If you ask any educated person aboutthe one who discovered penicillin, then in response you can hear the name of Fleming. But if you look at the Soviet encyclopedia, published before the fifties of the last century, then this name is not found there. Instead of the British microbiologist, it is mentioned the fact that the Russian doctors Polotebnov and Manassein were the first to notice the healing effect of the mold. It was absolutely true, it was these scientists who in 1871 noticed that Penicillium glaucum fungi suppress the reproduction of many bacteria. So who really discovered penicillin?
Indeed, the question of who and how openedpenicillin requires more detailed study. Before Fleming, and even before these Russian doctors, Paracelsus and Avicenna knew about the properties of penicillin. But they could not isolate the substance that molds provide with healing powers. This was only a microbiologist of the hospital sv. Mary, that is, Fleming. A scientist tested the antibacterial properties of an open substance on his assistant, who had sinusitis. The doctor injected a small dose of penicillin into the maxillary cavity and after three hours the patient's condition improved significantly. So, Fleming discovered penicillin, which he reported on September 13, 1929 in his report. This date is considered the birthday of antibiotics, but they began to be used later.
Who discovered penicillin, the reader already knows, butIt should be noted that it was impossible to use the tool - it had to be cleaned. During the purification process, the formula became unstable, the substance lost its properties very quickly. And only in 1938 a group of scientists from Oxford University coped with this task. Alexander Fleming was delighted.
But here, a new challenge arose for scholars:the mold was growing very slowly, so Alexander decided to try another kind of it, discovering, incidentally, the enzyme penicillase, a substance capable of neutralizing penicillin produced by bacteria.
The one who discovered penicillin could not runmass production of the drug at home. But his assistants, Flory and Heatley, in 1941 moved to the United States. There they received support and generous funding, but the works themselves were strictly classified.
The success of the new pharmaceuticalmeans hurt hit by British ego. They tried to buy technology, but the Americans requested a huge amount. And then in the Old World, Fleming was remembered as the discoverer of a miracle substance. Journalists even composed the myth of the "moldy Mary" to prove that the British simply stole their idea. And the United States was forced to share secret technology. Fleming himself received the Nobel Prize for his enormous contribution to medicine and the discovery of penicillin, but he himself did not consider himself to be the luminary of science, since "he simply paid attention to the gift of nature."
All biology textbooks write aboutAlexander Fleming discovered penicillin. But nowhere will you read about how the drug began to be produced in the Soviet Union. There is, however, a legend that it took the substance to treat General Vatutin, but Stalin forbade the use of an overseas drug. To master the production as soon as possible, it was decided to buy the technology. They even sent a delegation to the US embassy. The Americans agreed, but during the negotiations they raised the cost three times and valued their knowledge at thirty million dollars.
By refusing, the USSR did what the British did:launched a duck that the domestic microbiologist Zinaida Ermolieva produced krustozin. This drug was an improved analogue of penicillin, which was kidnapped by capitalist spies. It was pure fiction, but the woman really set up the production of the drug in her country, although its quality was worse. Therefore, the authorities went to the trick: they bought a secret from Ernst Chene (one of Fleming's assistants) and began to produce the same penicillin as in America, and krustosin was betrayed by oblivion. So, as it turns out, to the question of who discovered penicillin in the USSR, there is no answer.
The power of penicillin, which is so highly valuedmedical luminaries of the time, was not so powerful. As it turned out, over time, the microorganisms that cause diseases acquire immunity to this drug. Instead of thinking about an alternative solution, scientists began to invent other antibiotics. But it is not possible to deceive the microbes to this day.
Not long ago, WHO announced that Flemingwarned about excessive use of antibiotics, which can lead to the fact that drugs can not help with fairly simple diseases, because microbes they are no longer able to harm. And finding a solution to this problem is already a task for other generations of doctors. And you need to look for it now.
