The story of penicillin began in the year 1928 when Sir Alexander Fleming discovered a strange mould growing on a culture plate in his London laboratory. Somehow this mould had killed off all the bacteria immediately surrounding it. Experiments established that it could be introduced into wounds without harming living tissue. But for 10 years, Fleming?s discovery had been ignored.
In 1938, Dr Howard Florey seeking out new infection fighters, recalled Fleming?s experiments and began an entirely new series of studies. Finally, out of great quantities of the broth on which the mould was cultivated, the Oxford research workers succeeded in extracting a small amount of powder containing the new drug penicillin.
For weeks Dr Florey and his associates painstakingly learnt how to cultivate the mysterious mould and extract from it the tiny patch of yellow-brown powder (penicillin).
They of course had tested this on lab animals to see how penicillin annihilates the vicious cocci germs which cause scores of deadly infections. But penicillin was virtually untried on human beings. Anyway, without clinical evidence of penicillin?s value, pharmaceutical houses were unlikely to manufacture it in large quantities.
Although Dr Florey?s supply was small, the lab could produce enough to conduct some real trials carefully.
The real problem for Dr Florey was, with the wartime shortage of doctors, he could not find any meticulous medical man to undertake the job. With such a quandary in his mind, Dr Florey laid the problem before his wife Mary Ethel.
When she pondered, her husband remained silent. Then he made a suggestion that left her breathless. She herself should undertake the job of clinical trials. Now Ethel was a qualified doctor. She had received her medical degree from the University of Adelaide. She knew the penicillin story by heart. She agreed.
Dr Howard Florey now asked several Oxford hospitals to permit his wife to administer penicillin to suitable patients.
The amount of penicillin entrusted to her on that day in 1942 would hardly be considered an adequate dose for a single patient today. Yet, Ethel prepared the precious hoard in solution and ointment which she placed in little bottles and sterilized cold-cream jars. These she stowed in an old Victorian vanity case and strapped it to her bicycle and set out on her momentous mission to demonstrate penicillin to the needy world.
First and foremost, Ethel selected surface infections like ulcers, abscesses, pus-filled wounds teaming with deadly staphylococci in which the results could be closely observed. Penicillin caused the vicious cocci to disappear and enabled the ravaged flesh to heal cleanly. This was encouraging but it was only a beginning. Penicillin?s biggest field was treating infections that were deep within the body. It was already been injected into the veins successfully. But it was difficult to maintain an effective level of the drug in the blood. Then the doctor thought of injecting penicillin into the muscles.
Just then Radcliff Infirmary admitted a young woman suffering from pelvic infection and haemorrhage following a self-induced abortion. The girl?s life was ebbing away and she was in a critical condition. Twice a day for 6 days, Ethel administered enormous doses of penicillin. The girl recovered and the large doses of the drug produced no ill effects.
Dr Ethel Florey was learning fast. Demands for the new therapy increased rapidly and Ethel prayed that the supply of the drug trickling out of her husband?s lab would keep pace with her widening operations.
One day she was asked to see a 2-month-old baby with twisted spine and severe bone infection. Ethel began a series of injections on the infant. By the 9th day, the child gained few ounces. Six months later, the baby boy was a pink and lively toddler with a straight and normal spine. The baby was declared fit and handed back to the parents.
Very soon the list of Ethel?s triumphs grew longer. Severe infections like empyema, strep meningitis, bacterial endocarditis, septicaemia and a host of other infections were treated with penicillin. Unlike sulpha drugs, penicillin was very effective in curbing the staphylococci as the streptococci and could be administered safely in enormous doses.
Every effort was now being made to produce larger amounts. A small but woefully inadequate quantity was coming from a drug company. Since Penicillin is excreted through the kidneys, the patient?s urine was collected and the drug recovered, purified and used again. By September 1942, the first stage of Ethel Florey?s one woman war against infection seemed over. Penicillin had been used successfully in 187 cases. Techniques for administering it intramuscularly, intravenously, by mouth, in ointments and on dressings had been developed.
Early in 1943, a report announcing the great news to the medical profession was published in The Lancet. An editorial in the same journal declared Florey?s amazing work which left no doubt about the value of this bacteriostatic agent.
But the tragedy of the situation was, a very limited amount of penicillin was produced and that was just not enough for the huge demand. If penicillin was to do war-time service, a miracle of production would be needed.
It is then Dr Howard Florey tried to interest American scientists in penicillin?s war-time possibilities. However, mass production of the then unproved drug involved a huge gamble, high priority materials and the improvising of new high speed method.
The report of Ethel Florey?s convincing clinical work now turned the trick. American pharmaceutical firms with government aid were now ready and went all out for penicillin production. All thanks to Ethel Florey.
Later Ethel was in-charge of her own unit administering penicillin therapy in one of England?s biggest hospital. In that hospital, this wonder drug saved 3000 Normandy casualties from gas gangrene, the most dreaded battle-field infection. Penicillin also enabled surgeons to patch up mangled limbs, thus avoiding amputation. It also helped in plastic and orthopaedic surgery.
Now penicillin became the byword for quick gentle infection fighting.
This great lady Dr Mary Ethel Florey struggled with deafness and ill health all her life. But she led an active professional life and published a number of books on the clinical application of antibiotics. Her husband, Dr Howard Florey shared the noble prize for medicine with Alexander Fleming and Chain. But Ethel Florey was also a part of the team that established the antibiotic qualities of penicillin and worked out how to produce it in medical quantities. This noble lady died of myocardial infarction on October 10, 1966 at Marston.
We owe our lives to the husband-wife pair.
