteria had been severely inhibited by the presence of the mold, which was later identified as a member of Penicillium. Fleming and his team did not, however, manage to convert the antibiotic into a useful form, so they shared the 1945 Nobel prize with the researchers that did.

    Read More

  • Penicillin Research Paper

    634 Words  | 2 Pages

    When Alexander Fleming published his experiments with penicillin, the Australian doctor set a goal to make this for mass medical use. So Florey and a scientist named Norman Heatley came to the U.S came with a small amount of penicillin to try and figure out how to grow in mass quantities. In an article written by Mary Bellis, it states that air was pumped deep into vats containing corn steep liquor, and other ingredients made penicillin grow larger amounts and faster. And in only 3 months they had succeeded in producing mass amounts of penicillin and fast. In 1943, multiple clinical trials were performed and penicillin was the most effective antibacterial agent to date. All, thanks to Florey, Heatley, and many other working in the lab, penicillin would begin to be used

    Read More

  • Research Paper On Penicillin

    511 Words  | 2 Pages

    Penicillin is a rare type of mold that kills bacteria. The discovery of penicillin was made by a scientist named Alexander Fleming. Penicillin was actually discovered by accident when Alexander Fleming left his house for vacation and when he came back he found that there was mold on his dishes and he immediately examined the mold. Fleming was credited with the discovery of penicillin, Florey was credited with making it into a medicine, and Morey was credited with the mass production of penicillin. Most of the development of penicillin happened in the 1900’s but the discovery of penicillin was in 1890.

    Read More

  • Penicillin Research Paper

    509 Words  | 2 Pages

    The discovery of penicillin, in 1928, was purely by accident. It was discovered by bacteriologist Alexander Fleming when he came back from vacation to his lab in London. He had left his lab in a mess and found that mold had grown on some plates he had left out in the open. Fleming noticed one plate in particular that had a ring around the mold. “After some experimentation, he found that the ring was bacteria-free, and that the mold was a rare spore called Penicillium notatum…” (Lane). Fleming grew the mold and discovered that it created a substance that had the property of killing many disease-causing bacteria. He named this substance penicillin and published his findings, noting that it may have value if produced in quantity

    Read More

  • Discovery Of Penicillin

    559 Words  | 2 Pages

    In September 1928, penicillin was first discovered by Alexander Fleming. The discovery was reported to be an accident that occurred while Fleming was on vacation as mold from another laboratory contaminated a dish full of bacteria Fleming was researching, according to “Not-So-Dumb Luck” by Jesse Lane. The mold was called Penicillium Notatum, and “When he peered into the dish, Fleming saw a ring around the mold. After some experimentation, he found that the ring was bacteria-free…” (Lane). The

    Read More

  • The Discovery Of Penicillin

    504 Words  | 2 Pages

    In some cases, Penicillin can be the difference between life and death for some people. Having the luxury is dedicated to the discoveries from many scientists, Andrew Moyer and Alexander Fleming, in particular. This medicine has saved the lives of many American soldiers, and the allies as well during the tough times of World War II. The infectious diseases could have killed many without the discovery of penicillin. The discovery of the drug is life changing.

    Read More

  • Antibiotic Resistance Research Paper

    1882 Words  | 4 Pages

    As we research deeper into the subject of antibiotic resistance we find there are a lot of interesting facts. First many bacterial infections and infectious diseases including HIV, gonorrhea, tuberculosis and many more are starting to become increasing difficult to treat using traditional antibiotics. About 90,000 patients die each year from their infections which has increased from 13, 300 deaths in 1992. People infected with resistant organisms have an increased likelihood of needing to go to the hospital and those who do will need to stay longer and might even require a more in-depth treatment. Antibiotic resistance is currently happening all over the world which causes new resistance mechanisms to form and spread everywhere. A high percentage of infections caught from hospitals are highly resistant infections are highly resistant infections. (1,

    Read More

  • Antimicrobial Resistance

    767 Words  | 2 Pages

    With its rising popularity and use, comes its abuse and frightening downsides (Davies, 2010). There are hundreds of antibiotics and to further complicate things, many people remain unaware and oblivious to their contribution to antibiotic resistance. Antibiotic resistance occurs when an antibiotic has lost its ability to effectively control or kill bacterial growth. In other words, the bacteria are "resistant" and continue to multiply in the presence of therapeutic levels of an antibiotic. It happens when an antibiotic kills the susceptible bacteria and the surviving bacteria are selectively pressured to survive and the genes mutate to evade and inhibit the functions of an antibiotic. It is very imperative in medicine that doctors and patients become more familiar with the repercussions that regard the abuse of antibiotics and how to take preliminary precautions to begin the fight against antibiotic resistance (Author Unknown,

    Read More

  • Penicillin

    679 Words  | 2 Pages

    The initial discovery of Penicillium notatum, the mold penicillin is derived from, is arguably the most fundamental event in the development of penicillin as a whole. More often than not, a bacteriologist known as Andrew Fleming is credited for the discovery of penicillin, even though the discovery was an accident (Connors 125). After being absent for a month, Fleming’s observations describe him coming back to a dish filled with mold and bacteria because it had been left out in the open. The article “Not-So-Dumb-Luck”

    Read More

More about Essay On Penicillin

Open Document