Transcript The Fight Against Infectious Disease

The Fight Against Infectious
Disease
By Mr Day
Downloaded from SchoolHistory.co.uk
Lesson Objectives
• To learn about the development of magic
bullets.
• To understand the impact that the
discovery of penicillin had on medicine.
• Understand the contribution of Ehrlich,
Domargk , Fleming, Florey and Chain.
Situation at the turn of the Century
• Germs that cause diseases had been
discovered.
• A number of vaccines had been
discovered.
• Clean water and sewers cutting disease
still further.
• Vaccines prevented disease. Hunt was
now on for cures.
Paul Ehrlich
• Worked on Koch’s research team.
• Interested in antibodies that the body produces.
• Antibodies kill specific germs but don’t damage
other parts of the body or tissue.
• Ehrlich called these antibodies magic bullets.
• He began to try and produce a synthetic magic
bullet that would kill specific bacteria.
Search for a Magic Bullet
• Ehrlich set up his own research institute and
began looking for a magic bullet to beat syphilis.
• He used chemical compounds of arsenic but met
with little success.
• He produced 605 variations without any luck and
dismissed variation 606 as well.
• A research assistant re-tested 606 and found it
worked! One of the most important discoveries
that we have yet studied was nearly thrown
away.
Magic Bullet One: Salversan.
• The first ever magic bullet.
• A massive development in the history of
medicine.
• Chemical compound had been used to
destroy bacteria.
• Not the best though. It did kill bacteria but
sometimes killed the patient as well! Doh!
Magic Bullet Two: Prontosil
• In 1932 Gerhardt Domargk began
experimenting with Prontosil.
• Test results on mice were not good. They
kept dieing of blood poisoning.
• Domargk’s daughter picked up a severe
infection when stabbed by a rusty needle.
She was close to death and so Domargk
decided to risk it and use Prontosil on her.
She recovered.
Discovery of Penicillin
• Penicillin is an antibiotic.
• An antibiotic is a drug derived from living
organisms that would kill bacteria.
• Penicillin occurs naturally. You can find it
on cheese and on mouldy fruit.
• Many scientists examined penicillin but
none appeared to realise its potential…
Alexander Fleming
• Worked as a doctor during World War I and was used to
dealing with serious wounds.
• Was frustrated by an inability to prevent infection in deep
wounds.
• Made it his mission to find a substance that would kill
microbes.
• In 1928 when experimenting with germs in a lab one day
he noticed that no germs grew near a lump of mould that
developed on one of the dishes.
• He had stumbled across Penicillin.
Example of Deep Infection
Penicillin Mould
Further Progress
• Fleming discovered that Penicillin could
stop the most deadly of germs.
• He needed to find a way of turning it into a
drug so it could be used to treat humans.
• Unbelievably he could not secure the
money from the British government or
anywhere else for further research.
• In 1931 he stopped his work on Penicillin.
Howard Florey and Ernst Chain
• In 1938 Howard Florey read Flemings research articles
on Penicillin.
• Florey and his partner Ernst Chain decided to
investigate.
• They succeeded in making small quantities of Penicillin
in powder form.
• On 25th May 1940 8 mice were injected with the
streptococci bacteria. Four were also given regular
doses of penicillin.
• The mice that had no antibiotics died within 16 hours.
• History had been made.
Task
•
•
A.
B.
C.
New book: p.97 sources U and V.
Old book: p.92 sources Q and R.
What is the Fleming Myth?
How did it come into existence?
Who do you think deserves the credit for
penicillin: Fleming or Florey and Chain?