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Penicillin WS

1. In 1928, Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin accidentally when he noticed a mold had contaminated a culture plate and created a zone where surrounding bacteria could not grow. 2. It was not until 1940 that Howard Florey and Ernst Chain were able to extract and produce penicillin in large enough quantities to treat patients. 3. The first successful human treatment was a policeman who improved after receiving penicillin but later died when supplies ran out. Fleming, Florey, and Chain received the Nobel Prize in 1945 for their work developing penicillin.

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101 views2 pages

Penicillin WS

1. In 1928, Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin accidentally when he noticed a mold had contaminated a culture plate and created a zone where surrounding bacteria could not grow. 2. It was not until 1940 that Howard Florey and Ernst Chain were able to extract and produce penicillin in large enough quantities to treat patients. 3. The first successful human treatment was a policeman who improved after receiving penicillin but later died when supplies ran out. Fleming, Florey, and Chain received the Nobel Prize in 1945 for their work developing penicillin.

Uploaded by

Antonia Heramb
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Penicillin: The truth

Sir Alexander Fleming first observed penicillin (in 1928) after leaving some petri dishes with
bacteria on, in a sink in his laboratory, whilst he went on a 2 week holiday.

When he returned, he noticed a clear halo surrounding the yellow-


green growth of a mould that had accidentally contaminated the
plate.

Luckily, Fleming had not stored his culture in a warm incubator.


London was then hit by a cold spell, giving the mold a chance to
grow.
Figure 1 - Sir Alexander
Fleming, scientist Later, as the temperature rose, the Staphylococcus bacteria grew,
covering the entire plate, except for the area surrounding the moldy contaminant.

Fleming correctly deduced that the mould must have released a substance that had inhibited the growth of the
bacteria.

He discovered that the antibacterial substance was not produced by all molds, only by strain of Penicillium notatum.
Although he could not isolate it without killing the mould, he named the active substance “penicillin”.

It wasn’t until 1940 that penicillin started to be made in large enough quantities to treat ill patients. It was 2 scientists,
Howard Florey and Ernst Chain that found Fleming’s work with penicillin and discovered a way to make enough of the
chemical to treat patients.

Florey deliberately injected eight mice with deadly bacteria. 4 of the


mice were given penicillin and 4 were not. The 4 mice that had been
given penicillin survived, the others died after 15 hours.

The first human to be treated was Albert Alexander, a policeman


who was dying of a very serious bacterial infection. He started to
improve after being given penicillin, however supplies of the drug ran
out and the man eventually died.
Figure 2 - Howard Florey Figure 3 - Ernst Chain

The 2 scientists eventually worked out a way to make large amounts of penicillin and, as a result, it saved many
soldiers’ lives during World War II. Fleming, Florey and Chain all received the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1945 for
their work with Penicillin.

1. This story is a case of “serendipity“. Find out what serendipity is and explain why this is applied to the story of
the discovery of penicillin.

2. Research about 2 more scientific events that result from serendipity and describe them.
Measuring the effect of antibiotics on bacterial growth
Watch the video: https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/publications-data/eucast-instruction-video-reading-inhibition-
zone-diameters

1. Brendan carried out an experiment on two antibiotics. He was testing whether penicillin and streptomycin will
prevent the growth of a particular type of bacteria. He prepared 3 dishes A, B and C. Each dish has a small disc
of paper at the centre surrounded by a nutrient jelly (agar). The paper discs were treated as follows:

Dish A Paper disk soaked in distilled water


Dish B Paper disk soaked in penicillin
Dish C Paper disk soaked in streptomycin

Bacteria where then applied to each dish.


a) Suggest two things Brendan could do to ensure the comparison between the two antibiotics was fair.
1.
2.

This is how the dishes looked after 4 days:

b) Outline how each of the antibiotics affected bacterial growth.

Penicillin

Streptomycin

c) Why was only water placed on the paper disc in A?

d) Give 2 safety precautions that Brendan is likely to have taken when he carried out this experiment.
1.
2.

e) In a similar experiment an antibiotic was tested against 3 different strains of a bacterium. Here are the
results of the experiment

Describe the effect of the antibiotic on the different strains of bacteria. Take suitable measurement to make a
numerical comparison of the performance of the antibiotics on the growth of the different strains.

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