Penicillin and WWII

This is a Funny Rap video made to describe Alexander Fleming's discovery of Penicillin..

As Dr Ralph Major said “An army is a vast medical laboratory when disease and injuries are seen on a far larger scale than in peacetime. Many improvements in the treatment of infections have come from experiences on battlefield”[1] The aftermath of the War has resulted in civilians and soldiers having life threatening illnesses and diseases, which propelled scientist to look for antidotes. Resulting in three of the most important medical innovatons in history namely: Penicillin, blood plasma and vaccines.

“Penicillin fought for soldiers as bravely as they did for theoir countries”[5]

Penicillin was without a doubt the most important invention during WWII.on D day it was estimated it has saved 3000 lives and by the end of the war almost 2 million [7].

The first use of penicillin during WWII was seen in the Battle of Britain where air raids by the Luftwaffle left soldiers and civilians in severe wounds and doctors used penicillin in large numbers to save the lives of many civilians and soldiers as Penicillin was the first brad spectrum Ab ever created(www.lib.niu.edu) which destroys hemolytic streptococcus, gonorrhea, syphilis and it was a wonderful Ab for wounds and burns.

Propaganda such as “thanks to penicillin he will come home” gave hope to civilians and soldiers that their risk of dying due to infection is very little with the introduction of the wonder drug. This hence motivated civilians to get recruited into the war .

In 1938 Dr Charles Drew discovered how to separate plasma from whole blood and refrigerat them separately[5] .This discovery armed Allied forces with hope since many soldiers with trauma related injuries lost a lot of blood and with the new invention of plasma, blood loss can be substituted for. In 1940 Britain organized the International Transfusion Association which allowed civilians to donate blood which was then separated out into plasma and blood cells.

Within five months[6] , this project managed to transfport around 15000 unit

To allied armies. It was mentioned in US office of war newsreel, “soldiers in Normandy got the best medical care science could afford and plasma cheated death in cases of many soldiers”[7]. A ton of Plasma was carried by planes on D day to the beach helping save about 900 soldiers’ lives [7] . Plasma offered a glimmer of hope to soldiers making them believe that their injury wouldn’t necessarily result in their demise.

Discovery of Penicillin

Image- http://osee3.unblog.fr/files/2009/08/0a1014.jpg

In 1928,Alexander Fleming (1881-1955) found a mold growing on some bacterial samples in his laboratory by chance. He discovered that the “mold juice” killed many different types of inoculated bacteria such as staphylococci and many other Gram-positivepathogens that cause scarlet fever, pneumonia, meningitis and diphtheria as well as neisseria gonorrhea. Fleming published his discovery in 1929, in the British Journal of Experimental Pathology,^[8] but little attention was paid to his article. Flemming continued to work alone finding more and more difficulties in isolating the antibiotic factor from the mold, which turned out to be very little in quantity. Overtime, Fleming became convinced that penicillin won’t be effective in vivo as its actions seemed too slow, at least with the dose he was able to provide to the patient at that time[9] Fleming finally gave up on penicillin investigations but soon enough , Florey and Chain who continued with Flemming’s work and took up researching and mass-producing Penicillin, with funds from the U.S. and British governments. They became very pressed with time to start producing penicillin in mass quantities, n after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Hence the war is believed to have contributed dramatically to medical innovation as it provided an incentive to mass produce penicillin within a very limited time period.

But Sir Henry Harris said in 1998: "Without Fleming, no Chain; without Chain, no Florey; without Florey, no Heatley; without Heatley, no penicillin.( Henry Harris, Howard Florey and the development of penicillin, a lecture given on Sept. 29, 1998, at the Florey Centenary, 1898–1998, Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, Oxford University)

Image-(https://www.planetseed.com/node/17134)

Penicillin dramatically reduced mortality amongst the soldiers as a prophylactic and drug of effective treatment. It could be said that penicillin could treat almost all camp diseases soldiers encountered. It was dubbed, “miracle drug” and it

created a massive demand for pharmaceutical companies in Great Britain and the US[21] which helped in enhancing the economy of the countries making them into "Super Powers".

To understand the method of action of penicillin click here

To watch a RAP video about Alexander Fleming:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=manUDTXbQqY

References :

[1]Major, Ralph Hermon.Fatal Partners:War and disease.3^rd.London:Doran&Company,1941.

WebsitesDixon,Bernard.”Sulfa’s True Significance.”

[2]2007<http://www.asm.org/ASM/files/ccLibraryFiles//002645/.pdf>.

[3]Kendrick,Douglas,”Plasma equipment and Packaging.” Medical department U.SArmy.06 June 2006. 26 May 2007http://history.amedd.army.mil/booksdocs/wii/blood/chapter1.htm.

[4]Mailer,John. “Penicillin:Medicine’s Wartime.” Illinois Periodicals Online atNorthern Illinois University. Illionois periodicals online.20 June [5]2011http://www.lib.niu.edu/ipo/2001/iht810139.html.

[6]17 June 2011http://www.usaaf.net/ww2/medical/mspg5.htm.

[7]http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/medicine_world_war_two.htm.

[8]21 June 2011http://www.abc.net.au/science/slab/florey/story.htm.

[9]http://elibrary.bigchalk.com/libweb/curriculumca/do3Abigchalk%1.

[10]http://www.mcatmaster.com/medicine&war/penicillin.htm

http://concise.britannica.com/ebc/art‐40417

[11](home.att.net/steinert.htm).

[12]Margotta, Roberto.History of Medicine. Britain:Hamlyn, 1996.

[13] http://www.faqs.org/health/topics/38/Gonorrhea.html