antibiotics

Question 1

how had penicillin been discovered?

Answer 1

• in 19th century by Lister

- used to treat a wound never published notes

Question 2

during WW1 what happened to Alexander Fleming?

Answer 2

• sent by St Mary’s hospital (London ) to study treatment of wounded soldiers
• observed antiseptics unable to prevent infection
• look for something to kill the microbes that caused infection

Question 3

what caused septicaemia?

Answer 3

• staphylococci (very dangerous germ)

Question 4

when did fleming return from holiday?

Answer 4

1928

Question 5

what did fleming notice?

Answer 5

noticed mild on one of his petri dishes, penicillin - staphylococci germ killed by mould

Question 6

what did fleming conclude from his findings?

Answer 6

natural antiseptic -> today called antibiotic

Question 7

what happened in 1929?

Answer 7

fleming published results, had no funds to develop it

Question 8

what did fleming miss?

Answer 8

injecting penicillin into the blood, would have shown it was a medicine and sparked further interest

Question 9

what happened in 1937?

Answer 9

• howard florey and ernst chain, after reading article by fleming researched penicillin
• had funds to develop + experimented on mice

Question 10

what happened in 1941?

Answer 10

florey and chain started experimenting on humans

Question 11

what was floreys and chains first experiment on a human/ first test on human overall?

Answer 11

• policeman with an infection from scratch

- ran out of drug, died after 5 days but seen success

Question 12

how did WW2 impact penicillin?

Answer 12

• sped up production, US government paid drug companies to make large quantities
• 1943 used in allied troops in North Africa

Question 13

what did USA and GB do with penicillin?

Answer 13

produced huge quantities, saved thousands of lives in 1944 + 45

Question 14

how much penicillin was there in 1943?

Answer 14

enough to treat 1000 soldiers

Question 15

how much penicillin was there in 1945?

Answer 15

• 250,000 soldiers helped

- 15% soldiers would have died without the drug

Question 16

what was the “wonder drug”

Answer 16

huge government sponsor programme to develop and produce “wonder drug”

Question 17

what was the “wonder drug” used to treat?

Answer 17

many diseases like :

bronchitis, impetigo , pneumonia, tonsillitis, syphilis, meningitis, boils, abscesses and wounds

Question 18

who received a Nobel Prize?

Answer 18

Fleming, Chain and Florey in 1945 for Medicine

Question 19

what was streptomycin for?

Answer 19

in 1944, good for treating tuberculosis

Question 20

what was tetracycline for?

Answer 20

in 1963, good for skin infections

Question 21

what was mitomycin for?

Answer 21

1956 fight cancer

Question 22

what was cortisone for?

Answer 22

developed in 1950 to treat arthritis

Question 23

how many lives saved by penicillin?

Answer 23

since WW2 , millions

Question 24

what did new vaccines emerge to treat?

Answer 24

polio and measles

Question 25

what came on the market?

Answer 25

tranquillisers and the birth control pill

Question 26

what are there new pills for?

Answer 26

treat depression, psychosis, hypertension etc…

Question 27

why could testing be rushed?

Answer 27

medicine became a big business and fortunes could be made

Question 28

what happened with thalidomide?

Answer 28

drug for sleeping resulted in the birth of babies with poorly deformed limbs
(led to much tougher testing and approval process for new drugs)

Question 29

what did the GP become?

Answer 29

central to the delivery of medical services

Question 30

why are the age of pills coming to an end?

Answer 30

more and more bacteria becoming resistant to antibiotics

could be prescribed too often for minor illnesses

Question 31

what is MRSA and norovirus?

Answer 31

super bugs that can be killers, even most powerful antibiotics can’t kill them, microbe resistant difficult to steralise

Question 32

what is phage therapy?

Answer 32

inject virus with bacteria to kill it, can blow it up or break it up (so advanced)