Question

One of the most important scientific discoveries was penicillin. Research the discovery of penicillin, what produces this drug, and provide the specifics of its action. After addressing these points, create a brief argument either for or against the ranking of discovery of penicillin as the most important medical breakthrough thus far in medicine.

Answer 1

It is essentially a broth culture filtrate of the penicillium mould.

Explanation:

• Alexander Fleming invented penicillin an antibiotic in 1928. These have been rated as the most important scientific discovery, being among the first antibiotics to be effective against bacterial infection.

• Penicillin belongs to different families that are selective against a large variety of bacteria.

• In fact, this antibiotic was discovered by fleming and accident in which he left a platter containing staphylococci open and was contaminated by green mould. There was an area of inhibited bacterial growth around the mould from which he inferred that the mould produced a material that inhibited bacterial growth. This was found to be a penicillium mould through further study.

• I assume penicillin is the most significant discovery so far because it was the first antibiotic ever discovered against bacterial infection in the absence of any drug.