The discovery of penicillin in 1929 marked the beginning of the modern era of antibiotics. Penicillin's influence on modern medicine has been immense, proving effective in curing previously fatal diseases, such as scarlet fever and syphilis, and giving rise to the antibiotic industry. However, although its antibiotic potential was immediately evident, large-scale production and clinical testing were not implemented until the start of World War II. Immense military casualties and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases among soldiers in World War II created a demand for penicillin. Thus, the demand created by World War II for an antibiotic prompted an international effort among the United States, England, and Canada to accelerate the mass production and clinical testing of penicillin. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Penicillin was first discovered in 1929 by Alexander Fleming at St. Mary's Hospital in London. Fleming observed that a mold spore had contaminated a petri dish containing Staphylococcus, thereby inhibiting the growth of the organism. After further research, Fleming found that Penicillin notatum mold could dissolve staphylococcal microbes, leading to the emergence of the antibiotic penicillin. However, two major obstacles prevented the immediate widespread use of penicillin upon its discovery. Penicillin had to be administered intracutaneously or intravenously in a series of injections as close to the infected area as possible, because oral ingestion proved ineffective. Since penicillin is excreted from the human body at a very rapid rate, adequate concentrations of the antibiotic should be maintained for effective use. However, at the time of Alexander Fleming's discovery, there was no economical method to mass produce the mold. Thus, despite the immense possibilities associated with Fleming's discovery, penicillin production and research remained dormant. In fact, “without the war, it is very likely that [penicillin] would still be nothing more than a laboratory curiosity” (Elder). World War II sparked the penicillin craze in England. In 1939, Dr HW Florey led an Oxford team tasked with renewing and reviving the immense potential of penicillin as a war drug. The first real support from outside England came in 1941 when a Rockefeller grant of five thousand dollars was awarded to support the progress of Dr. Florey's work. However, as conditions rapidly deteriorated in England due to the ongoing war, Dr. Florey and his associate, Dr. NC Heatley, were forced to travel to the United States and share their studies so that progress towards an antibiotic can continue on a safe floor. The Office of Scientific Research and Development oversaw early work on penicillin in the United States. The transition from primarily English to American research marked a key moment in the development of penicillin, because before Dr. Florey's decision to share his research in the hope of speeding up the process, contributions from the United States The penicillin effort was minimal, as evidenced by the meager grant to Foley from the Rockefeller Foundation. If Dr. Foley had not included the United States in the development of penicillin, the decline inEngland's funding and resources due to World War II could have delayed the progress of penicillin, leaving thousands of soldiers to die from penicillin-treatable infections. Because the demand for penicillin for World War II was increasing, the penicillin project became international thanks to Dr. Foley. The United States played the largest role in the production of penicillin. Dr. Robert D. Coghill, of the Fermentation Division of the Northern Regional Research Laboratory, a mold culture research center founded in 1940, was the father of penicillin production in the United States. Dr Coghill was among those contacted by Dr Florey during his visit to the United States. Its research team, skilled in the field of fermentation, took on the challenge of increasing yield and recovery in penicillin production. First studied by French microbiologist Louis Pasteur in 1860, fermentation refers to the process by which large organic molecules are broken down into smaller molecules. Thus, the science of fermentation had been available for some time before Dr. Coghill's encounter with penicillin. However, the fermentation process in its current state did not provide sufficient yield to prove effective, as not only was there an increasing demand for the drug, but quantities of penicillin had to be maintained in a patient due rapid excretion of the drug. In response to this dilemma, Dr. AJ Mayer, a colleague of Dr. Coghill, discovered that the yield of mold increased tenfold with the addition of corn steep liquor to the liquid on which the mold grew. Shortly after this discovery, “the yield had increased from two to forty Oxford units per cubic centimeter” (Elder). Shortly after this improvement in penicillin yield, the Drugs and Cosmetics Section of the War Production Board's Chemical Division assumed responsibility for ramping up production. The War Production Committee evaluated three main methods of production: the trickle process, the surface process, and the submerged process. The drip process involved pouring inoculated concentrate onto stones or wood under sterile conditions so that the mold would adhere to the surfaces while the liquid continued to flow. This method proved too expensive for practical production. The surface process involved the growth of mold on the surface of a medium under sterile conditions. This process gave good yields, but long growth cycles and expensive equipment made the process unsuitable for mass production. Finally, the submerged process involved aerating the mold for several days as it grew in the broth. At the end of the fermentation cycle, the penicillin was removed from the broth and the mycelium was discarded. This was the most efficient and economical method of production because it produced high yields at relatively low cost. The results of these method experiments were astronomical. The combination of more efficient fermentation and the increased development of production plants intensified the manufacture of penicillin. By 1944, the United States War Production Board had funded the completion of eighteen manufacturing plants. Penicillin production started at 0.4 billion units in June 1944 and increased exponentially to 0.7 in July, 0.8 in August, 1.7 in September, 2.8 in October, 4 .8 in November and 9.1 in December (Florey). These production statistics highlight theimmediate positive effects of War Production Board funding and leadership. The need for penicillin for the armed forces during World War II was recognized by the Drugs and Cosmetics Section of the Department of Chemistry. Thus, the leadership of the War Production Board pushed to accelerate the improvement of the penicillin fermentation process with the aim of successfully mass producing penicillin. mold. The production of penicillin to meet the demand of the armed forces during World War II was promoted internationally in 1943. Before 1943, penicillin manufacturing was limited to the United States due to its accessibility to financing, equipment and research. . However, in August 1943, the Canadian federal government showed interest in establishing production plants in Canada to ensure that the Canadian armed forces had access to the antibiotic. Similar to research at universities in the United States, Canada began funding Dr. Philip Greey to undertake studies of penicillin in the Department of Pathology and Bacteriology at the University of Toronto. The United States greatly assisted Canada's efforts. As a result of cooperation between the federal government of Canada and the United States, the War Production Board brought Dr. Coghill's research to Canada and provided essential equipment for the factories. The collaboration between the United States and Canada was so effective that in August 1943, large-scale production began in Montreal and Toronto. In 1944, Canada had three production plants. Canada's participation in World War II prompted an effort to join the United States in the mass production of penicillin. To combat the increasing brutality of war and decrease infection rates among wounded soldiers, Canada turned to the United States for assistance and mentorship. Thus, World War II sparked international cooperation, which led to an intensification of research, the establishment of production plants, and ultimately the expansion of penicillin's influence in the 1940s. In addition to the military's demand for penicillin as an infection preventative for wounded soldiers, World War II presented the United States with a new demand. Beginning in 1940, American medical researchers were tasked with combating the spread of sexually transmitted diseases among soldiers who had contracted these illnesses from prostitutes. Although studies on the effectiveness of penicillin against STDs have been limited, the U.S. military began using penicillin as a post-exposure treatment for STDs because of its ability to prevent symptoms of syphilis. Due to this new military demand for penicillin and the lack of research on penicillin as an STD prophylactic drug, the United States began investing funds to conduct clinical studies. The first major experimentation with penicillin was conducted in Terre Haute, Indiana, in 1943. Researchers attempted to infect consenting inmates of the Terre Haute penitentiary with gonorrhea. However, the Terre Haute prison experiment ultimately failed to infect enough inmates with gonorrhea to obtain reliable results. Thus, the effectiveness of penicillin against STDs remained inconclusive, prompting the United States to fund another, larger experiment. Based on the Terre Haute experiment, the Guatemala Syphilis Experiment was conducted from 1946 to 1948. This American medical research project on penicillin was widely recognized for its effectiveness. his.