WITHOUT ALEXANDER FLEMING AND HUNDREDS OF OTHERS WE WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO CURE DOZENS OF DISEASES

The discovery of penicillin is usually attributed to Scottish scientist Sir Alexander Fleming in 1928, and as a medicine is attributed to the Australian Nobel Laureate Howard Walter Florey. Like many discoveries this was purely by accident. There were so many contributors both before and after this time like Duchesne (in 1897), and Clorito Picado Twight. At his laboratory in London Fleming noticed a halo of inhibition of bacterial growth around a contaminant blue-green mold Staphylococcus plate culture. He concluded that the mold was releasing a substance that was inhibiting bacterial growth and eliminating the bacteria. He grew a pure culture of the mold and discovered that it was a Penicillium mold, now known to be Penicillium notatum. Fleming coined the term "penicillin" to describe the filtrate of a broth culture of the Penicillium mold. Even in these early stages, penicillin was found to be most effective against Gram-positive bacteria, and ineffective against Gram-negative organisms and fungi. The discovery of the cantaloupe for growing the mold, and the results of fermentation research on corn-steep liquid at Peoria, Illinois, allowed the USA to produce 2.3 million doses in time for the invasion of Normandy in the spring of 1944. and save literally thousands of lives.

Penicillin has since become the most widely-used antibiotic to date, and is still used for many Gram-positive bacterial infections. It has been effective with: Cellulitis, Bacterial endocarditis, Gonorrhea, Meningitis, aspiration pneumonia, lung abscess, Community-acquired pneumonia, Syphilis, Septicemia in children. And in the treatment of tonsilitis, Pharyngitis, Skin infections, Prophylaxis of rheumatic fever, Moderate-to-severe gingivitis and recently in the treatment of anthrax.

Penicillin research has led to hundreds of new discoveries of high powered and synthetic drugs used in major medical treatments. This single discovery is deemed one of the five most important medical breakthroughs of the 20th century.