An Accidental Antibiotic: Penicillin

Alexander Fleming: Discoverer of Penicillin¹

Who would have thought that an accident would change the way in which we treated bacterial infections? I am sure Alexander Fleming didn’t when he accidently discovered the antibiotic penicillin contaminating one of his petri dishes in his messy laboratory²! After going on vacation for a couple days, and leaving his lab windows open and a clutter of petri dishes he came back on September 3^rd, 1928 to find the fuzzy mold growing and killing the bacteria on the dish². Although, he was unable to extract the bacteria killing property from the mold at the time Howard Florey and Ernst Chain at Oxford University later extracted it from the Penicillium mold and called in Penicillin².

Penicillin and the other Beta-lactam family members kill bacteria by binding to penicillin-binding proteins on its cell-surface7. This stops the bacteria from building their cell wall, and so they cannot function properly and end up exploding7! Thankfully, our cells do not have the structures that penicillin binds to so it doesn’t hurt us, just the nasty bacteria³.  There are some cases when taking penicillin isn’t very good for us, and that is usually when we are allergic to it, overexposed to it, overdose on it, or if your kidneys aren’t working properly to filter it8. A lot of penicillin exposure happens to the people that are making it, and it can cause some irritation to the eyes, skin, and lungs or if you’re sensitive to it you can have an allergic reaction8.

Penicillin Notatum: The riginal Penicillin Producer9

On average, penicillin does have a higher rate of allergic reactions which causes some controversies around using it8. Although, penicillin is known as being one of the safest and most effective antibiotics you can take, so I would not avoid it all together8. If you do develop an allergy to it there are many other antibiotics you can use that work well, and depending on the severity of your reaction you may still be able to take antibiotics that are in the same family as penicillin⁵. Another issue that doesn’t just affect penicillin is antibiotic resistance. This is when bacteria are not affected by penicillin anymore, and this can happen when the bacteria’s penicillin-binding proteins change so penicillin can’t bind to it anymore⁶. Or the bacteria can also mutate and incorporate features from the antibiotic to produce enzymes that cut up the penicillin structure to stop it from working⁶. Therefore, it is important not to misuse or overuse antibiotics4. I would recommend completing the antibiotics that you receive completely, not taking antibiotics when you don’t have a bacterial infection, and just washing your hands in general to prevent the spread of infection⁴.

I can vouch for the awesome bacteria killing properties of penicillin, because I have taken it on a couple occasions when I have had bacterial infections. I will continue to use it in the future since I have never developed any side-effects, but I would be careful not to misuse it so that I don’t add to the problem of antibiotic resistance. Also, I hope some of this information helped you learn more about penicillin and its functions. Please refer to my references at the bottom if you would like any more information!

References

¹Alexander Fleming. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alexander_Fleming.jpg (accessed October 22, 2016.

²American Chemical Society International Historic Chemical Landmarks. Discovery and Development of Penicillin. https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/flemingpenicillin.html (accessed October 22, 2016).

³Antibiotics: Penicillins and Others. In Van Nostrand’s Encylopedia of Chemistry; G. D. Considine, Ed; John Wiley and Sons: New Jersey, USA, 2005; pp124-127.

⁴Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  Antibiotic/Antimicrobial Resistance. http://www.cdc.gov/drugresistance/about.html (accessed October 22, 2016).

⁵Guidance on Antibiotic Choice for Patients with Penicillin Hypersensitivity. http://www.nhstaysideadtc.scot.nhs.uk/Antibiotic%20site/penhypers.htm (accessed October 22, 2016).

⁶Katy Metzler. Penicillin Resistance: How Penicillin-Resistant Bacteria Avoid Destruction. http://study.com/academy/lesson/penicillin-resistance-how-penicillin-resistant-bacteria-avoid-destruction.html (accessed October 22, 2016).

7Penicillin. In Chemistry Foundations and Applications; Lagowski, J.J., Ed.; Macmillan Reference: USA, 2004; pp 225-227.

8Penicillins. In Encyclopedia of Toxicology [Online]; Elsevier Inc, Posted September 1^st, 2014. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780123864543007648 (accessed October 17, 2016).

9Penicillin notatum. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Penicillium_notatum.jpg (accessed October 22, 2016).