Watch the video first, keep in mind key statistic like the death rate dropping to 1% after the first antibiotic. The oxford team: Norman Heatly, Howard Florey and Ernest Chain played a vital part in the distribution of the first antibiotic, Penicillin. Alexander Fleming received most credit for the discovery despite abandoning the penicillin case claiming that "it would never work in living tissue" but he did publish his findings. 12 years later the oxford team investigated the case.
Injected 8 mice with blood poisoning disease, 4 were later injected with penicillin 4 were not. The four injected with penicillin were alive and well but the 4 who were not were dead.
Policeman Albert Alexander got an infection from a bomb attack. He was given penicillin, they recycled the penicillin through distilling his urine as they didn't have a huge amount of the mould at the time. Eventually they ran out and he died.
Jonny Cox had a bacterial infection is his eye. The penicillin cured his eye infection but had already damaged an artery behind his eyeball which is what killed him.
Anne Miller had a general throat infection and she survived after given the antibiotic!
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Factors in the development of Penicilln
USA Government:Funded to support the mass production of Penicillin.Chance:The mould landed into Alexander Fleming's petri dishCommunication:Florey and Heatley travelled to the USAIndustry:The mass production of Penicillin in the USA. Heatley's machines and the microscope.Printing press:Read up about ancient mould uses and Flemings work.ExperimentAll contributed to the knowledge of PenicillinWorld War 2:The high demand for this new life saving mould led to antibiotic property discovery.
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Conclusion
Q. In the history of medicine who deserves more credit for Penicillin; Alexander Fleming or the Oxford University team?The Oxford University team because they could link it to the human body which Fleming failed to. Fleming was able to identify its antibiotic properties in killing surrounding bacteria but he took this no further, the Oxford Team developed this mould into an international magic bullet reducing the death rate to just 1%! Anne Miller was cured of a general throat infection because of Penicillin. In them days you could die from simply an infected cut, but now we have developed many antibiotics to get rid of infection.
