HISTROY OF PENICILLINS

   HISTROY OF PENICILLINS

Sir Alexander Fleming, a Scottish researcher, is credited with the discovery of penicillin in 1928. At the time, Fleming was experimenting with the influenza virus in the Laboratory of the Inoculation Department at St. Mary's Hospital in London.

The history of penicillin follows a number of observations and discoveries of apparent evidence of antibiotic activity in moulds before the modern isolation of the chemical penicillin in 1928. There are anecdotes about ancient societies using moulds to treat infections, and in the following centuries many people observed the inhibition of bacterial growth by various molds. However, it is unknown if the species involved were Penicillium species or if the antimicrobial substances produced were penicillin.

The Scottish physician Alexander Fleming was the first to suggest that a Penicillium mould must secrete an antibacterial substance, and the first to concentrate the active substance involved, which he named penicillin, the first modern antibiotic, in 1928. During the next twelve years Fleming grew, distributed and studied the original mold, which was determined to be a rare variant of Penicillium notatum (now Penicillium rubens).

Many later scientists were involved in the stabilization and mass production of penicillin and in the search for more productive strains of Penicillium. Important contributors include Ernst Chain, Howard Florey, Norman Heatley and Edward Abraham. Shortly after the discovery of penicillin, scientists found that some disease-causing pathogens display antibiotic resistance to penicillin. Research that aims to develop more effective strains and to study the causes and mechanisms of antibiotic resistance continues today.

Many ancient cultures, including those in Egypt, Greece and India, independently discovered the useful properties of fungi and plants in treating infection. These treatments often worked because many organisms, including many species of mould, naturally produce antibiotic substances. However, ancient practitioners could not precisely identify or isolate the active components in these organisms.

In 17th-century Poland, wet bread was mixed with spider webs (which often contained fungal spores) to treat wounds. The technique was mentioned by Henryk Sienkiewicz in his 1884 book With Fire and Sword. In England in 1640, the idea of using mold as a form of medical treatment was recorded by apothecaries such as John Parkinson, King's Herbarian, who advocated the use of mold in his book on pharmacology.