Life-Saving Mold

 Life-Saving Mold

    For most people, the word mold has a negative connotation. You may picture a piece of bread covered with green spots or something unclean. However, the discovery of a bacteria-killing property of a rare mold in the 1920s led to the creation of medicine that has saved millions of lives. If you have ever taken an antibiotic for an infection, then you may have taken medicine derived from this mold.

    In 1928, a scientist named Alexander Fleming was examining the bacteria growing in his Petri dishes. Fleming noticed a spot of mold growing on one of the dishes, and then noted that all the bacteria near the mold had died. Fleming decided that the mold had killed the bacteria and he began working to isolate this rare mold called Penicillian notatum. Isolating the mold was very difficult, and it was hard to get large quantities of penicillin.

    Other scientists worked on purifying penicillin and found success with their experiments. The first human patient to receive penicillin for a blood infection began to recover after initial doses, But later died once the supply of penicillin ran out. This led to further research, and methods to produce more penicillin were developed.

    Before the discovery of penicillin, millions of people died from infections. Today, many of these same infections are treated and cured by antibiotics derived from Penicillium notatum.