Alexander Fleming, who was born on the 6th of August 1881 in Litchfield,
was a Scottish bacteriologist. This scientist invented penicillin in 1928.
Penicillin is a substance which can be used for preventing the growth of bacteria.
The story of the discovery of penicillin is very interesting.
One day while Fleming was using a dish for his antibacterial experiments,
be noticed that some strange flecks of fungus had grown in that uncovered dish
containing mucus from infected wounds. He also noticed that this fungus had
killed the bacteria, on that dish. The fungus had been caused by a spore which
had flown in through a window and settled on the dish. In his further
experiments be found that it was penicillium which was a rare fungus in the mould
family
Fleming grew a rare variety of penicillium and took the fluid from this
fungus, then he examined its effect on bacteria. He repeated this experiment on
different types of bacteria. Finally he came to a conclusion that the fungus
had a deadly effect on the diseases which cause microbes.
The fluid extracted from the penicillum fungus was a very powerful
repellent to the growth bacteria. It was named as penicillin because it was
obtained from the penicillium fungus.
Penicillin was tested on six patients, during the world war II in June 1941.Although
the results were very much encouraging. Two patients died due to the shortage
of penicillin. Later penicillin was produced in large quantities with the help
of the American drug manufacturers. This great discovery saved thousands of
lives during the world war II.
Penicillin is used for treating diphtheria, pneumonia and severe wounds.
During surgical operations, it is given to patients to prevent the bacterial
infections from spreading. This is also a very effective medicine for
controlling venereal diseases. Alexander Fleming who won the Nobel Prize for
medicine in 1945, died on the 11th of March 1955 in London.
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