Penicillin Flashcards
1
Q
Impacts of penicillin:
A
- Evidence of it helping medicine it saved over 200 million lives since the 1940s
- Lead to pharmaceutical companies forming
- New vaccines emerged to treat other diseases
2
Q
How was penicillin discovered?
A
In 1928, on returning from holiday, Alexander Fleming noticed a large blob of moulds - penicillin - that had grown on one of his Petri dishes. He also noticed that the staphylococcus bacteria around the mould had been killed off. Fleming called it an antibiotic, meaning ‘destructive of life’. Fleming realised the germ-killing capabilities of penicillin and published his findings later that year.
3
Q
When was penicillin starting to be tested?
A
mice - 1940
humans - 1941
