antibiotics Flashcards
how had penicillin been discovered?
- in 19th century by Lister
- used to treat a wound never published notes
during WW1 what happened to Alexander Fleming?
- 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
what caused septicaemia?
- staphylococci (very dangerous germ)
when did fleming return from holiday?
1928
what did fleming notice?
noticed mild on one of his petri dishes, penicillin - staphylococci germ killed by mould
what did fleming conclude from his findings?
natural antiseptic -> today called antibiotic
what happened in 1929?
fleming published results, had no funds to develop it
what did fleming miss?
injecting penicillin into the blood, would have shown it was a medicine and sparked further interest
what happened in 1937?
- howard florey and ernst chain, after reading article by fleming researched penicillin
- had funds to develop + experimented on mice
what happened in 1941?
florey and chain started experimenting on humans
what was floreys and chains first experiment on a human/ first test on human overall?
- policeman with an infection from scratch
- ran out of drug, died after 5 days but seen success
how did WW2 impact penicillin?
- sped up production, US government paid drug companies to make large quantities
- 1943 used in allied troops in North Africa
what did USA and GB do with penicillin?
produced huge quantities, saved thousands of lives in 1944 + 45
how much penicillin was there in 1943?
enough to treat 1000 soldiers
how much penicillin was there in 1945?
- 250,000 soldiers helped
- 15% soldiers would have died without the drug
what was the “wonder drug”
huge government sponsor programme to develop and produce “wonder drug”
what was the “wonder drug” used to treat?
many diseases like :
bronchitis, impetigo , pneumonia, tonsillitis, syphilis, meningitis, boils, abscesses and wounds
who received a Nobel Prize?
Fleming, Chain and Florey in 1945 for Medicine
what was streptomycin for?
in 1944, good for treating tuberculosis
what was tetracycline for?
in 1963, good for skin infections
what was mitomycin for?
1956 fight cancer
what was cortisone for?
developed in 1950 to treat arthritis
how many lives saved by penicillin?
since WW2 , millions
what did new vaccines emerge to treat?
polio and measles
what came on the market?
tranquillisers and the birth control pill
what are there new pills for?
treat depression, psychosis, hypertension etc…
why could testing be rushed?
medicine became a big business and fortunes could be made
what happened with thalidomide?
drug for sleeping resulted in the birth of babies with poorly deformed limbs
(led to much tougher testing and approval process for new drugs)
what did the GP become?
central to the delivery of medical services
why are the age of pills coming to an end?
more and more bacteria becoming resistant to antibiotics
could be prescribed too often for minor illnesses
what is MRSA and norovirus?
super bugs that can be killers, even most powerful antibiotics can’t kill them, microbe resistant difficult to steralise
what is phage therapy?
inject virus with bacteria to kill it, can blow it up or break it up (so advanced)
