Penicillin

PENICILLIN

Penicillin: A Fortunate Accident

In September 1928 Alexander Fleming, a young physician at Saint Mary's Hospital in London, noticed an unusual finding on the culture plate he was about to discard. Several weeks earlier he had streaked the culture plate with staphylococci. A contaminant mold was growing near one edge of the plate. The unusual thing was that something was coming from the mold that was actually destroying the disease-causing bacteria in the vicinity. Fleming's colleague, Dr. C. J. La Touche, identified the mold as penicillium notatum. A derivative of the mold, which Fleming named penicillin, would become the first effective antibiotic.

Effectiveness

Later experiments demonstrated that the mold must have been on the plate before the staphylococci rather than following it, because penicillin was effective against the organism only in the stage of active division. It had little effect on mature bacteria. Given that fact and the fact that penicillium notatum proved to be one of the most effective strains of the penicillium molds, Fleming's discovery appears to be fortunate indeed.

Fleming's Previous Work

Fleming had worked for many years searching for an antimicrobial agent that would be effective against bacteria yet not harmful to delicate tissues. In 1921 he discovered lysozyme, a naturally occurring substance in tears, saliva, and blood that inhibited bacterial growth. His work with lysozyme helped him to recognize the potential value of penicillin.

Disappointing Data

Fleming was disappointed that further experiments showed that penicillin took several hours to act as an antibacterial agent but that it was removed from the bloodstream very quickly. In his landmark paper which appeared in the British Journal of Experimental Pathology in 1929, the shortcomings of the drug were emphasized more than its possible use as a clinical agent.

Eventual Success

It was not until the 1940s that Howard Walker Florey and Ernst Boris Chain and their "Oxford group" conducted animal experiments and showed the effectiveness of penicillin. Fleming, Florey, and Chain shared the Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine in 1945 for the discovery of penicillin and its curative effect in various infectious diseases.

Uses in World War II

Using the mold that Fleming discovered in 1928, pharmaceutical companies in America were able to produce large quantities of penicillin before the close of World War II. It proved effective against syphilis, gonorrhea, and infections caused by pneumococci, staphylococci, and streptococci. It was especially useful to military physicians who were called upon to treat battle injuries as well as rampant venereal disease.

A COUNTRY DOCTOR

William James Crosland (1873-1921) practiced medicine in Bennettsville, South Carolina, a small town of about 5,000. Like most country doctors of his era, he cared deeply about his patients and took whatever action he could to insure their return to health. When he faced his own last battle with cancer, his patients had an opportunity to return some ofthat kindness. His daughter, Kirby, recalled that the heat was unbearable one September day during the last long illness of her father. The family had done everything they could to make him more comfortable, but his wife kept murmuring, 'If only it would rain!' There was not a cloud in the sky, but suddenly rain fell in sheets—pouring across the roof and splattering the windows, fresh and cool. Kirby continued, "We rushed to a window. There in front of the house stood the town's fire truck, with the volunteer firemen playing hoses on the roof. They were making it rain for 'Doc,' and they didn't stop until the air in the room was cool."

Source:

Lulu Crosland Ricaud, The Family of Edward and Ann Snead Crosland, 1740-1957 (Columbia, S.C.: State Commercial Printing, 1958), p. 389.

Sources:

Lois A. Magner, A History of Medicine (New York: Marcel Dekker, 1992), pp. 350-356;

John C. Sheehan, The Enchanted Ring: The Untold Story of Penicillin Cambridge: MIT Press, 1982);

Allen B. Weisse, Medical Odysseys (New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1991), pp. 69-86.