Penicillin, the wonder drug

Day 116 / 365

The discovery of penicillin was one of the biggest things to happen in the field of medicine. It was first discovered in 1928 by Sir Alexander Fleming. Since then, It has become the most widely used antibiotic in the world.

An Accidental Discovery

What’s even more remarkable than the importance of this wonder drug, is how its discovery was an accident.

Fleming was a careless lab technician. He was experimenting in his lab on the influenza virus when he left for a 2-week vacation. His lab was a mess, and when he returned he started to clean up. It was then that he discovered an old Petri dish containing bacteria had developed a mold. On further examination, he found that the mold was actually preventing the bacteria from growing. BY pure chance he had discovered the world’s first antibiotic. Here’s what he said about his discovery.

“One sometimes finds what one is not looking for. When I woke up just after dawn on Sept. 28, 1928, I certainly didn’t plan to revolutionize all medicine by discovering the world’s first antibiotic, or bacteria killer. But I guess that was exactly what I did.”

Penicillin was hailed as the miracle drug, the cure for all infections. It was widely used in World War II that happened soon after its discovery. Before the war, about 400 million units were developed in 5 months. By the end of the war, the production rate had gone up to 650 billion units per month!

This post is part of my 365 Day Project for 2019. Read about it here

Yesterday’s blog — The Luddites