- Scottish bacteriologist
who discovered the first antibiotic drug, penicillin, in 1928. In 1922
he had discovered lysozyme, an antibacterial enzyme present in saliva,
nasal secretions, and tears. While studying this, he found an unusual
mould growing on a neglected culture dish, which he isolated and grew
into a pure culture; this led to his discovery of penicillin. It came
into use in 1941. In 1945 he won the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine
with Howard W Florey and
Ernst B Chain, whose research had brought widespread
realization of the value of penicillin.
Fleming was born in Lochfield, Ayrshire, and studied medicine at St
Mary's Hospital, London, where he remained in the bacteriology department
for his entire career, becoming professor 1928.
Fleming discovered the antibacterial properties of penicillin, but its
purification and concentration was left to Florey and Chain, in Oxford.
Fleming also developed methods, which are still in use, of staining
spores and flagella of bacteria. He identified organisms that cause
wound infections and showed how cross-infection by streptococci can
occur among patients in hospital wards. He also studied the effects
of different antiseptics on various kinds of bacteria and on living
cells. His interest in chemotherapy led him to introduce
Paul Ehrlich's Salvarsan into British medical practice.
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