Talk:Discovery of penicillin

From Citizendium
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This article is developing and not approved.
 Main Article
 Discussion
Related Articles  [?]
Bibliography  [?]
External Links  [?]
Citable Version  [?]
 
To learn how to update the categories for this article, see here. To update categories, edit the metadata template.
 Definition:  Chronology of research into the use of antibiotics, derived from the mould Penicillium notatum. [d] [e]
Checklist and Archives
 Workgroup category:  Health Sciences [Categories OK]
 Talk Archive:  none  English language variant:  British English

Verifiability of folk uses?

Many years ago, I worked with the chemistry and microbiological effects of penicillins. Very little benzylpenicillin was produced by the early Fleming and Westling strains of Penicillium notatum, with Penicillium chrysogenum, in submerged culture, being the modern producer.

Has there been experimental verification that some of the tales of folk use of moldy bread and the like would have a clinically significant effect? I can believe that random contamination of pure cultures, as Fleming observed, could inhibit growth, but I find it harder -- not impossible -- to believe that a natural form would have that much antibiotic activity. Howard C. Berkowitz 23:21, 9 May 2008 (CDT)

Retrieved from "https://citizendium.org/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:Discovery_of_penicillin&oldid=29810"