Fleming, Florey and Chains development of penicillin

What did the development of penicillin do

Revolutionised how infection was treated

Who discovered penicillin and when

Alexander Fleming

1928

How was penicillin discovered

Fleming noticed a mould on a dirty Petri dish that had killed the harmful staphylococcus bacteria that was growing inside the dish. The mould was penicillin

What did Fleming do after discovering this

Published his findings in an article but did not pursue it any further

Who furthered the development

In 1939, Florey and Chain were researching antibiotics and they used Flemings article. They grew their own penicillin mould and began experimenting

What did Florey and chain do in 1940

Tested penicillin on infected mice. The penicillin cured the infection

What did Florey and chain do in 1941

Had a human patient, a policeman suffering from blood poisoning. They began their experiment despite only having a small amount of penicillin and the policeman began to recover. However, penicillin was hard to make in large quantities so they ran out and he died

However they proved penicillin could be used to fight infection in people

4 key years of penicillin development

1928

1939

1940

1941

Mass production

Florey and chain needed a factory that could mass produce penicillin so went to the USA for help

How did the US government help Florey and chain

Funded 21 pharmaceutical companies to mass produce it. By D-Day in June 1944, enough penicillin had been produced to treat all Allied casualties- over 2.3 million doses

How many doses had been produced by D-Day in June 1944

2.3 million doses

Uses of penicillin

Used to treat diseases caused by a. Certain family of bacteria

Also used to prevent infection

What followed all this

The development of other antibiotics followed and these are used daily to treat infections