" />The story of penicillin began in the year 1928 when Sir Alexander Fleming discovered a strange mould growing on a culture plate in his London laboratory. Somehow this mould had killed off all the bacteria immediately surrounding it. Experiments established that it could be introduced into wounds without harming living tissue. But for 10 years, Fleming?s discovery had been ignored.
In 1938, Dr Howard Florey seeking out new infection fighters, recalled Fleming?s experiments and began an entirely new series of studies. Finally, out of great quantities of the broth on which the mould was cultivated, the Oxford research workers succeeded in extracting a small amount of powder containing the new drug penicillin.
For weeks Dr Florey and his associates painstakingly learnt how to cultivate the mysterious mould and extract from it the tiny patch of yellow-brown powder (penicillin).
They of course had tested this on lab animals to see how penicillin annihilates the vicious cocci germs which cause scores of deadly infections. But penicillin was virtually untried on human beings. Anyway, without clinical evidence of penicillin?s value, pharmaceutical houses were unlikely to manufacture it in large quantities.
Although Dr Florey?s supply was small, the lab could produce enough to conduct some real trials carefully.
The real problem for Dr Florey was, with the wartime shortage of doctors, he could not find any meticulous medical man to undertake the job. With such a quandary in his mind, Dr Florey laid the problem before his wife Mary Ethel.
When she pondered, her husband remained silent. Then he made a suggestion that left her breathless. She herself should undertake the job of clinical trials. Now Ethel was a qualified doctor. She had received her medical degree from the University of Adelaide. She knew the penicillin story by heart. She agreed.
Dr Howard Florey now asked several Oxford hospitals to permit his wife to administer penicillin to suitable patients.
The amount of penicillin entrusted to her on that day in 1942 would hardly be considered an adequate dose for a single patient today. Yet, Ethel prepared the precious hoard in solution and ointment which she placed in little bottles and sterilized cold-cream jars. These she stowed in an old Victorian vanity case and strapped it to her bicycle and set out on her momentous mission to demonstrate penicillin to the needy world.
First and foremost, Ethel selected surface infections like ulcers, abscesses, pus-filled wounds teaming with deadly staphylococci in which the results could be closely observed. Penicillin caused the vicious cocci to disappear and enabled the ravaged flesh to heal cleanly. This was encouraging but it was only a beginning. Penicillin?s biggest field was treating infections that were deep within the body. It was already been injected into the veins successfully. But it was difficult to maintain an effective level of the drug in the blood. Then the doctor thought of injecting penicillin into the muscles.
Just then Radcliff Infirmary admitted a young woman suffering from pelvic infection and haemorrhage following a self-induced abortion. The girl?s life was ebbing away and she was in a critical condition. Twice a day for 6 days, Ethel administered enormous doses of penicillin. The girl recovered and the large doses of the drug produced no ill effects.
Dr Ethel Florey was learning fast. Demands for the new therapy increased rapidly and Ethel prayed that the supply of the drug trickling out of her husband?s lab would keep pace with her widening operations.
One day she was asked to see a 2-month-old baby with twisted spine and severe bone infection. Ethel began a series of injections on the infant. By the 9th day, the child gained few ounces. Six months later, the baby boy was a pink and lively toddler with a straight and normal spine. The baby was declared fit and handed back to the parents.
Very soon the list of Ethel?s triumphs grew longer. Severe infections like empyema, strep meningitis, bacterial endocarditis, septicaemia and a host of other infections were treated with penicillin. Unlike sulpha drugs, penicillin was very effective in curbing the staphylococci as the streptococci and could be administered safely in enormous doses.
Every effort was now being made to produce larger amounts. A small but woefully inadequate quantity was coming from a drug company. Since Penicillin is excreted through the kidneys, the patient?s urine was collected and the drug recovered, purified and used again. By September 1942, the first stage of Ethel Florey?s one woman war against infection seemed over. Penicillin had been used successfully in 187 cases. Techniques for administering it intramuscularly, intravenously, by mouth, in ointments and on dressings had been developed.
Early in 1943, a report announcing the great news to the medical profession was published in The Lancet. An editorial in the same journal declared Florey?s amazing work which left no doubt about the value of this bacteriostatic agent.
But the tragedy of the situation was, a very limited amount of penicillin was produced and that was just not enough for the huge demand. If penicillin was to do war-time service, a miracle of production would be needed.
It is then Dr Howard Florey tried to interest American scientists in penicillin?s war-time possibilities. However, mass production of the then unproved drug involved a huge gamble, high priority materials and the improvising of new high speed method.
The report of Ethel Florey?s convincing clinical work now turned the trick. American pharmaceutical firms with government aid were now ready and went all out for penicillin production. All thanks to Ethel Florey.
Later Ethel was in-charge of her own unit administering penicillin therapy in one of England?s biggest hospital. In that hospital, this wonder drug saved 3000 Normandy casualties from gas gangrene, the most dreaded battle-field infection. Penicillin also enabled surgeons to patch up mangled limbs, thus avoiding amputation. It also helped in plastic and orthopaedic surgery.
Now penicillin became the byword for quick gentle infection fighting.
This great lady Dr Mary Ethel Florey struggled with deafness and ill health all her life. But she led an active professional life and published a number of books on the clinical application of antibiotics. Her husband, Dr Howard Florey shared the noble prize for medicine with Alexander Fleming and Chain. But Ethel Florey was also a part of the team that established the antibiotic qualities of penicillin and worked out how to produce it in medical quantities. This noble lady died of myocardial infarction on October 10, 1966 at Marston.
We owe our lives to the husband-wife pair.
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